Surprise eggs

[webzdebs]

Our C. Orientalis have had eggs, we just spotted them last night and removed them as I have read that the parents will eat them. I also read up on how to raise newts from eggs so I am hoping they will hatch and morph into little juveniles in the coming months.

Does anyone have any words of advice for me?

 

[Azhael]

Congrats
Always lovely to see more and more captive breeding of this species.
My advice is to read A LOT. The forum is full of threads about raising this species in several stages, you shouldn´t have any trouble at all finding the answers of your questions. If anything remain unanswered, though, that´s what we are here for.

 

[webzdebs]

well i have already found out loads and am continuing to read the threads like you say to see what other peoples experiences are like. it's so exciting I really wasn't expecting it as the newt tank is sitting at about 68 F due to the warmer weather we've been having and i'd read they prefer a colder period with less feeding then a warmer climate with more feeding.... anyways some more of the newts look gravid (i was unsure to begin with as i'm new at this) and they refused to eat anything yesterday. they've been enjoying waxworms and i'm looking at getting some live daphnia and bloodworm for the hatching larvae.

Tell me Azhael is it as difficult as people say raising them? or is it just a case of knowledge, experience and water quality...

 

[CherryBlossom]

fingers crossed you get some little CFBs!!

 

[Azhael]

Mine are triggered to breed by the end of the summer heat and a very brief terrestrial period. These newts really just breed any time xD

They are a bit tricky...the larvae are easy enough, just offer lots of live foods and they´ll grow well. The problem comes with juveniles. After metamorphosis they are usually tinny, dumb and clumsy. It takes quite a lot of patience and sometimes a bit of heartacke to get them through the first weeks. After that they are not that difficult, in fact some are little pigs that almost raise themselves. Even if you don´t have much luck this first time, don´t despair, experience is an unvaluable thing (and well-stablished C.orientalis breed a lot). Also, as means of personal advice, try to raise only a moderate amount of them...you don´t want to end up with too many of these xD

Keep reading, and make sure to get hold of everything necessary. Start live food cultures, perhaps start setting up a rearing tank (my personal opinion is that they do better in big stablished tanks)...

 

[CherryBlossom]

you could use the wee tank I gave you for a rearing tank just now maybe? And upgrade to a bigger one as they get bigger? Just a thought xxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[Ltdanicecream]

Words of advice? Sure, these are the things I did, and only one larva has died and that was because I squished it with a net.

bare bottom tank.
I used a 2.5 gallon for 20 larvae untill size differences became too far to ignore.
I fed a diet of nothing but diced, chopped, then whole blackworms, according to size.
50% water changes every week, the water doesnt get dirty because the blackworms are alive till theyre eaten.
deep, cool water.
and if youre going to plant the tank go fake, so you dont need substrate that the worms can be lost in.

yep, with that you can expect inch long, healthy, fat larvae in 2 or 3 weeks, like i have right now. hope I helped ;]

PS. Since you live in the UK i doubt blackworms will be available but i beleive you can also use chopped bloodworms and tubifex worms. these are not as nutritious as blackworms though, so try and get some as soon as possible.

 

[monkeyfrogman28]

Congrats, I just pulled around 60 eggs between both of my pairs.