Rearing CFBNs in Tropical Countries

[samuel]

Harlo dear friends,

It's been so long since i've came on here due to my military training. i hope all have been well. btw, i may be a little late but i must say the new look is very amazing! great job john and the rest who have contributed!

i just want to pt out something that have been very controversial. many of u guys tell pple living in the tropical countries that it is impossible to rear fragile newt species like orientalis. just wanna inform u guys that both my orientalis have been thriving since 17 oct 03 till now. the water chemistry is super stable and their appetite ais amazing. i live in Singapore btw. my pal joel has his newts for like 5 mths too and he lives in Malaysia, not too far away.

just something to think about. i have to rush back to base now. keeping orientalis in tropical countries is not too impossible after all/

best wishes! see u guys soon!

Sam

 

[joel]

note that the water temp is always above 84 F and at some points it even reaches 90 F. My CFBNs have not shown any signs of illness and are still eating heartily. In fact they are a little fat.

I'm not sure but I think maybe what CFBNs need are not cooler temps but a stable temp that they have acclimated too.

 

[jennifer]

I wish you both the best of success. Please continue to update us. The only thing I would point out is that 5 months is a short time in the life of a newt.

 

[nate]

Yes, a very short time and there's something else worth noting: most of the other orientalis keepers here are reporting breeding and eggs at this time of year. Have either of you had any breeding activity?



(Message edited by nate on February 29, 2004)

 

[brian]

Are they actually very active? In one very bad summer here I had Taricha that were fine when it was in the very high 90's inside the house during the day for a couple days, but they basically hid away most of the day.

 

[samuel]

Hi again!

Yes, i agree 5 mths is short and i do hope for the best. They're all currently very active and have very good appetites. i feed them mainly frozen blood worms every other day.

Yes, i agree, no breeding activity. That's the main drawback of keeping temperate newts in S'pore. and i'll consider that as abnormal but inevitable behaviour. Otherwise, all seems normal and well. i have a siamese algae eater and a ramshorn inside to keep the algae growth down too.

Brian, i'm not too sure about tarichas, but i have a thoery, as long as the tempertaures are constant, and not exceedingly dangerous, a newt should be quite comfortable. but agian, this is from the mouth of a novice. the pros here will tell u otherwise. but that's just my opinion.

Sam

 

[jesper]

Ok, I'd just want to put up a warning finger on the siamese algae eater. Maybe they are ok together with orientalis since orientalis are so small newts and thus won't try anything with the algae eaters. For bigger newts though that would be really bad since if the newts eat the algae eater, its spines will probably mess up things inside the newt, at least that is what I have heard and I am sure it has been written here loads of times. Don't want newbies to try that with paramesotritons for example, bad idea.

 

[brian]

Samuel, I did actually notice that they weren't very happy and acting different. It was more of an ignorance thing at the time because i was a kid.

BTW, is it possible hotter temps shorten the life of a salamander by speeding up the metabolism or something. Just an idea.

 

[samuel]

Sorry, for the late reply. just discovered my post was here..

.

Brian, I've heard of an idea that most animals have a certain amt of heartbeats during their lifetime. Like mice having a faster heart rate and hence have shorter lives in comparision to elephants who have a slower heart rate and hence have relatively longer lives.

I'm not too certain about it myself. But it could be possible tt the higher temperatures leading to higher basal metabolic rates would lead to the formation of free radicals within the cells of the newts at a faster rate. Free radicals would cause damage and hence aging of the cell.

So logically thinking, newts living in hotter climates would have shorter lives but dun take my word for it, it's just a logical progression on my part, no substantiated evidence.

BTW, jesper, i removed the siamese algae eater. That bugger was constantly rubbing its body against my newt like the way fishes do to remove something frm it's body. (not in the lewd kinda way

).

Sam

(Message edited by samuel lee sam on April 03, 2004)

 

[william]

Samuel & Joel
I am happy that you are happy with you fire bellies. At least you have been more fortunate than me. I live in Puerto Rico-Caribbean and I have not found anyone willing to sell me any.
I am very impressed with the genuine interest for
the well being of the newts and of course I would
not like the newts to suffer a slow death due to heat stress. The truth is I do not have central air but I do live at the foothills of a forest and the water temp can be kept no higher than 70F on the hottest days. I am hoping that if I finish a cooling system I am working on and I am able to show proof to everyone, then they might be willing to sell me the newts.
Jennifer Macke was kind enough to send me T.karelini eggs and I now have (12) half inch larvae. They are doing fine "so far".
William

 

[bt]

i'm in singapore too...
i've been keep orientalis for the past year.. with the use of a chiller.
one problem is that... most of the newts sold here are males (i think), could it be the females are more fragile and thus higher fatality rates?