Marbled newts winter set up.

[Davo]

My CB marbleds are starting to crest up. In winter i keep them in tubs with a damp end, water dish, moss and cork bark. Substrate is peat free multi purpose compost mixed with coco fibre. I keep them at room temps through out the winter, i feed them live bloodworm, lesser waxworm larvae, crickets and earthworms. In the past i have cooled them and reduced feeding, i have kept them fed and at room temps for the last few years and find they seem to breed better laying more eggs.in the spring when they are introduced to the aquarium.

One of the sub adults this year is a lot more of a redder colour stripe than the others, i have added pics of the winter set up, an adult pair and some of the sub adults including the one with the redder-orange stripe.

 

[Molch]

cool, Davo!

I keep my marbled subadults in a similar setup, minus the water bowl. Mind if I ask a few Q's?

1) How big are your adults, and how big are the subadults? Mine are 3.5 to 4 inches; at what size do they become mature/sexable?

2) I assume you put the bloodworms in the water bowl? Will they actually go in there to feed?

3) when reintroducing them to water in spring, how do you go about it? Do you put them in a land/water setup and let them find the water?

those are sweet-looking marms. Aren't marms great?

 

[Davo]

Hi Molch,
My adults are between 5 and 6 inch, probably nearer 5 inch.
The sub adults are about 4inch, they look ready to breed this time.
I feed my live bloodworm on damp kitchen towel, i spread the bloodworm on the towel the i spray the worms with water, the worms start to wriggle like crazy and the marbleds start to feed like crazy!. It is a very good method for adults and when rearing juvs, if there is any worms left the next morning i respray them and they will start wriggling again. This method works for most newt species and is a good way to monitor if they are feeding well as the worms dont move from the towel, so if the towel is clear of worms you know that they have been eaten. Morg told me about this method, he uses it a lot rearing marbleds.
When i add the marbleds to the water i add a cork bark island and place the newts on it.They always seem glad of the water and enter straight away, the water seems to trigger the males to crest up, even quite small sub adult males will crest up once in the water. Some people keep them aquatic all year, i have not tried this.
Marbleds are awesome newts, they are one of the first i started with, i always rear some juvs, they are amazing colours and a great newt to start with. :happy:

 

[mr cyclone]

Have you found out what the name/type of that moss is?.I would love to get my hands on a pile ,that's brilliant looking animals mate

 

[Davo]

Not sure what sort of moss it is, i have used it for years, i will send you some up once it thaws out a bit. If you keep it realy damp it does grow, i add a bit to the water trays and it grows slowly but surely. :happy:

 

[Molch]

Davo, thanks for the tip w. the paper towel and blackworms. I tried it with my marms, and within 10 minutes some of them were chomping blackworms off the paper. The others will no doubt catch on. Cool!

edited to say: half an hour later they are all at it, picking away at blackworms. Totally cool.

 

[obicat]

I feed my red efts in the same way, also as recommended by Morg

 

[Molch]

hehe. this morning:

blackworms: zero
fat news: 10