Newts climbing on glass?

[i.]

Hi. I read on a website that some newts are expert climbers and can even climb on glass. What species would that be? Just curious cause mine are awful climbers (pleuro, pachytriton)
thanx!

 

[tara]

Both my C. orientalis and my N.v. viridescens are excellent climbers. I have seen my young T. granulosa also climbing glass, but they mostly stick to climbing the plants.

 

[uwe]

More or less all salamanders and frogs are able to climb on glass walls, especially the corners of the terraria are a favored place to do this. So please always stop this way of escaping, if you dont want to find your newt later as mummy under the cup-board.
I take tape (2-3cm) and tape it on the insides of the terrarium, so a small border is enough to keep them in.

Uwe

 

[paul]

my orientalis and viriedescens are rubbish at i}t

 

[i.]

That's interesting, you mean they make it all the way to the top? My pachytriton tries climbing but it never gets out of the water more than half it's body, looks like the tail is too heavy.

 

[jennie]

Both of my C. Orientalis have been known to climb the corners of their tank. Definitely make sure you have a tight fitting top and tape up any big holes.

 

[^imp^]

I take tape (2-3cm) and tape it on the insides of the terrarium, so a small border is enough to keep them in.

Do you mean that the newts cannot climb the tape? This would be a nice alternative to tank "lockdown"...

 

[uwe]

The tape is "standing over" to the inside. So it is a barrier on top and they can not climb overhead.

Uwe

 

[i.]

Thank you all, although I think my question sidetracked in a direction I didn't expect. I have a screentop, quite secure for my tank and I'm not worried at all about newts escaping.
I'm more interested in finding out what species are agile/active enough to climb on glass or other pieces of steep stone and plants outside the water line. As I said earlier, the ones I keep are rather tame in that manner, they never go out of the water and I'm interested in getting a specie that shows a little more exploration on the terrestrial side. Although I'm not interested in getting only terrestrial animals.

thx!

 

[alan]

An overhang of an inch (2.54cm!) or more will defeat most climbers, apart from very small animals. Small animals are better climbers than larger animals because they weigh less. At a certain weight, the mass of the animal breaks the surface tension of the film of water between the belly of the animal and the glass, causing it to be unable to climb. So the answer is not size, but mass - weigh 'em!
What weight? Dunno. A fully grown Cynops orientalis is capable of climbing glass in humid conditions, whereas fully grown Pachytriton / Paramesotriton / Pleurodeles / Tylototriton are not, so somewhere in between those.

 

[paul]

that would explain my rubbish climbers cos they are all pretty fat

 

[jennifer]

I would caution against assuming that larger animals can't climb. I have heard believable accounts of large caudates (tiger salamanders, full-grown Pleurodeles, etc.) escaping from their tanks "somehow". Even animals that are never seen climbing, and seem too large to do so, should still be absolutely prevented from any possible route of escape.

 

[alan]

Absolutely Jen, but in my experience, a 3cm (1.1811 inches) overhang is usually sufficient to prevent this.

 

[uwe]

Alan is right when there is an overhang it is over with escaping, because than the suction is loosening.

Uwe