Belly color triturus

[enricolatiano]

Hi,
why the trituruses carnifexes in nature have the completely red belly while me also that raise them in a pond to the open one they are born me with the yellow belly?
thank you

 

[caleb]

The colour comes from carotenoids in their diet.

They will become more red if you feed them carotenoid-rich foods. Daphnia and Gammarus are good examples.

You could also add carotenoids to their diet by dusting or gut-loading.

I have made some notes on carotenoids and amphibian colour at:
Carotenoids and amphibian colouration

 

[froggy]

If you rear animals in outside enclosures, you could try seeding the pond with Daphnia. With a bit of sun, they will multiply and the larvae will be able to get carotenoids from eating them.

C

 

[WilliamBlake]

Caleb your article on carotene is amazingly interesting.
As i'm french i didn't understand all of in.

Do you say waxworms ar good for adult newts belly color ?
Or do you say they are good only if we add carotene supplement to the diet of the worms ?
In each case which waxworm variety is best for adult newts and how do i have to feed them, what kind of complement do i give them (the worms)?

 

[caleb]

they are good only if we add carotene supplement to the diet of the worms ?

This is correct.

how do i have to feed them, what kind of complement do i give them (the worms)?

You would have to add a carotenoid source to the waxworm's food.

You could use artificial supplements, (e.g. carophyll red), or foods that are naturally high in carotenoids (e.g. spirulina, paprika, shrimp).

 

[WilliamBlake]

Thanks a lot.
Spirulina is made from cyanobacteria, the one responsible for the blue alguae problem in aquatic tanks. Do you think there is a risk to contaminate one's tank water when introducing this by feeding the newts ? (we all know this kind of alguae is very resistant...)

 

[Azhael]

Absolutely none. The spirulina would have been doubly processed, once through manifacture and again by the worm´s digestive system. There´s no way you´ll get a bloom of spirulina in your tank. Even if you introduced live spirulina, it requires particular conditions to grow.
I have tried commercial carotene powders in my waxworm´s culture medium before with very decent results.

 

[caleb]

I have tried commercial carotene powders in my waxworm´s culture medium before with very decent results.

Any chance of more details? I'd be interested to know

-what product you used
-what amount you used
-what the waxworms looked like
-how many worms you fed to your amphibians (was it the majority of their diet?)
-how quickly it affected the amphibians' colour.
-how much it affected the amphibians' colour.

I'd be interested in hearing the same information from anyone else that has tried this...

 

[Azhael]

Ok, let´s see. It was some time ago so excuse me if the details are not too exact.

The product i used is called Nekton Rep-Color.
I added 1gr per total medium preparation (aprox. the volume of a cup).
The waxworms did become very slightly pinkish. Just enough to be noticiable.
At the time i was using the waxworms to feed juveniles of H.orientalis mainly, and they were 1/3 of their diet for a couple of months.(They were used for other species too, but not in significant amounts)
The color of the animals was affected rather fast but i never achieved a full developement of the color. The animals had very nice red bellies (nothing to sneeze at) but not with the same strength and intensity as wild animals. (If you want i can send you a picture).

I´ve had better and faster results with the same product being used for dusting prey both with newts and Bombina orientalis. However, it was clear to me that the animals didn´t enjoy the taste of the powder, so using the product through the culture medium of the prey seemed like a better choice.

 

[caleb]

Thanks for that.

Yes, would be good to see a picture of the red bellies.

Does the Nekton-Rep Colour packaging state the carotenoid content?

 

[Azhael]

I just realized, there´s a picture in the CC article "raising juvenile C.orientalis".
I lost the leaflet with the information long ago, i´m sorry. I think, but i´m not positive, the main carotenoid was canthaxanthine.