C. orientalis courting, and general health question

C

christina

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Every other night for the past two weeks my male has been trying to get my female "in the mood," actively following her, tail fanning and a bit of gentle biting, but to no avail. I'm glad newts don't take rejection like we do, lol.

Temps are 19-20C during the day and around 17C at night since late November. Would cooler temps promote reception on her part? Or is it just something to wait out?

Also, what kind of health screening does everyone do with their newts? Does anyone do fecals? I'm a vet tech student and do almost all of the diagnostics for my herps myself, but I haven't found any references for fecals in aquatic caudates.

I had the male for two years before getting a female, and she was in quarantine for two months before being introduced. Both are active, eat well and have clear skin, so I'm pretty certain that they're both healthy. But the extra checking would't hurt.
 
To take a fecal sample from some aquatic caudates (such as orientalis), they are kept on paper towels (in a container with a tight-fitting lid to prevent escape) until they produce a stool. This usually doesn't take long, as they are stressed by being out of their tank. This wouldn't work for an obligate-aquatic like an axolotl though - I'm not sure what the procedure is there. Pet keepers rarely if ever do them, due to the cost of analysis and treatment and the difficulty finding a vet with amphibian experience.

There is an excellent book on amphibian medicine by Wright. It's expensive, but if you are interested in such things, you might like to get a copy.



(Message edited by jennewt on December 31, 2005)
 
And as a side point, if you feed live worms don't be surprised when the fecals come back loaded with nematodes. These are probably not parasitic to the newt as what you are seeing are the nematodes that were residing in the worm(s).

There is a good inexpensive reptile book on fecals if you want to use it to get started. (Understanding Reptile Parasites it is typically about 10-15 on amazon.com or occasionally on e-bay).

Ed
 
That's a neat technique for collecting. Since I use the teaching clinic at school to do all my own work, I pay bare bones prices for just the materials. Lucky, eh?

I have copies of both Understanding Reptile Parasites and Mader's Reptile Medicine and Surgery (looking forward to the new edition), but neither have the detail as Wright's book (which I'd like to pick up a copy of, but student budgets aren't luxurious).

It's very true though that vets with amphibian experience are hard to come by- why I'd like to work more with amphibians in a clinic setting. The more techs, vets and hobbyists work with them, the more knowledge the community gains as a whole.

My newts are fed frozen/thawed bloodworms and segments of live red wigglers from a friend's vermicomposter (lack of variety thanks to crappy pet stores- anyone know of any Canadian suppliers of other small live foods?). The bloodworms are marked as "parasite-free," and my other herps fed the same red wigglers have not yet had any nematodal infections related to the worms (confirmed by fecals). I'm curious as to whether the newts have any infections from before I acquired them.
 
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