Can smooth newts (Lissotriton vulgaris) be lured to be fully aquatic?

[Cyrus]

Hi, I have a pair of smooth newts (Lissotriton vulgaris). The guy I bought them from was keeping them in an aquarium with no land area and they were fully aquatic. I put them in a paludarium with 50 50 % water land area. At first they were very energetic, eating dry food with no problem but then they changed into terrestrial stage and stop eating so I moved them to a vivarium with a water dish in it. What I'm asking is, is there any way to make them turn into the aquatic stage again or if I buy another aquatic one from the guy, are there ways to make them stay in aquatic stage?

 

[caleb]

In my experience, very few smooth newts will stay aquatic all year round.

Your best chance is to use low temperatures (10-15C) and feed them well in the water.

Once they've left the water, they are very unlikely to go back in until the next breeding season (sometimes in late autumn, more usually spring).

Are you really in Angola? I guess your seasons would be the other way round, so you'd be in late summer/autumn now.

 

[Cyrus]

Thanks for your reply. I will try what you said, buy another one and try to keep the temperature lower. What I don't understand is how they are so happy in the aquarium of the guy I bought them from. Stores temperature is not that different from my houses and he keeps them in full water, not even a little platform on the top. And by the way, no I'm not in Angola, when I first signed up I just picked a country randomly . I corrected it though, I'm in Turkey.

 

[caleb]

It's possible that they breed during winter in Turkey, so they might be reaching the end of their breeding season now.

Do you know if they are originally from Turkey? They'll be L. v. schmidtlerorum or L. v. kosswigi if they are.

 

[Cyrus]

Well I think they should be, I've seen plenty of them in my yard whenever in rains hard but didn't collect them and chose to buy one because of possibility of stress, disease etc.