What species do you have trouble keeping?

[sde]

Hi,

I was wondering what species you have a hard time keeping, for whatever reason. It doesn't mater why, just state why you have trouble keeping them and vote on the poll. -Seth

 

[Otterwoman]

I have trouble with T. shanjing, I can never keep them alive, but I am a whiz at keeping and breeding T. verrucosus. I can keep Notos but can't keep the morphs alive until adulthood (there are many with that problem). And ambystoma won't last more than a year with me and I don't know why!

 

[geron]

"What species do you have" Is what I read. . . So that's what I voted haha!

Out of the 3 species I have kept I would say Cynops orientalis has given me the most trouble with all the shipping stress giving 2 of them sores and such.

Edit: @ Otterwoman - What troubles do you have keeping your efts alive? I recently started taking care of 5, should I be worried for their future? I do remember reading that some people's tend to just up and die for no reason, is that what you mean?

 

[sde]

Well, my vote doesn't really count but I have had trouble with taricha and ambystoma. The reason my vote doesn't count is because all those are my fault really. I now am keeping Taricha and they are doing fine, fat in healthy! :rofl:

 

[Otterwoman]

Edit: @ Otterwoman - What troubles do you have keeping your efts alive? I recently started taking care of 5, should I be worried for their future? I do remember reading that some people's tend to just up and die for no reason, is that what you mean?

That's exactly what I mean, I have no idea what happened. They seem fine and then boom.

 

[geron]

That's exactly what I mean, I have no idea what happened. They seem fine and then boom.

I'm hoping I end up lucky and my guys make it to the aquatic stage. -knocks on wood-
They all seem fat and healthy so far though.

 

[Jennewt]

I've had some great successes with Notophthalmus, including animals that lived with me >20 years. But also some inexplicable failures/deaths. I have another very hardy group right now, knock on wood.

The other group I had problems with were Ommatotriton. They did great for about a year in a dry-ish terrestrial setup. They died when I tried to get them aquatic to breed.

 

[sde]

I'm hoping I end up lucky and my guys make it to the aquatic stage. -knocks on wood-
They all seem fat and healthy so far though.

Make sure you knock on oak, it is the original wood you were supposed to knock on
It is true actually. I think cedar works fine too though XD

 

[Niels D]

I've got a love/hate relationship with Notophthalmus. I've bred them two times, but I had a lot of losses and I don't think there are a lot of European keepers who figured out the trick to succesfully keeping them, maybe none. This year I even lost almost all my animals due to unknown causes and I kept them in diffirent kinds of setups (dry, moist, wet and combinations). I only have two juvies left and I'm not sure if I'm going to keep them. All my other species do very well so the Noto's must be lacking something specific. In the past others keepers experienced the same thing. Noto's were imported in huge amounts and almost none of them survived, though there were succesful breedings.

 

[otolith]

I had trouble breeding Cynops e. popei, the one mature female I had was incredibly shy even when kept separately and would not eat enough to put on weight.

Also recently had a spate of bad luck with my Lissotriton v. ampelensis group; had one escapee, one morph drowned and another stopped eating, and then lost my oldest female. The remaining two pairs are doing great and laying eggs like crazy so I'm not sure what really happened there.

 

[Devalight]

I have had trouble with plethodon species, slimy salamander, dusky salamander, and eastern newts, both adult and red eft stages. They just either develop disease, or I find them dessicated and dried out - even on the side of a water dish!

Also fire bellied newts, which live for only about three years.

 

[anistonjennifer]

I got troubled while keeping Taricha.