Broken-Striped Newt egg

[elisabeth]

Maybe I should wait to put the sand in my tank? Or should I just go ahead and do it? Does anyone else use sand?
I figure if I get the calcium sand, it'll be good for them incase they eat it.

 

[jennifer]

Tim, you just need to feed it more colorful food!

Riccilily, if you use THAT much calcium sand, you could end up with hard water. This will cause more deposits on the glass. I've heard people use swimming pool filter sand, as it has less powder in it than "play sand".

 

[david]

Dang it i wish i knew where you got the egg, i want a few more lil guys considering i have one. i would also like to breed them and sell em here in ontario. good luck
You're lucky
Demon

 

[mark]

Tim this is a bit of a wild guess but could your big female be Notophthalmus meridionalis?
heres a link for a pic from livingunderworld:
http://www.livingunderworld.org/gallery/photos/caudata/salamandridae/notophthalmus/meridionalis/

PS.is it posiable to get any Notophthalmus speicies in the UK?
good luck with them anyway Tim

Mark

(Message edited by Mark_uk on October 18, 2003)

 

[TJ]

Jennewt,

or anybody else familiar with N.v care to tell me what in the heck is going on here?! Over the last couple of days, my female (the same one pictured above) has turned yellow! This is NOT a camera effect.

 

[jennifer]

I have no idea. I've never seen a Notophthalmus lose it's color like that! Weird!

 

[TJ]

Hmmm...I'm at a loss to explain

Maybe I'd taken the pic just after turning on the light or something. But I also have a crested newt that became suddenly pale recently:

Anyway, she's regained her color, though not yet as dark as she was in the past:

 

[mark]

Tim,what Triturus are those?
they look like Karelinii or Alpestris

Mark

 

[TJ]

Hi Mark, sorry to have missed yer post. Ummm...dunno, really

Think they're from Ukraine, but not sure. Don't think they're alpestris though...

Anyway, here's the oldest N.v larvae as of today. The others are still playing catch-up.

 

[al]

I have friend who runs a tropical fish store and he gets occasional suprises from his plant distributor. Auran tadpoles and Notopthalmus v. larva will show up. I have kept and reared various N. v. species and they always posed a challenge during the eft phase. Eventhough rearing baby brine shrimp can get old after week 4, fruit flies and pinhead crickets can be a hassel. I've had some efts do better in a shallow water set up with black worms, but cleaning was difficult. All in all, the eft phase can last between 2-4 years, which makes breeding them to adulthood challenging. Notopthalmus sp., Cynops sp., and Triturus sp., have very simular traits, even though I tend to take a different approach with rearing. Patience is a must with all three genera. Seems like your doing a good job. Let me know if I can help out in any way.

 

[TJ]

Thanks, Al

2-4 years for the eft-phase? Much longer than I expected, but that'd be fine for me as long as they can easily get accustomed to being hand-fed bloodworm like my multitudes of C.ensicauda juvies are. My pinhead bill is already too high due to fussy eaters like H.tokyoensis, N.strauchii and to some extent C.orientalis.

Aside from tiny live tubifex and occasionally live baby brine shrimp, I'm now trying out frozen baby brine with the smallest N.v larvae -- but I'm not sure whether they're eating it. Has anybody else tried non-live food with N.v larvae with any success?

 

[TJ]

Here it is as of today