O.ophryticus info.

[Azhael]

Hi, i might be getting myself some ophryticus morphs and i´m trying to learn as much as possible, so if anyone could give me some tips from first hand experience i´d be really grateful. For what i´ve read they are more or less like Triturus in general care, with a preference for dryer substrates. So keeping in mind the dryness to avoid skin problems, are they relatively eassy to keep?? Being such small morphs i´m pretty worried, but they are supossed to be well started little buggers, eating bloodworms and pinhead crickets. Would they adjust to frozen bloodworms as my marms did(with time and patience)??
Anyway, i´m trying to find out if i´m too much of a newbie for this species, so please share your experience

 

[caudataman]

Hi Rodrigo,

Having bred vittatus for the first time this year, it's a work in progress for me. I have about 2 dozen morphs so far (with many more to go) and I'm having mixed success. I've been trying to use very small earthworms, cut and placed in a cup lid that keeps them from crawling away and fouling my dirt substrate. Some of the bigger morphs are taking them and growing nicely, some are not. This week I plan on getting pinhead crickets and perhaps some springtails to see if I can get the smaller non-feeders going. If anyone knows of a single source I can get pinheads AND springtails from, I'd appreciate the reference. As far as a container, I am using a plastic sweater box with about an 2.5-3.5 cm of dirt in the bottom and several plastic shelters. No water aside from air humidity and mild condensation inside the box. So far no skin problems.

 

[Azhael]

Thanks for sharing! I´ve recently had a bad experience with a C.orientalis morph that died before eating anything so my main concern with these tiny creatures is their feeding attitude. I can offer tiny earthworms at least until november or so. If you get those pinhead crickets, i´d love to know how it goes. In my very little experience i´ve seen that the faster the prey, the bigger the response....so i hope you trick the picky eaters into eating. Would you consider the adults particularly difficult to keep in any aspect? I´ve been told this species is more or less as hardy and eassy to keep as any Triturus, but i´m still a newbie and i don´t want to compromise the health of any animal just because i want them bad. Anyway thanks again for sharing, much apreciated

 

[coendeurloo]

What a coincidence, I will be getting a group of 15 juvenile O. ophryticus nesterovi soon, so we can help each other Rodrigo.