Need help identifying my Fire Belly Newt.

F

flavia

Guest
A few weeks ago i bought 3 new newts.When i first saw them i thought they were verrucosus.But when i handled them i noticed they had incredible eyes. True crocodile eyes, or gecko eyes, not the black eyes that Verrucosus and Mandarin Salamander have.Then i noticed that they had red bellies with black spots and a red line on the tail too. But apart that they look like verrucosus, the same size, square head with square jaws etc...On the beginning i thought they were Chinese Fire belly but now i can notice the difference!Chinese Fire Bellies smaller are much smaller and have a round head.My babies are huge! Although they are juveniles they are already almost 6 inches!They behave like verrucosus too, they love to stay on the soil and dont have afraid to chase huge worms like superworms.My Mandarin salamander are pretty shy compared to my new fire belly newts and to my Verrucosus.
Which fire belly specie has fair and beautiful crocodile eyes? By the photos i saw in INTERNET its difficult to see the colour of the eyes and i think the most remarkable aspect of my new newts are the eyes!
Can someone help me? Thanks!
 
Without pictures a description is very difficult to translate, in my eyes, crocodile eyels are with cat-like pupils...don't think any caudate has that, so perhaps it's not a salamander?
No, without joking, please to to post a picture, from above, from aside and from the belly, then without no doubt there is enough knowledge on this site to help you identify. It is probably a Pachytriton, Paramesotriton or Cynops.
 
If they are paramesotriton they will need a semiaquatic or aquatic setup. How do you know they are juveniles?
Chris
 
Well, they do have cat eyes, gorgeous cat eyes, not black and round eyes like the verrucosus and Mandarin Newt!I think they are juveniles because of the shape of the body.Slim, not well formed yet.They dont like to stay in the water too long.Only a few soaks perhaps when they are feeling hot.The problem is that they are lazy and just like my verrucosus they are becoming too fat! My Verrucosus are sooo fat i needed to put them on a diet!i think its because i raise them in soil not in water and they need to do any exercise but sleeping and eating all they long!
Take a look!

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/3042Mysalamanderscage-med.jpg

Ill take some photos of my new fire belly soon !Thanks, guys i can see now all of you are experts! Poor me!lol!By the way i use tap water for my sallies because where i live the water is very good.Its treated but its good and everybody drinks tap water here.I have had my verrucosus and Mandarin salamander for several months and until now i didnt have any problem with them (besides obesity!).Do you think its ok to continue using tap water with them?


uoteauthor{Jennifer Macke (Jennewt),Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 18:41,#POST19497,}
 
Chris

In fact they do look like your P. fuzhongensis with the same crocodile eyes and the shape of the head with square and strong bones. They look like juveniles P. fuzhongensis but their body is dark brown without any spots. Is that possible?I live in Malaysia, southeast asia and the babies cost me nothing at all! I suppose they are local species!

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>Flavia Guimaraes (Flavia) wrote on Friday, February 20, 2004 - 02:20 :</font>

""<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>
 
Hi. Malaysia has lots of frogs but no native salamanders and so yours probably originated in China. The sweltering heat there is part of the reason why, and if you don't provide some form of cooling for your newt, it won't last long
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Anyway, good luck with them. I hope you don't plan on keeping them in the tank as your other newts. That could be asking for trouble!
 
Thailand is even hotter than Malaysia (i lived there for 3 years!) and Mandarin Newts are originated from Thailand, arent them?Anyway i dont keep my newts outdoors but indoors at a room temperature of mid 70's.
No, im not going to keep them in the same tank with my other newts.I noticed already they are pretty aggressive with each other.They behave just like my Fly River Turtles do, putting their noses under each others belly to press them to go out from their territory!
 
Glad to hear that Flavia
wink.gif
I too have lived in Thailand, and it can get quite chilly up in the northern hills! But anyway, many or most of the Mandarin newts that flood the world may come through Thailand, but actually originate in Burma (Myanmar). Parts of northern Burma are so mountainous and cold that the country even has places where one can ski!
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. These newts are also sourced from China and India, as far as I know.
 
Were are you living now?Im living in Malaysia as i said before and the weather is just perfect for my iguanas!
I just found out which paramesotriton i have: They are hongkongensis!I found some pictures of Paramesotriton in:

http://jarclark.tripod.com/china.htm#para

And it seems that my babies posed for the photos of the hongkongensis!!Do you have a good care sheet for that specie?
 
Hi all
Yes Tim, i agree to what you sad about verrucosus and temperatures in northern Thailand (esp. Loei) and northern Myanmar,...:D
In thailand, there are shanjing-like looking verrucosus, so i don´t believe in older literature, telling about shanjing there.Another problem is, that most of these sources were written in times, shanjing wasn´t separated from verrucosus (If that can be accepted as a final decision or not,...). Animals of the "verrucosus-komplex", can be found from north-eastern India via Nepal through Myanmar to China and Thailand,....
And i won´t say anything about that "tank",i think it would get much to emotional,......
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