My young Notophthalmus are growing up...

Awesome little efts! The setup looks great too! So, it sounds like your little efts are becoming more adventorous and less shy. Is that correct? Any way they all look happy and plump! I can't wait for your next update lol!
 
Man, I hope mine breed soon. The female's so small and slender compared to the male though. :( It could possibly even be a younger male.
 
Mike, you just need to post pics of them. Maybe you should ask for a digital camera for x-mas? Any way, I don't think they will breed this year for you.
 
Seems to be the case, unless I can fatten her up a whole lot. I'm fine with that anyway. Larvae are a lot of responsibility.
 
Despite my best efforts to remove all the eggs I could reach, my newt tank is now swimming with larvae. I'm going to leave them in with their parents. Yes, many will be eaten, but there's a lot of microfood and cover in the tank and I just don't have the time to raise them.

It's hard to resist, though: they're so cute with their little racing stripes :(
 
Just a quick little update for some pictures. I caught the larger eft trying to make a break for it on the highest peak in the terrarium this morning:

king1.JPG

There's a secure lid, so he's not going anywhere. I just thought it was cute.

I almost got that one to eat out of my hand (or forceps) the other night. He sniffed at the bloodworms and followed them around, but chickened out in the end.

Sneaky (I hate jinxing my little guys with names, but this one stuck) has no problem with bloodworms - he loves them:

eating.JPG
 
Cute :)
I just realised something looking at the second picture...the colours of the larvae appear to be in two different layers. See the yellow spots seem independent from the background coloration, pretty much like there were two different layers of skin with two different colorations....very interesting.
 
I love your updates! Sneaky looks healthy so I dought a name will be the end of him!
 
azhael said:
Cute :)
I just realised something looking at the second picture...the colours of the larvae appear to be in two different layers. See the yellow spots seem independent from the background coloration, pretty much like there were two different layers of skin with two different colorations....very interesting.
Click to expand...

Those yellow spots are the areas that are red in the parents, which makes me think these guys will never grow up to have red 'broken stripes' like the parents do. It'll be interesting to see how they turn out if they grow up.
 
You could simply try feeding their food with carrots. I have found that it makes my hermit crabs color brighter after a molt. What are you feeding the efts? Also termits can start a culture as longs as they have their king (unlike ants queens need to mate more then once) and queen or enough secondary reproductives. Since your husband is an entomologist I am sure he will be able to help start a culture if you need to.
 
Oh i know those are the "red" spots Erin thank you :)
What i was surprised to see was not the spots, but the way they look to be on a different skin level.
 
They do sort of look like they're on a different level: the parents' spots look like little flakes of red stuck on their skin.

As far as diet, they're still eating only termites (and whatever other tiny things are crawling around in the terrarium). They absolutely rejected the fruit flies. I might try live blackworms again - they were definitely sniffed thoroughly the last time I put them in, though none were eaten. Right now, I'm offering bloodworms by hand every night before adding termites. I've had no success so far. I suppose I could try to make them hungrier by not feeding for a day or so, but at this point I just want them to grow.

I do have my own termite colony: it's a piece of wood in the backyard ;)
 
lol, I know you are collecting the termits, I am just saying that you could have your own colony of subterrain termits that you wouldn't have to go out if it is raining or something.
 
Erin,

Have you ever tried feeding them pill bugs? I feed them to my N. v. viridescens efts and they absolutely relish them.
 
antcatcher11 said:
lol, I know you are collecting the termits, I am just saying that you could have your own colony of subterrain termits that you wouldn't have to go out if it is raining or something.
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I know ;) They're actually pretty hard to breed and keep alive. The termite lab here on campus has a nice set-up, though.
 
Really? I would imagin that they would be as easy as ants, but then again ants don't eat rooting wood. :D Also I would worry about parasites with pillbugs but, if you release some in your tank they are a VERY good garbage desposal.
 
Greatwtehunter said:
Erin,

Have you ever tried feeding them pill bugs? I feed them to my N. v. viridescens efts and they absolutely relish them.
Click to expand...

I've tried. Unfortunately, the only type we seem to have down here are the hard-shelled variety. They've never really shown interest in those.

I think I'll try pinhead crickets. I'm also now considering separating the smaller, shyer eft from the bigger so I can make sure he gets enough to eat.

Anyway, here are some larvae pics from this morning. I like seeing all the food in their bellies ;)

2008larvae1.JPG

2008larvae2.JPG
 
antcatcher11 said:
Also I would worry about parasites with pillbugs but, if you release some in your tank they are a VERY good garbage desposal.
Click to expand...

I breed my own pillbugs so parasites shouldn't be a problem and honestly no matter what you feed your critters the threat of parasites will always be there. So as long as the food is pesticide free I don't really even bother worrying about parasites.;)
 
SUCCESS!!!! :D

The larger eft ate a whole earthworm from my hand (er... forceps). Yes, it was cut into 3 small pieces, but he stuck around for the whole thing - my banging around and looming over him wasn't enough to scare him away.

I might have to separate the smaller eft from the larger one - maybe put him in a smaller cage with more food to get him to grow faster.

Sneaky continues to be fully aquatic. He's decided he doesn't hate me quite as much as he used to and is now begging for food again.

My updates are boring.
 
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