My Red Efts

[Wildebeestking]

I just realized today I haven't introduced my red efts. They came in excellent condition from Backwater Reptiles. They were fat, large, and don't appeared stressed at all. I've been hand feeding them small earthworms and then letting them hunt wood lice whenever they're hungry. I'm going to try out Jennewt's mass feeding technique on them to see if it works. Their tank is just a rubbermaid bin filled with soil and planted heavily with moss, grass, and groundcover. I added a shallow water dish, the water is just a tiny bit above the gravel, so they can't drown. I'll add more water if they start venturing into it later on, but for now its just there as a way to water my plants. My reddest eft is the daring one and frequently ventures into the water and then climbs out again.

 

[Coastal Groovin]

I feed mine small clumps of black worms and chopped earth worms on wet paper towls.

 

[Wildebeestking]

I like that idea. I have small enough worms to not need to chop them up, but I need to start incorporating blackworkms into their diet. I have a constant worry that they aren't eating enough.

 

[Coastal Groovin]

Black worms have become the main food for mine. They just dive into the little clumps face first. I also have isopods in their tank and I offer them small crickets and fruit flies.

 

[Slimy2]

Those are some nice looking Noto's there. I love their red hues; such attractive looking newts.

 

[grius]

Nice little newts and cool setup. But how do you manage to see that they eat in that vegetation? I have seen a few well planted setups like this one and always wonder how you guys do.

 

[Wildebeestking]

I keep a close eye on their body weight and I've started placing bloodworms on a paper towel just to visually watch them eat. I've figured that they can manage to hunt pretty well because most of the time I just dump the worms and isopods into the tank.

 

[Wildebeestking]

The largest one started taking on a darker tone to his skin, almost green, so I moved him to a seperate box with his own food, an island and about half an inch of water. Hopefully he takes to it and starts to swim around rather than rest on the island. The other three are all still bright red, so they get to stay where they are.

 

[grius]

Okey I see. They are skilled hunters then.
And good luck with transfer the newt.

 

[Wildebeestking]

Well I ended up getting two almost fully developed adult efts from my friend, so I kept them in a bucket with water, gradually adding more daily to encourage them to swiftly adjust to the new conditions. Luckily they didn't mind my rather aggressive approach and actually fully morphed into aquatic adults within a two week span. I currently have the two in my 45 gallon tank which I'm cooling down with large blocks of ice that I refresh every couple of hours or so. Not sure if they are even mature enough to breed, but they are actually enjoying the huge drop in temperature and unless I'm mistaken it looks like I have a gravid female possibly, if the other one ends up being another female that could be an issue. Anyways, here's some picture of the aquatic pair.

 

[slowfoot]

Based on the pictures you've posted, picture #1 is male, picture #2 is female (not super gravid, though), picture #3 is male.

 

[otolith]

I agree with slowfoot, first and last pictures are a young male. If you keep them cool and keep feeding them lots of earthworms they should get into breeding condition fairly easily (as long as they are mature). Good luck!

 

[Wildebeestking]

Thanks! I thought I had a male and female, but I was unsure. I'm keeping them cool for the next twp weeks and then I'm loading them with food.