Setup for not-quite-aquatic Cynops

[jennifer]

Here's the problem... how to get juvenile Cynops to become aquatic. And until they become aquatic, how to feed them. When first introduced to water, they have difficulty submerging, so they might not feed from the bottom of the tank.

Here is a way that I get them to eat when they are still in that "awkward in-between stage" - willing to be wet, but not willing to submerge. The dish contains blackworms and has a loose cover over it so that the newts go inside for shelter and thus find themselves in close proximity to their food.

The purpose of having a flat island is that it stays wet, and thus the newts are forced to stay wet, which makes them more likely to become aquatic.

 

[joseph]

Thanks for sharing! I think I will borrow this idea for some of mine. They have been kept in water but are tweezer fed worm pieces.

 

[ali]

Jennifer, this is great! That's similar to what I did with my lone surviving juvie. I had a floating lily pad that always stayed wet and had a little "pool" in the center of it. He would stay on there, and always stay wet and I could put worms int he little pool with him that he would eat. This didn't provide shelter and security like your idea.

I usually tried to have apiece of pothos hang over him, which he seemed to appreciate.

Then later I took out the lilly pad and lowered the water to a few inches (didn't lower it before because I have an adult cynops that also lives in there) and put in lots of plants that the juvie could still rest on. That afternoon, he went aquatic and has remained so since.

There was one occassion of him climping up the air tube, and I found him on the underside of the tank lid, but after that all was good. He eats like a taricha too! I have a very thin taricha that I'm having to feed every day, and the little guy takes a huge chunk of earthworm daily. Since his introduction, my adult cynops has also decided to accept eating from a toothpick.

 

[jennifer]

Hi Joseph, if you have them hand-feeding, that's great, probably better than this method. I'm a little too lazy to hand feed my zillion offspring, so I have to find less labor-intensive methods.

Ali, your experiences with getting the juvenile aquatic sound familiar. At what age did the young one finally stay in the water?

 

[ali]

Sorry Jennifer, for some reason I missed this post until now! I don't know how old he was. I "rescued" him from a petshop tank that had crabs and a paddletail and no where for him to climb out onto. Petshops = bad, I know.

I'll try to remember to give him a measure when I'm at home (at work right now) but he's still pretty small. I would say maybe an inch and a quarter NOT including tail. Pretty small.

In his (or her) current state, he enjoys resting on the plants near the surface of the water. Once in a while he'll swim off, freak out for a second, and then sink to the bottom and relax. Sometimes he'll walk around down there for a few minutes, but normally look for another plant to rest on.

 

[jennifer]

Here is another variation on the same theme: a tank for adapting Cynops to aquatic conditions. This tank is a 20-long (~75x30x30 cm). The substrate is pebbles that are GLUED in place. (Loose gravel/pebbles and live blackworms are incompatible, as the blackworms simply disappear into the gravel; thus I glued down the pebbles.) The islands have small dishes with pebbles and blackworms. The water area has artificial plants and live java moss. The tank has a screen lid, but no other airation/filtration. Thus, frequent partial water changes are essential.

 

[cameron]

You have awesome tanks. I want to make some awesome ones like yours.

 

[coen]

Which glue did you use for the pebbles? Awesome idea!

 

[jennifer]

I used black expanding foam, but I would not recommend this. If I did this again, I would use black silicone and smaller pebbles. I posted additional photos here:
http://www.caudata.org/people/JM/foam.html