Cynops orientalis terrestiral juveniles

[joeri]

I hope you like this serie.

Do you think they look skinny? It's the first time I have c.o. morfs. So far I could only feed them fruitflies. Some took mosquito larves but actually it's not even worth to mention.
I expect a shipment containing live grindal worms so that would have to help.
(ow yes, they did eat springtails when they were smaller too)

I'm not sure at what speed they grow, but I think this might be (too) slow. They hatched in July and are still not bigger than +/- 3cm

Joeri

 

[mark]

Nice, they are super cute, it is interesting to see C.o.s on land, even if they are juvies. What is all that whitish shaving looking stuff? I don't think they look skinny. Good luck!

 

[joeri]

The 'white' stuff is sphagnum moss brightened by the flash of the camera. In the first picture you can see the 'normal' colour.

I use this kind of moss as it gives me certainty that it's not acidic. (some mosses are)

 

[jesper]

Joeri, as far as I know Sphagnum moss is the MOST acidic moss with pH as low as 2,5. Not suitable to keep newts/sals on.

 

[joeri]

huh? Are you sure?
Damn, been ripped off by yet another petstore. This time I asked a biologist that specializes in terraria (though not amphibia)

Did he not know or was he just lying to me?

And another thing Jesper; do you know if newts can 'feel' when moss is bad? There enclosure provides them with many hiding places, but they *all* hide in the moss.

 

[jesper]

Yeah I'm sure - I have read about in threads here, in several places on the net, I have noticed it myself firsthand - I got some newts packed in Sphagnum that reeked of acid, I don't know how they survived...
The even write about it on the back of my soil packages - they use sphagnum moss as a base, they write that they have to put in great amounts of CaCO3 to get a neutral pH.

I don't think the newts can "feel" when the moss is acidic, at least it doesn't appear to be the case. For example - the newts I got were packed in Sphagnum at pH3, they showed no signs of distress that I could see but I'm pretty sure it is bad for them. If that wasn't the case we would have loads of vulgaris in our mosses here in Sweden(perfect habitat apart from low pH) - I visited a great moss this summer, I hardly saw an animal apart from birds(too low pH I suppose).

(Message edited by Jesper on December 17, 2004)

 

[joeri]

There is no such warning on the package at all

*sigh*

 

[joseph]

They are nice! How big are they? The first shot makes them look a little thin...but just feed them some more.

*looks off into the near future*

 

[joeri]

They are +/- 3cm Joseph. Good luck with yours

I removed the sphagnum moss. Instead they have to seek shelter under plastic leaves now (and between the pieces of bark).

I have some substrate here I'm not using at the moment. The package says it's 5-6ph. That's close to neutral, but is it close enough? It's also especially for terraria for what that's worth

Joeri

 

[joseph]

Thanks! I can only hope my group will someday look like yours-now for the next question how old are they?(or when did they morph)

 

[joeri]

They hatched in July.
Morfing was from september to november.
----------------------------------------
Brings me to a rough estimate of 5 months old.

Unfortunately I didn't take notes of exact dates. at the time you're convinced you will remember, but afterwards ....

Here are two new pictures

Joeri

 

[joseph]

Very nice! What kind of plastic plants are those? The morphs seem to like them.

 

[joeri]

what kind? euh... the plastic kind?

I have no idea what plant it is. It looked like ivy when I bought it, but I separated the leaves from the stem. (so I could use them in different setups)

 

[joeri]

I placed some in a mostly aquatic setup, these two found their way to the water very fast. You can still see their rough terrestiral skin.

Don't they pose cute?

 

[benjamin]

I want to try mine in an aquatic set up when they morph. Please tell us how successful this turns out. They seem to be good swimmers.

 

[joeri]

They have been on dry land for over 2 months, which makes them lousy swimmers. They have to learn it again. They use the plants to crouch through the tank - but they'll learn crawl soon enough again.

My guess is next week, when a fresh batch of daphnia arrives

 

[henk]

Joeri, succes with the further raising of these.The acidity of the spaghnum is not really a problem Joeri. I have raised numerous newts this way. In fact the acidity prevents the development of other harmfull organisms for the newts. So I think this is not trouble some for them (with my hynobius this works real well too).

If ever you owuld have ot many of them I may be interested since this is in fact one of those species I want to cover them again for completing my slide documentary.... and I'm even looking for other species to cover/house (even temporarely) too.

 

[jesper]

That's very interesting Henk, maybe their skin is somewhat resistant to acid then? Most living things would definitely get harmed by long-term exposure to those kinds of acid concentrations no?
On the other hand, as you said, it will surely keep the environment sterile

 

[joeri]

Very interesting indeed.

I'll send you a mail Henk.

 

[pamela]

Joeri, they are super cute. It's an amazing experience. I have 2 that morphed over New Years. This is my first attempt at raising C.o. from eggs, to larvae, to morphs. My little guys finally take frozen (thawed) bloodworms from the tweezers now. I keep them in a clear, plastic shoebox, with minimal water. Also there is java moss, and a flat rock for them to hang out on. (Although one likes to "hang out" from the top of the shoebox.) Good luck w/your little ones. Nice pics!