My Cynops pyrrhogaster

[ebonykrow]

Here's a few pics of my babies, about three months old.

The pics have come out a bit blurry but you get the jist ^___^
I have 6 and I'm loving the experiance!

 

[froggy]

They look lovely! Make sure that debris isn't getting trapped among the large pebbles, as this could compromise water quality. Did you get them as eggs?

 

[ebonykrow]

No, when I received them they had developed their front legs only. Don't worry tank gets cleaned regularily, I vac it to get all the **** out from between the pebbles. But thanks ;D

Mmm, now that I study the photos I should have cleaned their house before I brought out the camera haha, sorry for the mess!

 

[froggy]

The pictures look perfectly clean to me! I only mentioned the large stones before in case it was something you hadn't thought of, otherwise you could find out by losing some of them.
I hope they continue to do well for you.

 

[ebonykrow]

Feel free to keep the tips coming, I'm a complete amatuer and not afraid to admit it.

 

[Greatwtehunter]

What are you feeding them and what are they housed in?

 

[Azhael]

Your life and your newt´s would be a lot easier without those stones. A simple set-up with no substrate so that cleaning is supereasy is best. Adding some live plants would also help a lot. They help with water quality, they provide surface area for the biofilm of helpful bacteria to stablish themselves on, and visual barriers for the larvae to help avoid agression (not that this is likely, but it could happen). Also, they simply love hanging out on the plants.

This species is fascinating and absolutely gorgeous. It´s become one of my very favourites!! *quick glance to the pyrrho tank to see two males tail-fanning to a female *
Best of lucks with them, i´m positive they´ll give you years of entertainment!

 

[ebonykrow]

I'm currently feeding them on daphnia and whiteworms, they are housed in an old fish tank, water level is only two or three inches.

Azhael how big have you seen the pyrrhogaster get?
Originally I did have just a clean bottom in the tank then needed something to hold the java fern down. I think I'll just move the stones to one side of the tank with the majority of the plants are and leave the other side clear for feeding/easy cleaning?
I saw a little agression when I first put the pebbles in, there was a particularily awesome cave...Have since created more and that's died down. My step mother and I have developed the strange habit of ...newt-watching. I'll only mean to count them up and then 40minutes later Im late for work haha, sure as hell were adorable when the first grew the back legs, flailing around in this crazy cute fashion, loved it.

 

[Joost]

I keep the larvae in a plastic box, with a layer of gravel (for a bacterial balance). In a setup like this, the larvae grow faster, and Daphnia stay alive longer.

The pyrrhogaster has many formes. The smallest are not bigger than a C. orientalis, while the largest form (sasayamae, for example) can reach a length of 12-14 cm

 

[Azhael]

Mine are of various sizes at the moment. They are just over a year old, so they have not reached their adult potential. The males are pretty homogeneous being about 8cm, and the females are 11cm, and 10cm long. I have one sub-adult that i suspect will be female but i can´t really be sure yet.
If yours are sasayamae, you can expect males to stay around 8-9cm long, when fully adult. Females can reach what Joost said, but since they continue growing their whole lifes, some individuals grow larger. There was a case in this forum of an old female that meassured 18cm long xD

I think the plan of moving the stones to one side and leaving a clear area for feeding is just what you need. That way, they´ll find food easily, you´ll be able to clean much more effitiently, and they will still have the stones to hide and to provide surface area for the bacteria.
Preapre to be amazed by this species, seriously, i never thought i would enjoy them as much as i am!

 

[merk199]

I would recommend housing them in plastic shoe boxes till they go terrestrial. I use the plastic shoebox method because of ease of cleaning, and easier to keep food concentrations higher. I change 50-70% of the water daily in the shoe boxes and swap out the shoe boxes for fresh clean shoe boxes once a week.

To eliminate the rocks, you can switch the java fern to java moss. The moss will float no problem. Java moss is the base of all my newt tanks. Love the stuff.

 

[stitchpunk]

*Stepmum waves at step-daughter*....hey, its easier than getting out of bed and actually going downstairs! lol We went to the specialist fish place yesterday and bought more stuff. I've gone the plastic tub route with mine, though I've put in an artificial log cave which they seem to be enjoying. Mine are getting lots of daphnia but they still seem to be a bit too small to handle the white worms yet, so we'll start some brine shrimp hatching today. And I have to clean the tank i bought, and devise a semi-aquatic set-up...I think we're both on a huge learning curve, but its all fun! NZ is quite limited as to the pets we are allowed to own, so its great to find something as unusual (for down here) as these guys.

 

[ebonykrow]

I wonder which form we have..I guess time will tell?

I've done a set up change, still the large glass tank, a layer of finer gravel with the pebbles and rocks to one side, a large slate rock leading up to the surface just in case I have some freak early morph happen and I've dropped the water level a bit. I'm thinking it will make it that much easier to catch the daphnia.

I haven't had any problems with cleaning up after feeding etc, when feeding worms I feed them each by hand, I do 80-90% changes once a week and another 20-30% change on Wednesdays. So yes there are easier ways of raising larvae but I'm content and confident with what I have done so far

I know that you're supposed to notice the gills reducing before the morph, are we talking a dramatic decrease? As in they almost disappear? Or they just get a little smaller?

 

[Joost]

I wonder which form we have..I guess time will tell?

Most form that's available is sasayamae. Sometimes you can get the Kanto form.
You can ask which form you have, from the person you've got them from

 

[Azhael]

It´s hard to generalize, because some larvae suffer a progressive shortening of the gills before completing metamorphosis, but others will go from fully developed gills to stumps in a day.
Morphing time is very predictable nevertheless, because the appearance of the larvae will change dramatically. The limbs and the body will gain girth, the skin will darken with pigment, the coloration of the belly will become aparent, the tail fin will disappear entirely, and the head of the larvae will look much more like a juvenile´s. All in all, you will notice the changes before they go on land, don´t worry.

If you are jeeping them in a largish tank, which i think is a good method, i wouldn´t make water changes greater than 20%. That way you will still refresh enough water to prevent amonia and nitrite spikes, but you will also conserve an stability in the water parametres and give the biofilm an oportunity to settle in and do it´s job.

Could you upload a picture? I´m curious as to what they look like already

PS: Joost is absolutely right. The breeder should be able to tell you the subspecies. If they are sasayamae, they will become very easy to identify once they mature anyway.

 

[stitchpunk]

There's a photo here that I took a few days ago of one of hers...mine are too small to be photographable at the moment!@chemicalpete here's one of my step-daughter's babies, bigger... on Twitpic

 

[ebonykrow]

Yay for pictures!

http://www.caudata.org/forum/members/ebonykrow-albums-me-my-babies-picture8689t-12-01-10.jpg