Notophthalmus viridescens viridescens

[liam]

Hi there,

Been looking at the site for quite a long time now, without posting much. Yesterday i acquired 6 n.v.v. - they are lovely newts and i thought i'd quickly take a few photos to show you all. Hope you like them!

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Liam.

 

[heather]

Beautiful creatures you got there Liam!
~Heather

 

[mark]

Very nice animals, Liam. Notophthalmus are among my favorite genera. They are truly enjoyable creatures and can be good captives as well. I wish you the best of luck.

Mark

 

[mike]

Nice notos Liam.

 

[danny]

Gorgeous newts Liam! Did you turn off the lights in the room before you took the pictures?

 

[mark]

Good photos and lovely newts!

 

[karl]

oh wow they are very nice
another species for the wishlist..

 

[liam]

I'm afraid I don't remember if the lights in the room were on or not. I think that they were probably off though. So far I can confidently identify 3 of them - the 2 males and 1 of the females. Glad you all liked them! I'll try to post some photos of their setup a bit later on. It's fantastic being able to watch them go about their daily lives - i can see so much more than i can when looking at wild newts. Yesterday, for the first time, i witnessed one of them eating it's shed skin - was very exciting!

They also seem to occasionally "yawn" - it's amazing how wide they can open their mouths!

Liam.

 

[pamela]

Thanks for your pics. I would love to have these little guys. In the future - I am sure of it.

 

[colin]

is that the wee guys from aquarium design on paisley road? I seen them on Monday if it is

 

[liam]

Hi Colin, no they're not

. Mike East was gracious enough to send me some.

 

[leanne]

Great newts, Liam! Here are my Stan and Santa's Little Helper---are your newts amplexing at all right now?? Mine are for some reason--crazy that it is wintertime and this is occurring.

 

[mark]

Nice newts! You are very fortunate!

 

[colin]

mine have been going in and out of amplexus since i got them too. no eggs though but the females are getting bigger.

I dont think they'll lay until spring

 

[liam]

Actually, yes, they have! Last night just before I fed them, 1 of the males attempted to amplex a female but she managed to escape. Straight away he went for the next nearest female (and almost got her) but she wriggled off too before he could tighten his grip.

However - this morning when I woke up and looked in the tank, the same male was in amplexus with one of the females! I'm not sure how long they'd been like that before I woke up, but while I watched they remained like that for about 20-25 minutes. The whole time he was "tail-waving" toward her face. It was amazing to watch. Next he began to "writhe" around a bit, still attached to her, and I was slightly worried that she might get hurt.He let go soon afterwards though and she proceeded to follow along behind him, "sniffing" at his rear end. He continued to wave his tail now and then. I watched him deposit 3 spermatophores, the 2nd of which I think the female may have picked up! I'm not 100% sure if she did or not though. Anyway, after that, the male continued to tail-fan for a little while, even after the female swam off. Was extremely exciting! I managed to take a few photos, but i didnt want to put them off so tried not to take too many. Sorry for the poor quality!

Amplexus:
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Spermatophore:
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Liam.

 

[leanne]

Excellent! I would be looking for an egg or two in the foliage now....Colin, I did find one single egg last week on one of my plants, but that was it so far.

 

[liam]

Hi again, went a bit crazy with the camera this afternoon

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The same male amplexed a different female but after letting her go, she escaped.

Amplexus
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Soon afterwards, I witnessed a behaviour i also saw yesterday - not quite sure what was happening. A female "yawned", shed and ate it's skin, then seemed to "hang" motionless and stiff at the back of the tank for a minute or two. her eyes were closed, and her limbs were tensed up, and close to the body. She then snapped out of it, looked quite full, and yawned again, after which she was back to normal. She looked strangely thin while yawning. I managed to snap a few pics of that sequence - she was right at the back of the tank when she "hung" though, so i couldn't get a good photo. Any idea why she did that?

Eating Skin
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"Hanging"
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Looking quite full
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Yawning
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Liam.

 

[joe]

nice pictures.

 

[danny]

Very interesting! Keep on eye out for great opportunities for even more great photos Liam! Maybe an egg or two in the future

 

[joe]

hey danny you are from edmonton too. Got any thing for sale. really interested in salamanders and newt. i am mainly a frog person.

(Message edited by joe5555 on December 24, 2004)