Juvenile Marbled Newt

[FRANCOIS]

Hello,
I have a juvenile marbled newt for about 4 months, it already doubled in size size I got it and is doing great. The newt morphed around April / May 2010, I purchased it from J. Fenn.
It lives in a terrarium (10G) without water. I was wondering at what age it should be introduced to water / placed in a 50/50 land - water set-up?
Thanks for your infos.
Francois

 

[Azhael]

They can be introduced to water when they are still juveniles, but some people argue it´s best to wait til they are mature.
Once they are 7-8 cm long, they can accept an aquatic life, but this varies largely among individuals, so be careful.

 

[FRANCOIS]

Hello, could anyone help me determine from the picture if it's more likely to be a male or a female? It is the same newt I talked about earlier... Any guess?
Thanks
Francois

 

[Bellabelloo]

If the red line is raised slightly, it may well be a male. My males have a small cresta nd seem a little darker than my female.

 

[FRANCOIS]

Thanks, will check... Isn't there also a story that if the red line has black markings it's likely to be a female?

 

[evut]

I think it would be the other way round...? My young male has a mini-crest (a 3-D stripe) which is black and orange. I think if you imagine what a proper crest would look like colour-wise then that would be the start of it. I am not sure but from your photo I'd say the stripe is starting to look a bit raised in the middle so it might be a male.

 

[Azhael]

A slight raise of the crest is not conclusive, but a banded crest is. If there is black/yellow banding then it is a male. Check the cloaca and tail sides to confirm.

 

[Greatwtehunter]

Looks male to me. You can see the banding that Azhael is refering to really well along the top of the tail.

 

[aramcheck]

It does look male to me, as the red stripe is brocken with black spots, which implies the crest would grow marbled. But yes, looking on the side to see if it show sign of a "mirror" develloping would confirm it.

To answer the initial question, I keep my marms terrestrial for about 2 years, and put them to water when they start showing sign of wanting to go aquatic (tail faltening, green colour darkening, male develloping crest, etc.)

 

[FRANCOIS]

OK I checked, definitely must be a male. Thank you very much everyone for all the info. I guess I need to find a female now...
Cheers
Francois