Question: Black newt with a grey belly?

[Juke]

alright, so i found a newt,possibly a salamander while raking a sand trap at the golf course i work at, i thought i might have hit him with the rake so i picked it up and looked at it.
it was covered in a lot of sand so i couldnt tell it it was hurt, either way i didnt want to put it back in the sandtrap because there was no real way out for it.
so i ended up taking it home, and while trying to look up what type it was i found....nothing.
i tried all the descriptions i could think of including general newts/ salamanders in my area(northern California).
i have found several small fire bellied newts i belive and i have one in the same tank as the black one i found. im just wondering what type the black one is.
iv got all the basic info on general newts and what they eat and cage set up and such.
sorry for such a long post but i wanted to be sure everything was included.

thanks

 

[Juke]

iv got a few pictures also if they are needed to determine type.

 

[Bowl of seeds]

Hi there,


Is it possible for you to post a picture of the critter?

 

[Jennewt]

Juke - here's a link to the instructions for posting a photo
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1-gen...-forum-questions/55492-how-post-pictures.html

The critter you found is probably a salamander, a terrestrial species, so keeping it in a newt type of setup is probably not going to make it very happy.

 

[Juke]

heres the grey belly, my light in my room kinda makes it look a bit pink but its grey.

some other ones...regular sized key next to it..

this is the day i got the lil guy/gal after the rain washed some of the sand off...

 

[Juke]

i figured the flat tail was a newt type of thing, plus the sand trap is near one of the water hazards/ponds we have there.
but im lookin forward to figuring out the mystery.

 

[Nathan050793]

It looks like it may be a Dicamptodon sp. or perhaps a Northwestern salamander, Ambystoma gracile. Either way, it's definitely a salamander, and so the set-up you're keeping it in now isn't really appropriate.

Here are links to the species pages for a few possible candidates:
Caudata Culture Species Entry - Dicamptodon ensatus
Caudata Culture Species Entry - Dicamptodon tenebrosus
Caudata Culture Species Entry - Ambystoma gracile

 

[caudatadude28]

i have found several small fire bellied newts i belive and i have one in the same tank as the black one i found.

Post some pics of these "firebelly newts". I am fairly certain they are not firebellies, maybe some sort of Taricha. I dont know what else could possibly resemble a firebelly newt in California.

 

[Juke]

ah alright, looks like one of the north western pictures looks the most like it.
it secreted some white stuff on its sides when i picked it up with my gloves so i thought it was the toxin stuffm but i think ill go look up the stuff on this salamander and see what i can do with this second empty aquarium i have.
as for the other critter i have here are 2 pictures of it.
i am new to all of this stuff but im interested in learning and sharing the information with my friends and others, so thank you for helping a clueless guy out :uhoh:
heres the pictures.

 

[Kaysie]

I agree that the first salamander is probably a Dicamptodon. The second is most certainly a Taricha, probably Taricha granulosa or Taricha rivularis.

 

[Juke]

ok. thats goo to know. i might release the salamander back into the wild but im not sure if thats a good or bad idea now that iv had it for a few days.

as for the little guy he is a newt right?
what would be a good water to land ratio for the lil guy?

 

[Kaysie]

It is indeed a newt. Given the gold eyes, it's probably a dark colored Taricha granulosa. A caresheet can be found here.

Off the record: these are my favorite newt species. They're very personable.

 

[Juke]

thank you