Is this a good idea?

[(unregistered]

Hello all, I live in Nova Scotia on the Atlantic coast of Canada, on a little island called Cape Breton. I live in a place with lots of forests with rivers and small waterfalls where many trout, frogs, newts, snakes and salamanders can be found easily. there is one type of newt Im interested in that I think is the Taricha rivularis, ive seen them many times while looking for snakes. I took interest in them last summer but lately have been thinking that this spring i should set-up my empty 15g aquarium, or my 26g aquarium as a terrarium and try keeping some Taricha rivularis in the tank, is this a good idea? if its only 1 species in the tank and only mosses and things collected from the location found?? im just worried they may become territorial or die of stress, ive never seen them more then 4-5 inches including their tails so I think I could keep more then one in a tank. so if anyone can help me out here on a tank set-up or if I should just buy some other type of newt from a store and leave the wild wild then I would appriciate it

thanks in advance, bye!

 

[jennifer]

Oh I envy you for where you live - it's beautiful there! I don't think they could be Taricha. Tarichas are western newts. Go to your local library or bookstore and find an amphibian guidebook to help identify the species.

A native species should do fine with mosses and things collected from their habitat. Just be sure to keep them as cool as possible year-round. And before you set up the tank, research what their habitat preferences are (do they need water, are they territorial, etc.). And keep in mind that once they are "pets" they are probably not going to do well if re-released, so you are making a long-term commitment by taking them from the wild.

 

[(unregistered]

thanks for the info, but I have another question, would wild newts eat store bought newt food from pet stores?? because our winters in the atlantic provinces can be harsh and sometimes long, so there would otherwise be a lack of food in winter... unless bugs managed to reproduce in the tank.

 

[steve]

The red-bellied newt is only found in Ca i believe. Since you live on the East coastline toward the atlantic ocean in canada, there is probably 0% they are red-bellied newts. (or taricha at all to my knowledge)


Without researching for hours I came up with five salamanders that may be near you:
yellow-spotted salamander, blue-spotted salamander, dusky salamander, eastern redback salamander, and eastern newt.

Check some of these names on caudate central and see if the pics match what you have or seen.

You can feed them(from list above, probably only the eastern newt) brine shrimp, bloodworms, waxworms, all in the water (waxworm requires tongs and your assistance) If they are a terr. species(most of above), try small-medium (depend on species) crickets, fly larvae , waxworms again. They also eat nightcrawlers on land and in water. Some people feed mealworms (crushed jaw) also.

steve

 

[(unregistered]

Thanks Jennewt ans Stevel, Stevel I also looked into this and found some of these, but I still cant figure out what the ones I saw were... ill try to describe them to you they have a black back with a red stripe that goes straight across their underside, but does not cover the whole bottom, just goes straight trough the middle, it has a tail that goes like a string like the eastern redback salamander instead of squished like the japanese fire bellied newt. I have only seen them at 4-5 inches including tail, and have found them in very damp rotting wood by rivers. I hope some of this will help, im sorry I dont have a picture, but the snow is still on the ground here so I doubt id find any if I looked. thanks in advance, bye.