Lucky Dip Newt

[Mark]

A couple of days ago I purchased some pond weed from a garden centre for my newts to lay eggs on. I washed it thoroughly under the tap and placed it in various tanks. Whilst checking for eggs the next day I noticed one on the new elodea that was quite well developed. Too much so to have been laid within a day. This guy has hitched a ride and I have no idea what species he is. The plant could have been imported from overseas. My guess is Lissotriton but I'm going to have to try to raise it just to be sure .

 

[John]

Certainly looks like some form of "Triturus".

 

[Neotenic_Jaymes]

Your super lucky! I never got any newt eggs on my plants. I allways got snail eggs and stuff like that. Awesome looking embryo.

 

[dani]

yeah where do you buy your plants from, haha the only hitchikers Ive ever had were a load of snails.

 

[Otterwoman]

How is it doing, Mark? Still developing?

 

[Mark]

Thanks for thinking of him, Dawn. Here he is as of 5 minutes ago... not long before it hatches.

 

[Mark]

Hatched! It's a bit of a preemie but it's hanging in there.

 

[coendeurloo]

I wonder which Triturus this will be, nice find!

 

[Otterwoman]

Please keep us posted! I'm so intrigued by the little guy, and amused by your luck.

 

[lims]

exciting, and the crisp macro shots are very nice, he definetly looks very similar to my L. vulgaris larva.

 

[ButtercupSaiyan]

This looks awesome, I can't wait to see your updates on this!

 

[keithp]

Cool! You got more than your moneys worth!

 

[Jennewt]

It's not just Mark who got lucky here. This larva had an unbelievably lucky day (to the n-th degree and against astronomical odds) when that bunch of elodea was purchased by Mark AT!

Now we have a mystery on our hands. Let us know what this one turns out to be.

 

[damien]

It kind of looks like my baby T.dobrogicus..

 

[Mark]

Still going! The growth rate is very slow and it doesn't want to bulk up which is a bit worrying. The little guy eats though because I've watched him scoff copepods. I'm not sure if the orange blobs are his gut or his dinner...

 

[reptilekid714]

He a good looking one and he is hardcore he made thru the trip.

 

[reptilekid714]

srry to double post but just to say by trip i mean egg to hatchling.

 

[Mark]

Looking like a true champ now. It's ~1 inch long. In the immortal words of Rolf Harris - "Can you guess what it is yet?"

 

[John]

I'm going to say not a Smooth or a Palmate. But hey, what do I know hehe. (seriously)

 

[Mark]

Probably the final update on this little fella. It metamorphosed a couple of days ago and I think I'll release it into the garden pond so it can make it's own way in the world. I'll let you make your own decisions about the species; I'm sticking to L.vulgaris.