Notophthalmus v.v. observation

[ester]

For a species that's supposed to like the water a lot as adults, mine sure like their island as well.

I obtained 5 notophthalmus v.v. last week. Imported from the US (to the Netherlands). Of the 5 animals 3 instantly took to the water, the other two have been hiding out under a piece of bark since. Of the aquatic ones two do like to regularly climb onto the island, take a look around.. and then jump back into the water.

All of this I assume is normal behaviour as the animals do not appear stressed, rather the opposite. They don't even consider me a threat worthy of a dive (the camera however does qualify).

They have a decent size aquatic part (50x30x12 cm) with plenty of water plants. I've been feeding them red mosquito larvae (alive), water fleas and fruit flies. Any suggestions on how to make them happier are welcome. They seem to be in good health.

Ester van Strien

 

[wyatt]

one of mine does the same. They might just take a swim while your away and come back. i need some answers about this also.

(Message edited by mrnewt71 on May 18, 2005)

 

[ester]

Two of mine actually move in and out of the water a lot. "Basking" on the water's edge.
One stays in the water all the time and two don't show themselves at all. I don't think they're taking a dive when I'm gone either.
I check on them regularly to make sure they're looking ok.

Who has experience keeping these animals, do they have a summer resting period after the breeding season?

Ester van Strien

 

[ester]

Are there so few people keeping these newts?

 

[lenora]

I just got some on Saturday. They are native to my state, but apparently they haven't been widely available commercially for the past few years. The dealer I got them from is well respected in my area and he says that they are more likely to have parasites than many other kinds of newts. I did lose one newt immediately, but the others look okay so far. I am very hopeful for them. They are gentle little creatures.

As far as feeding them goes- mine really seem to love earthworms. We don't spray chemicals so I just dug them from the yard with my little boy.

(Message edited by greendeltatke on May 21, 2005)

 

[ester]

One of mine just developed an ulcer. It's a round wet spot on its back, 2mm in diameter. First white, now brownish. It's located on its back near the hips. I took it to a vet for small and large animals immediately.

I obtained a liquid antibiotic and am going to bath the newt in it twice a day for at least 14 days.

The drug is called Colisol, active ingredient colistine sulfate (polymyxin). I am bathing the newt in a 2000 I.E./ml solution.

 

[lenora]

Ester, please keep us posted on how well the antibiotic is working.

I myself have lost another newt. He was small, skinny and dark from the beginning, but he was eating so I had hope for him. The remaining four are nice and fat. One is darker than the others but he is not blackish like the sick newt.

All of my newts are male, by the way. The breeder kept back all of the females for more advanced hobbyists who want to reestablish eastern newts as a captive bred species. As a novice, I was only allowed to buy some surplus males. Its fine with me, I don't think I'm ready for the challenge of breeding yet.

 

[ester]

One of the first things I noticed once I started treatment was that there were also 3 sores on its tummy.

I can't be 100% sure yet but the sores seem more shallow and smaller to me after 4 days of treatment. I plan to continue treatment until 3 days after the sores are healed.

As for males or females, I'm not experienced enough yet with this kind of newt to be able to tell outside of the breeding season. Too much wishful thinking interfering with reality there as I do hope to breed them.

imho, a sick & skinny newt has a much worse chance of survival than a newt who's just sick. Mine certainly isn't as plump as the other 4, they've been gorging themselves on worms. But it's also not really skinny yet.

The sick newt is also still fairly active, making an almost successful break for it on saturday morning. The isolation ward clearly wasn't as escape proof as their regular enclosure. I just spotted its tail as it was trying to hide between two computers! I've taken it as an indication that it didn't like the temporary setup and have come up with a slightly larger one. I've also added more hiding spots,it seems content now.

The baths themselves are going ok. I keep the diluted medication in the refrigerator. This does mean the baths are rather cold, even if I take it out half an hour before using it.
While the newt does try to stand up against the walls, there's no panicked action. As long as at least his tail and lower abdomen is in the medication I'm content. The drug can be absorbed through the skin and do its job from the inside out.

The medication used is on the market here for use in pigs and other farm animals. To get it I needed to get in touch with a veterinary praxis that also dealt with farm animals. The advantage is that it's relatively cheap. 1 liter costing around 10 - 15 euro. The vets I went to were friendly enough to sell me just 100 ml. If all goes well I expect I need around 15ml total for the treatment of this newt.

So much for this rather extensive update, I'll let you know if and when there's a change.

Ester

 

[ester]

Completely cured! The skin area is still a bit discolored, but the sores are completely gone.

I am going to continue one bath a day for a few more days to make sure it won't come back again.

This went much faster than I expected. In fact, I was expecting the newt not to survive.

 

[lenora]

That's very good news. I'll archive this in case I ever see an ulcer on one of mine. All of my newts are doing well now, by the way. They all have a good color, and I am amused at how fat they are. I will cut down feeding to every other day now!

I'm going to my brother's farm this weekend and I'll take a walk around his pond to see if I can find any eastern newts. I won't collect any- I'd hate to introduce any new parasites into my little population. I'm just interested to see how many are around. I think their population must have taken a hit after we got aggressive about mosquito eradication.

 

[ester]

Here's a picture of how she(?) looks now.

 

[david]

My male seems to spend all of his time out of the water, it makes it a little harder to feed him but he seems happy and healthy and really enjoys decimating the fruit fly cultures. BTW he is N.v.d. still hoping on getting more to re-establish the broken striped newt in the trade and in the wild with CB.

 

[ester]

I am still "stuck" with 3 happily aquatic veridescens and 2 sleepy land lovers. But all of them eat well so I'm not complaining.

 

[edward]

Hi David,

I would strongly suggest that any animals that you breed not be released to the wild (in fact many state laws (and I think federal too) prohibit the nonregulated rerelease of captive animals regardless of their origin.
As a side note any animals that are destined for rerelease need to be checked to make sure that they are free of pathogens and parasites that are novel to the release site otherwise real damage can be done to the populations both locally and potentially range wide.
For examples of this look at mycoplasma infection in the Gopher and desert tortoises or even chytrid (now believed to have been spread globally due to the use of Xenopus in the lab and pet trade as well as the transport and release of bullfrogs.). Back to mycoplasma, it has relatively recently even been documented in N.A box turtles. So while boosting native populations is a good goal it is not a practical one unless there is the support of the federal and state goverments behind it.

Ed

 

[david]

i was not planning to release them anytime soon, i was thinking more if there was ever a federal reintroduction program that i could donate to.

 

[hayden]

When I had my N.v.v. They liked to hang out on the edge of the water alot too. Especially the male one. He was constantly in plants and on rocks.