Question on morphing/gills

[vistajpdf]

My oldest four C. Orientalis larvae, 3 mos. old, are in a 5.5 gallon aquarium of about 4 inches of water with a floating turtle dock. One of them has clearly shrinking gills that seem to have shrunk quite a bit since yesterday. I can still see a little frill there, but am concerned about drowning as it's one of the horrors I've read about.

So, I'm wondering if these little guys just crawl out of the water one day or if I should move them into a very shallow container with an easy transition onto the land as the gills disappear???? How deep is too deep? Do you then just feed them on land - how is this done with live worms? Is it in a bowl or dumped on the substrate. I plan to use the brick-style material that swells when you add water or are paper towels better? I have the brick stuff for my tree frog's substrate already, but am not opposed to something else if there's something better.

I'm getting nervous...

Dana

 

[merk199]

Look on Caudata culture in the breeding article. I believe they suggest raising one of the tank ends on an incline and when the newts start to emerge, taking them out and putting them in a terrestrial setting.....Get the fruit flies ready!

 

[Nathan050793]

It definitely sounds like your little guy is rapidly approaching metamorphosis. If you have a turtle dock in the tank at the moment, then you're fine, as long as it can be easily climbed on to. Additionally, you could try lowering the water level by an inch or two or adding another place for him to haul-out.

Once the larva has climbed on to land for good, the hard part starts. C.orientalis morphs are teeny-tiny and so require tiny live foods such as springtails, white-worms, or fruit flies. I've also heard of people raising orientalis efts in set-ups with very shallow water and lots of places to climb out, and then feeding them on bloodworms/blackworms in the water.

You could also try placing diced blackworms in a shallow dish in the terrestrial tank, and letting the morphs find them. You'd just have to make sure that the morphs could get in and out of the dish safely.

Coco-fiber will work fine as the substrate, however plain organic-soil or a mix of both also should work well. Make sure to provide plenty of hides!

Good Luck!

 

[vistajpdf]

Thanks guys - will look at the article again and start getting more prepared. We (my 3 sons and I) are really fond of "Newty" and don't want to see him perish now! He was the first larva and is the special one...it's a close second-forty for the others...

I am a little worried about the depth of the tank right now - think I will move at least the most developed into something else. I have plenty of white worms and blackworms, but no fruit flies. Are they easy to get? They must be flightless, right? I'm not sure how my husband will feel about yet another insect colony going...

Dana

 

[Azhael]

Once it decides it´s time to leave the water it´ll get out. If there is easily accesible terrestrial areas, they´ll find them despite of the depth. However it never hurts to move the advanced larvae to a shallow container. It´s a good idea to heavily stock the water with plants, it gives the larvae easy access to the surface. As soon as it hauls off the water it can be transfered to a terrestrial set-up.

In all fairness, juveniles of this species are a bit clumsy. They will hunt earthworms, waxworms and the like, but fruitflies might be a bit hard for them to catch. Some juveniles are always more forward and may hunt them actively, but i think some may not even bother.
Anyway, fruitflies are dead easy to culture and easily available so they are a good choice(you can find several recipes for fruitfly culturing media in this forum). You can also train the little bugger to eat bloodworms from tweezers, pieces of earthworm, isopods...it all depends on the size of the juveniles, and what it can take.

Best of lucks!

 

[vistajpdf]

Ahhh, taking me back to college when I did years of research with Drosophila melanogaster. It was me, the student, journeying to the lab in the middle of the night to separate the fruit flies while the professor was asleep in his home! I'm very familiar with the agar we used then, though I might not be readily able to come up with the recipe though I do recall Grandma's Molasses!

I'm thinking the white and blackworms might be better for the juveniles? I could hand feed them or saturate the area with the worms to be sure no one goes hungry. I still have the frozen bloodworms from my days before knowing you all, but I've largely gone to live foods for even the adults.

Dana