My taricha...is it normal?

[gail]

I talked a little about this in my " new/basic concerns".I am still worried about my taricha refusing food.I have not seen him eat in several days.He even moved away from a nice juicy earthworm when I placed it in front of him.He was out of the water at the time and actually went back in.All seems fine with the water and environment,and he's still quite active.

I have 2 questions.I can see a slight ridge where his spine is.Would that indicate that he's too thin?And he often rises up and gulps at the surface of the water.Often, as in 5 or 6 times in an hour.Is that normal? There is a submersible filter,which I would think would aerate the water,but maybe it's not enough?

Oh...one more.I was watching him on land and he was bulging at the throat,looking very much like a frog.His throat would fill and then go back to usual.Is that just something they do?

I am sorry if these are dumb questions but this is my first experience with newts.I've been reading as much as possible to try and learn about them.Thanks for any help.

Tinker

 

[jeff]

ok a couple of things.

1. Your newt is not going to eat every day, but if he doen't don't worry, its worse to overfeed him.

2. Try feeding him when he is in the water, try frozen bloodworms, my guys love them. Just drop a cube in the tank, near his head and see what he does. If he doesn't go for them, try the tweezer method. Check out my post in the live food section, on keeping crickets.

http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/24861/28745.html?1104884467

The neck/frog, gulping thing is normal, but it might be a sign of stress, check out the temp, make sure the temperature in the tank is 66-72 degees if you want him to have an active, but not too hot of a temperature.

Also make sure he has a good environment, for example, plants, rock shelter, mabye backing to keep outside sources from stressing him. let me know how this goes.

Jeff

(Message edited by newtsrfun on January 19, 2005)

 

[paris]

gail-a photo would be good to judge its weight -there is a site here however-the taricha pictured up on the left top is DEFINITLY too thin-if yours looks like this then yes, this one also is showing ribs. here's the link http://www.spiderrun.ca/sr_shownode.asp?pid=51

the rest of the stuff isnt worth worrying about. how big is the worm you offered him? all but the most aggressive eaters wont take on a full sized object they have to wrestle to get and keep down.

 

[jeff]

Sometimes I wonder if my Taricha would try to eat something way to big, like a huge cricket, and choke.... What do you think Paris?

Also, I think my cats sometimes stress my newts out, they like to watch them, they have lots of cover, but they will sometimes do the air gulp, pulsating neck thing and I think this is the cause, what do you guys think of that?

 

[paris]

newts like frogs will freeze the pulsating when they know they are being watched.

i have never seen a newt choke-but i dont watch them all the time. i am under the impression that if a newt can get it in -it can get it down, remember they have backup respiration to the lungs-so they have a little more time than say a mammal with too large a mouthfull. i usually only offer something of the size of the area between the eyes long. huge crickets can offer another issue though-i have heard some info about the hard sharp legs of grasshoppers and crickets puncturing guts. i just buy 3 sizes for all my guys, and if a cricket looks dangerous in the leg (or egg laying tube of females)category-i just cut those parts off.

 

[jeff]

Thanks, I have always bought my crickets small, and feed them good (and expensive) vitamin rich food. The usually grow up quick, and sometimes I don't get enough time to feed them all the crickets before they get so big they just massacare the smaller ones. I hate just puting them in there and hoping someone eates them, I always have to feed the ones by tweezer that are doing the backfloat... But I never have a problem with those guys ripping apart the bloodworms, which claim to be vitamin enriched.

Does anyone think I really need to try screwing around with earthworms?

 

[pin-pin]

Many keepers in this forum have said that worms are a nutritious, balanced part of a salamander's diet.

I'm a big worm fan myself.

Gail, the advice by Paris is quite good. If you take a photo of your little guy, we can tell you if he/she/it is too skinny. Otherwise, there are photos in Caudata Culture (Click here) in which you can compare your guy to the ones there. Just keep trying with the worms and keep us updated. As for "gulping 5-6 times an hour"--this is normal, adult Tarichas use their lungs as the primary mode of respiration (as opposed to the Family Plethodontidae).

(Message edited by apples on January 19, 2005)

 

[gail]

Thanks everyone.So far his interest in bloodworms has been zero.I can't be certain if he is catching crickets or ghost shrimp.I just know that he ignores the worms and brine shrimp.Maybe he's just too finicky for frozen food.

I'm not real good with aquatic photography and am having a bit of trouble with my digital camera.This is a pic taken when I first got him home. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v246/Tinkeraka/newt2.jpg
I'll try getting one of him out of the tank if I can.

Tink

 

[gail]

One other thought.Does anyone know if newts are sensitive to noise? One of my dogs barks pretty loud when she wants out.I don't see any visible reaction from the newts or from my other aquatic critters.But I'm trying to cover all the possibilities.Thanks again.

Tink

 

[paris]

gail-link for photo is bad.

as for noise -yes they are sensitive but some get used to it. it would be a bad idea to put a tank next to a stereo-esp a loud one, but air stones will make a constant noise too so its dependant on levels and consistency. i had a friend who killed his scorpion by keeping it in his band room. i know of 1 paper out there on fish or amphibs exposed to loud noises-i think it was in sweeden or somewhere near there- i could get it for you if your interested-it might be a dull read though....my main dissapointment with may papers i read is that they dont answer the question-many just say 'further research is needed'....

 

[gail]

Sorry about the bad link and poor quality pic.Here he is exploring his new home.I'll try to get a more recent pic of him,out of the tank soon if I can get the dang camera to work.It's hard to tell from the pic,but the tank has a land area,plant cover in a portion of the water,and a clear bit of water.I'll be adding more plants for him.

Tink

 

[jeff]

The pic is actually probably enough to say that your newt looks healthy to me. The tank looks to be set up good, just make sure he/she has cover on the land part of it, sometimes mine just want to hide out for a few hours. You can buy these little reptile houses at petshops that mine really like.