Triturus a. alpestris juveniles

A

aimee

Guest
Hi There!

I have had 3 juvenile Triturus a. alpestris bought from Marc Zweistiki (sorry I can't remember his surname) and they are doing great. I am feeding them on micro crikets as advised and gut loading the crikets before hand.

I have recently noticed that one of them is a lighter, bluer colour to the other two who are black and very dark. The silver patches they all have are more vibrant on this one. Just curious as to whether this one could be a male and the other two female? Never had this species before or any newts this young an age. They are *roughly* about 3-4 months old...

Also, I've researched that these turn totally aquatic after a certain age? The 1 1/2ft tank they are in at the moment consists of a small shallow bowl full of water in the middle and a ring of moss around that. The bowl of water seems to keep them moist (when they swim in it which ive only seen them do twice) and the moss is wetted when it dries out.

If anyone can give me some useful info I would greatly appreciate it! Also, I've tried posting pictures on here before but failed! I'll gladly post a link to some pictures of my newts (when i take some lol) if anyone would like to see the colour variations?

Thanks, hope to hear from you soon

Aimee
 
Well, as long as I know Marc Staniszweski only sales t.alpestris apuanus (the italian alpin newt).
The Italian subspecie is more acquatic than the t. alpestris alpestris. If yours are apuanus you could try to keep them completely acquatic which may result in faster growing. But you should do it gradually, start with 1 cm water and plenty of plants to lay on. If on the contrary they are t. alpestris alpestris I personally recommend you to keep them on land. As a diet I would add waxworms and specially cut eartworms (the newts will grow faster and healthier).
On the coloration matter you won't surely know their sex till they grow though females are normally slightly lighter than males.
I hope this helps
P.s.-
Did you had any problem dealing with Marc?
 
Hi Yago.
Thanks for the info! I'm really confused now on exactly what species they are! Marc sold them to me as t. alpestris alpestris so i think i just wrote the name down wrong on the title... ops! They are Italian Alipine newts I'm sure!
proud.gif
lol
I will try them on waxworms next time I am at the pet store if i can find them small enough ones, I think they only sell huge ones!
Do you think I should cover the entir tank with moss or keep it as it is? I'm hoping to link some pictures to my tank layout and a picture of one of the newts soon so I can get some clarification on what they are!

No I didn't experience any problems with Marc, in fact he was very helpful. I spoke to him beofre hand on tank layout, food, etc after doing some reaserch and he helped me alot.

Thanks! Hope to hear from you soon

Aimee
 
Hi Aimee!
I'm currently keeping 5 baby Italian Alpine newts (you can see them in the photo gallery in the post "Sexual dimorphism in T.a.apuanus newtlets")...one of them is a neotenic female!!!
I'd like to exchange some info with you about keeping these little and nice-looking newts!
mine are totally acquatic, but I've been keeping them since they were larvae...usually, in my experience, males are darker than females also when they are so young...
I'm feeding them with pieces of maggots, bloodworms and chopped earthworms and they seem to like this diet a lot!
now they are about 5cm...
I'd suggest you to try to make them acquatic...
you could put a bigger water bowl in the tank or you could put them in a totally acquatic setup (with only 2 or 3 cm of water!!!) with only a little cork in it (as an "island")...
let me know
bye
Leo
 
HI leo
I had a look at the pictures you posted on here, and I'm afraid to say mine don't look anything like them! *lol* I'm now totally confused as to what species they are lol.
I managed to take a picture of one of them. It is very blurry but you can see the orange belly, crest and blue/silver patches on its side...
www.petsareour.biz/Alpinenewt.htm
I'm not quite sure if i should try and Turn them aquatic yet. Everytime i put them into their big bowl of water they swim quickly to the side and climb out. I don't know whether they would drown as they can be not long than 5cm?
Bloodworm i would love to feed them as it is more convenient for me too but they dont like the water bowl! lol
Im trying to find a store that sells small live Waxworms to add to their diet but without success...
Thanks and hope to hear from you soon!
Aimee
 
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