Cynops orientalis terrestiral juveniles

[joseph]

Wow...they sure took to the water quickly. I have one morphing and I will see if I can get it to stay semiaquatic without terrestrial stage. Mine has been out of the water for maybe 2 weeks now. I oughtta keep a written record of these things but haven't started yet.

 

[joeri]

Good luck to you too as well,
it is a great experience indeed. I can't stop staring at the little fellows.

btw; what do you mean by 'hanging out the shoebox'? Don't you have a lid? If so you're taking a big risk I'm afraid.
I kept mine in plastic boxes as well and had a lid on them. In the center I carved a big opening that I covered with mosquito gaze. Escape proof.

Joseph, only 4 out of 16 have entered the water already. So don't panic if yours don't fancy the water immediatly.

 

[jesper]

Joeri - I still wouldn't keep any of my newts on Sphagnum moss, I know that other at least some other people here feel the same way about this moss. Actually it's the first time I hear of someone recommending the use of Sphagnum moss.

Honestly I don't see why one should subject newts to that, I have never heard of a newt preferring a pH 3-4 environment...

 

[joeri]

If it makes you feel better, the sphagnum-moss was removed when you mentioned the acidity. You can see in the pictures that they now hide under plastic leaves.

I have good experiences with that now, and I'm not planning to buy moss again in the future.

 

[jesper]

Yes I noticed that Joeri(

) - I was simply reacting to what Henk stated. I know that Henk(hi Henk) has a lot more experience than me and if he believes it is ok, I guess it is fine. I was hoping to start a discussion about it since I am sincerely interested in the subject. Maybe a lot of people actually keep their metamorphs on Sphagnum.

 

[jesper]

Btw Joeri I love ur pics - I hope my larvae will be as lovely as your metamorphs.

 

[joeri]

Thanks, I'll take some more later on than
Good luck with yours

ps: I'd like some more input on the spaghnum too. To bad I'm not much of a biologist.

 

[mark]

That is awesome, looks like you know what you are doing!

 

[joeri]

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>Mark B. wrote on Monday, 24 January, 2005 - 19:27 :</font>

"That is awesome, looks like you know what you are doing!"<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>
Now that's a great compliment, thanks Mark.

 

[pamela]

Hi Joeri!

Thanks for the concern re: shoebox lid. Yes, I DO have a lid on it. I cut a large area out, and covered it with vinyl screen, adhered w/aquarium sealer. I have several "boxes" like this. One of the morphs likes to climb, and sit on lip of the box. He is too funny. He even takes food from the tweezers hanging out there! Then he/she will go for a swim, and hang out on the rock. A very adventurous little soul. I can't keep my eyes off of them either. I wonder how much time per day that I spend going from tank to tank, box to box, just observing these little guys. I just LOVE 'EM!

 

[joseph]

Just an update on my morph. I decided to move him to a small yogurt cup where it would be easier to keep track of him. I put in some java moss on the bottom and then just barely covered it with water. For the first day he climbed up, refusing to get wet but now he sits at the bottom quite happily. The other larvae are all looking newt like. The other morph is still going between java moss raft and water in the larval tank.

 

[joeri]

hihi Pamela,
the father of these kids is just like the one you described; exploring all the time. That's why I called him 'little Rob' (Robinson Crusoë) his girlfriend got the name Friday.

btw, I noticed one of my morfs has the prettiest belly pattern. I hope I can take a picture of it soon. It has lot's of orange with only a few black dots, and he has one orange sleeve on his arm separated from the body with another dot.

 

[pamela]

Joeri, I love the names you gave your newts! Please do get a pic of the belly of the interesting little morph, looking forward to seeing it. (They are so tiny, hmm...will be difficult to get a pic?) They are so fragile. I let the adventurous one climb on my finger, instead of picking him up, to put him back in the box. He tries to climb out when he sees the lid come off! Much fun!

Joseph: So good to hear your babies are still w/us too! I am overwhelmed at the care you, Joeri, and the others here on this forum, give to these little animals. It reminds me that humans can be wonderful creatures too!

 

[joseph]

Interesting Joeri-please do take a photo. One of my larvae looks like it will have a completely orange belly but it isn't late enough to tell. Most are taking after mom except they have much more orange. Dad had the typical orientalis belly pattern with lots of orange and small evenly spaced spots.

 

[joeri]

At the moment it's hard to get that picture, they are in shallow water and bad lightning. I don't want to disturb them by taking them out for the sake of this picture - they still need to get used of this relatively new setup.

But I keep looking out for him/her to strike a pose