My young Notophthalmus are growing up...

[antcatcher11]

Boring!?! lol! I look forward to the littlest news! Congrats on the big eft!

 

[Greatwtehunter]

Not boring at all, I very much enjoy watching other peoples "kids" grow up.

 

[slowfoot]

How about another boring update?

So, both efts have now eaten worms out of my hand. I think. I am absolutely sure I still have two because there's a definite size difference. However, I never see them both out at the same time. Maybe it's one eft with a multiple personality problem.

Anyway, they're still about the same size they were at a month ago. I'd like to get them growing faster. Feeding them by hand is pretty unreliable because I only see each eft every couple of days or so. When I see them, their little bellies look nice and plump, but still I worry...

I took a couple shots of Sneaky today. He's growing up to be quite handsome - his face is definitely more newt-like and less babyish. Another thing I've noticed is that he's got the same type of eyes as the adult newts: disk-like, with a black pupil and a stripe going through it. The efts, however, have big black, terrestrial-looking eyes.





Yes, he's begging. He definitely takes after his two mommies.

He's also eating earthworms now, too. But he prefers bloodworms still. It's actually a little encouraging that he's approximately the same size as the efts despite eating every single day. So maybe the efts are eating a decent amount.

 

[slowfoot]

Even more boring!!!

I managed to get some pictures this morning of the bigger eft eating his breakfast. It's more of the same, but I think they're adorable, so I have to document every cute thing they do.

Here's eft vs. worm (well... half a worm). I don't think my photography quite captures the violent struggle to subdue that piece of worm:







He beat that worm bit up like a champ! That was piece number 4 this morning, which is an eating record. Now he's a satisfied, fat eft:

 

[Nathan050793]

This is like candy for the newt section of my brain!

I know how awesome that satisfaction feels when you get a newt to eat a lot, it's great.

 

[antcatcher11]

Awesome! I loved the pics of the eft eating. Also Sneaky seems to have an interesting teenage stage, kinda looks like an aquatic eft to me, most becuase of the head and coloration.

 

[slowfoot]

Thanks for the comments!

I think it's probably official now that Sneaky has 'decided' to be neotenic. Just looking at his tail today, I can see that it's grown bigger since last week. Definitely a change from his previous eft-like tail. Here's a blurry shot (he's constantly begging, so he's a moving target):



This probably means I'll have to by a new aquarium My husband will be thrilled...

 

[antcatcher11]

I was right!!! Very cute! lol I like how the head seems to small for the rest of the body!

 

[slowfoot]

I was right!!! Very cute! lol I like how the head seems to small for the rest of the body!

He does have a small head. That's what happens when your brain is tiny

Today, Sneaky was freaking out and swimming all over his little cage like a newt on fire. I thought I was going to have to post a help thread about it. Turns out though, he was just shedding. He stripped the whole thing off in one big piece and ate it. So at least I know he's getting bigger

 

[Azhael]

I´ve only seen shedding in post-morphing animals so you might be right to think it´s neotenic. It will be interesting to see how it develops

 

[slowfoot]

EEEEE!!!! And now he's doing that strange little newt pose that I see the adults doing sometimes - with his little elbows sticking out!

I'm like a proud parent here

I´ve only seen shedding in post-morphing animals so you might be right to think it´s neotenic. It will be interesting to see how it develops

I think I'll move him to a bigger place in a few days - I'd like to give him some space to grow. Maybe a 5 gallon or something...

 

[antcatcher11]

Very cool, though I think you should just go to a 10 gallon. I think that becuase since he has gills and is an amphibian, to many changes in water conditions might be a little to stressful and you won't have to worry about where the other 2 efts will go on the day they morph. Sigh, I wish I had pictures of these morphing efts I use to see camping around June or so. They were still bright red and looked just like adults. (they were the same size to)Sounds like it is just growth shedding cause his body (excluding color) looks like a minature adults. So have you put sneakys tank near his parents?

 

[slowfoot]

Very cool, though I think you should just go to a 10 gallon. I think that becuase since he has gills and is an amphibian, to many changes in water conditions might be a little to stressful and you won't have to worry about where the other 2 efts will go on the day they morph. Sigh, I wish I had pictures of these morphing efts I use to see camping around June or so. They were still bright red and looked just like adults. (they were the same size to)Sounds like it is just growth shedding cause his body (excluding color) looks like a minature adults. So have you put sneakys tank near his parents?

It's mostly a matter of space: I'm just running out of room for new tanks. Actually, I think if I get a 5 gallon (which I'll probably do today) I'm going to put my male newt in it for a week or so. He's being really obnoxious right now and the females need a break.

I'm hoping that by the time the two efts morph that we'll be in a bigger house. Maybe I'll have my own newt room by then

 

[pesco]

Hi,
fabulous thread !
I join community just to post this reply

Feeding just one kind of food all the time might cause numerous problems, so its great they started to eat worms.
I'd like to suggest some good food sources I am using for years:
- fruit flies larvae, if you are culturing flies, stick few pieces of plastic (I use stripes cut of pepsi or cola bottles - they tent to wrap around so wont fall into culturing media)that way, that around 5cm piece is sticking out from cultiring media, larvae are moving up the plastic to pupate, its enough if you take the plastic strip out and rinse with water, then you can easily take the larvae out of water
- green flies - easy to culture on some living plant, I am cutting branch of host plant with green flies and putting in the terrarium; that way green flies wont spread as they are sticking around that cut branch for a while, when they finaly decide to look for another host plant they usually all eaten
- white worms, simply speaking they are tiny copies of earth worms; they are upto 2cm long, usually around 10-15mm, culture them in a container with soil and feed them with oats, bread, some vegies or so, there is plenty of info on the Net, it takes 10 minutes a day or two of maintenence; you can get starting batch on ebay, sometimes you can buy them in pet shops or from aquarists


Good luck with your kinds

 

[slowfoot]

Hi Pesco! Thanks for the reply :happy:

Since I ran out of termites, the efts are eating fruit flies (D. hydei, which they sort of like), pinhead crickets, and chopped earthworms. The fruit flies are mostly for the smaller eft, who's not out as much for me to feed. The bigger eft eats about 4 worm parts per morning.

Sneaky, the aquatic guy, is eating frozen blood worms and chopped earthworms.

 

[antcatcher11]

next spring you should try those annoying inchworms, their adult phase is aweful. (winter moths! )

 

[ravenous]

This is an awesome thread.

So how do you feed these guys? Are they strictly by hand? I dont see how you can give one termites (where do you get these anyway) or fruitflys.

 

[slowfoot]

This is an awesome thread.

So how do you feed these guys? Are they strictly by hand? I dont see how you can give one termites (where do you get these anyway) or fruitflys.

Thanks! I find termites in old rotted logs - they're pretty scarce now, though. The fruit flies and termites I just throw in and they wander around and get eaten (or escape). The earthworms I have to feed by hand because they'll escape down into the substrate.

Joey, I tried those (or something similar) with my adults, and they spit them out. Maybe they taste nasty?

And... here are a few more pictures of Sneaky. I got him a new place - got a sweet deal on a little 3 gallon Eclipse. I think it's about the right size for him. I'm not running the filter, just the lights. After about an hour or so of freaking out, he's settled down well and is back to begging for food.









And the new place:

 

[Nathan050793]

Finally, new pics! Sneaky is pretty awesome- is it just me or are his spots becoming more orange?

 

[slowfoot]

Finally, new pics! Sneaky is pretty awesome- is it just me or are his spots becoming more orange?

You know what? You might be right. They do look more orange! I thought it might just be the pictures, but the little creature looks more orange in person (or in newt, as the case may be). Hmmm...

I suppose it could be just the new lighting or something.