Raising taricha granulosa larva

[tara]

I am presently raising some Taricha granulosa larvae and they seem to be developing very slowly. I was just curious whether anybody knows the length of time between hatching and metamorphosis?
Tara

(Message edited by edwardst on June 04, 2003)

(Message edited by edwardst on June 04, 2003)

(Message edited by edwardst on June 04, 2003)

 

[aaron]

Mine hatched in the beginning of January and the first one is preparing to morph, while others are showing no signs of morphing.

~Aaron

 

[tara]

That does't seem very slow, but it is still slower than the C. orientalis which I (we? - they are the children of my boyfriend's newts, but all babies and jeuvies live with me) have been raising these past two years. I think mine hatched prematurely anyway, this would make it seem as if they have been larvae longer than they really should have been. It has been almost a month and still no hind legs.
Tara

 

[pin-pin]

Hi Tara, that was pretty much my case with my Taricha torosa(i assume they're very similar to T. granulosa, but i might be wrong). It took about two weeks for the front legs to come out fully and then another 1.5 month for the back legs. I think it was premature when it hatched, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will grow up normally. Right now it has all the right newt body parts and eating well, so I'm happy.

 

[francesco]

It probably depends on temperature.The lower the slower.What t are they kept at?

 

[tara]

they are at the ambient temperature of my living room, which right now is about 20-21 degrees C (just about 70F).
Tara

 

[liz]

Hi,
I have also been trying to raise some T. granulosa larvae and my situation sounds very similar... they hatched early-mid April and still have no back legs to speak of! They are at about 18C and I feed them Daphnia. What do you feed yours? I was thinking of trying something else for food, maybe blackworms, but I don't know if they are too big for them to eat...

 

[pin-pin]

Feeding these animals is quite an expensive hobby within itself.

The hit-and-miss technique worked for me. If you think your larvae are too small for blackworms, can you get your hands on some grindal worms? I'd try cutting up the blackworms and dropping them in. Usually the larvae are smart enough to figure out if they can't eat it.

 

[fabian]

Hi,
I'm feeding mainly Tubifex worms to my granulosa in the beginning I try to find very small ones later on I change to bigger ones. In my experience granulosa larvae are developing very slowly at the beginning. It takes often over a week after hatching before they start eating. At the end their developing time seems to be "normal". This year mine hatched during January and metamorphosed during June.
Fabian

 

[pin-pin]

Hi Fabian,

Can you give some advice on how to care for the morphs? My T. torosa morphed this last weekend and I'd like your opinion!

 

[fabian]

Hi,
I'm not sure about torosa, I think they are much more terrestrial than granulosa. I keep my morphs in small setups with 0.5 to 1cm water depth and bigger, flat stones lying in it, on this stones there areother stones an pieces of cork bark where they can hide. They stay on this stones for a while and change back to the water after a few month. I feed them mostly Tubifex and little bloodworms. I serve them their food on little wet pieces of wet paper towell. Another possible food source are little fruitflies (the ones who aren't able to fly) and perhaps white worms (I haven't tried). When they are back to the water I feed them like the old.
Fabian

 

[pin-pin]

Thank you Fabian for your information. It is a good idea to have a little bit more water. You have never had any problems with the morph drowning?

 

[fabian]

I've never had Problems with drowning morphs, it's very easy for them to climb out of the water. But keep in mind this is for granulosa, I'm not sure about torosa.
Fabian