Lissotriton italicus

[Italicus]

in my region can I keep them
and their old home was destroyed ... I have saved a couple from certain death, and when finally I can build a pond to release them repopulate the area​

 

[Azhael]

I know it´s horrible to see a population erased by loss of habitat, but i hardly find that to be an excuse to catch wild native fauna. It´s far far better to "move" the animals to a close but suitable area(as close as possible).
Breeding to repopulate might sound like a noble idea but it´s actually a pretty bad one.
First off, if the habitat has been lost(after all that´s why you caught them, right?), then repopulating makes no sense at all.
Secondly, and this is also a very important point, releasing animals back into the wild should NEVER be done by individual hobbyists. The risk os introducing patogens(bacteria, fungae, parasites...) into the wild is very real, and is reason enough to make releasing a very bad idea.
Also if you were to release animals into a different area, there´s also the problem of contaminating local genetic pools. By introducing new genetics you might destroy a particular blood line.

Releasing is therefor something that should be done only by the pertinent organisms, and with the utmost care and knowledge of what one is doing.

 

[coendeurloo]

I've made some more photo's of the larvae who are now showing some more pigmentation. This time I photographed them in a glass tank instead of a plastic one, so the images are somewhat better.

Also a picture of some Dapnia in the tank. I keep some rotting leaves in there to stimulate the growth of infusoria, and it certainly helps the Daphnia too. You can see loads of small Daphnia that have been bred in the tank itself.

 

[coendeurloo]

And they're off:

 

[Alejandro]

Nice work Coen. Congratulations!