Lissotriton italicus

[GeoNewt]

I recently acquired 4 juvenile L. italicus that were bred in the UK earlier this year. I had heard that they are a very small newt, but even so the juveniles are tiny! They are currently housed in 12x8x8" glass tank with a 2/3 plastic, 1/3 mesh lid. It has a substrate of orchid bark and live moss, and there are a couple of cork bark hides and a shallow water dish. They are currently feeding well on crickets and live bloodworm. I have been struggling to find any information about this species on the web, and so I am asking anyone with experience with this or any other lissotriton species if there are any specific husbandry needs, or if there is anything I'm doing wrong? I wondered about the size of tank - would I be better off putting them in a smaller tank where it might be easier for them to locate food? Any comments will be greatly appreciated.
Sorry about the picture quality - I will try to take some more later this week.

Thanks again,
George.

 

[Greatwtehunter]

I've never raised italicus before but I have raised numerous other Lissotriton species. I find it easier to keep them in a small, simple enclosure. My enclosures usually consist of a shoe box container with either moistened paper towels or a very light layer of coco-fiber as the substrate. In my opinion it's easier to monitor their feeding habits as well as making it easier for them to find the food.

 

[KennyDB]

Yes indeed, just like justin said it's best to keep them in small boxes, very basic for monotoring, I will show some pictures when I'm back home from work.

greetings

K.

 

[KennyDB]

Here it is...
plastic box, moist paper towels and some wood, stone, moss to hide. paper towels sprayed every 2 days and changed every weekend.

 

[stavroske]

Like you noticed, there isn't much information about this species. If you search info, you can compare this species with L. boscai.
During the summer they need a dry period, so it might be good to put them in a box were you can spray one side while leaving the other side dry.

It's a very beautiful species! Succes with them!

 

[caleb]

I keep these, and I like them a lot.

Mine are aquatic all year round- I've found them to be the most aquatic of all 'Lissotriton'. Even at metamorphosis they barely attempt to leave the water.

Though the juveniles are small (sometimes too small to take full-sized bloodworm!), they don't need to do much growing to reach maturity- it's not too difficult to get them to breeding size in less than a year.

 

[GeoNewt]

Thanks for the replies.

Caleb, please could you post some pictures of your set up, along with tank dimensions. What do you feed your newts on as well as bloodworm, and also what size tank would you give to my group of juveniles if they were to be housed aquatically? I didn't realise that they can grow so quickly. Are they relatively easy to breed?

Thanks again for your advice,
George.

 

[caleb]

They're in small plastic tanks, with about 10cm water depth. There's no substrate, but plenty of Elodea and aquatic moss.

I mostly feed them with bloodworm, whiteworm, tubifex, and daphnia.

I'd think four aquatic juveniles would be fine in a 30cm/12" tank.

 

[GeoNewt]

Thanks for the advice.

Before I make a decision on how to house them, I was just wondering what in your experience the main advantages/disadvantages of keeping these newts aquatically are. Likewise, those of you that have raised Lissotriton terrestrially what would you say the main advantages/disadvantages are?

Thanks again for all the help,
George.

 

[KennyDB]

Aquatic advantages: - cleaning verry easy, feeding verry easy and the growth therefor is much faster.

Terrestrial: well...they can't drown that's for sure and you can use low plastic boxes that can be stored easily.

 

[caleb]

I'd agree with the advantages just mentioned. Also, in aquatic setups, you don't have to worry about the substrate drying out, or getting too wet. Ventilation (or the lack of it) isn't likely to be a problem, either.

 

[GeoNewt]

It sounds like my best bet would be to try an aquatic set-up. I have a couple more questions though: Is there any way of supplementing the aquatic food (eg - bloodworm, daphnia)? Also, should I add a filter, or is the tank so small that the current would be too great, in which case I'd have to do very regular water changes?

Sorry about the number of questions, but I just want to make sure that I've thought of everything before constructing the new tank.

Thanks again,
George.

 

[caleb]

Not sure about supplementing bloodworm or Daphnia. As Daphnia are filter feeders, you could probably supplement them through their water. If you raise whiteworms, you can feed those anything you want.

I don't use filters for any of my newts- I just do regular water changes (but I don't keep any particularly delicate species).

 

[GeoNewt]

Do you think that you need to supplement the food for them, or is OK as long as you provide a varied diet? Do you have any pictures of your tank?

 

[GeoNewt]

Here are some more pictures of my L. italicus and the set-up that they are currently housed in.

 

[caleb]

Do you think that you need to supplement the food for them, or is OK as long as you provide a varied diet? Do you have any pictures of your tank?

No, you shouldn't need to supplement the food if they have a varied diet. I don't have any pictures of my tank, it's just a plastic Hagen tank with some water & plants.

 

[GeoNewt]

Thanks for all the info.
This is one of the main problems I find with keeping newts - everyone has their own individual opinion on whether to house their newts in aquatic, semi-aquatic or terrestrial tanks. I am now in the process of weighing up all the advice and deciding on what to house them in. I think that in general newts are much better to watch in water, but that they are also much more work this way, and so it becomes very time-consuming when maintaining several species. I am therefore wondering about keeping them in a terrestrial tank for the winter, and then moving them to aquatic housing in the spring. I assume that this is what juvenile L. italicus would do in nature (If not then please correct me). Do you think that my tank is OK for the winter, or do they need to be in something simpler?

Thanks,
George.