NVV care

[fuzzy]

My nvv, Paul, passed away today. I had him almost 4 years, but he was an adult when I got him, so I don't know truly how old he was. After reading posts on people keeping these newts alive for 10 - 20 years, I'm curious about what I'm not doing right. I'd like to think I took great care of them; clean tank, feed live blackworms every day, watch the temperature etc. Yet, I still can't get my newts to live past 3 or 4 years old. I'm heartbroken about my last little guy passing. For those of you who have had wonderful success with nvv longevity, can anyone pass on some words of wisdom?

Thanks,
Karen

 

[eldaldo]

I have lost two WC notos to unknown causes after several years of keeping them. It might be that as wild caught individuals, they never fully acclimate to captive care and eventually die of some sort of chronic stress. Perhaps some sort of circadian rythm thing, perhaps some sort of illness/parasite, I don't know. I suspect that one of mine died from the stress of being kept with a cynops (this was when I was a child, I don't mix species anymore), but the other one I really have no clue. Also, as you said, you have no clue of the ultimate age of your salamander. I imagine that the life expectancy of newts in the wild is much shorter than in captivity, and living half of its life in the wild could have affected your newt's longevity.

If you gave details of your care, some of the experts here may be able to find something you were doing wrong, but keeping a newt for five years is probably long enough that you weren't making any beginner mistakes. Also, reading articles on caudata culture http://www.caudata.org/cc/ will give you some of the best info there is. Here's the care article on nvv if you haven't already read it http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Notophthalmus/N_viridescens.shtml.

I'm sorry you lost your newt, it is always a sad thing when you lose something you've cared for over several years.