Who keeps Triturus species...

[Stupot1610]

Out of curiosity, in the UK who keeps triturus newt species? The reason I ask is, you don't see many people keeping triturus species in the UK. Please post pictures if you can :happy:, also anybody in other countries who keeps triturus newts please feel free to post here and add pictures if you can.

Stuart

 

[Azhael]

You don't see many people in the UK with Triturus? Really? I think you are not looking very hard, my friend, because there are A LOT. T.marmoratus alone is very common among UK keepers.

 

[Chinadog]

There are quite a few people that have colony's of T. cristatus naturally migrate to breed in their garden ponds, they just don't broadcast it for obvious reasons. I'm sure garden nature ponds have been a life line for the species now so much of their primary habitat is full of introduced fish, or gone all together.

 

[xxianxx]

I have a breeding pair of T.carnifex, juvenile colonies of T.cristatus , T.marmoratus and have some T.dobrogicus coming next week.

 

[Ian T]

I have Karelinii, Macedonicus and Dobrogicus, not sure why but they do seem tricky to find in UK.

 

[Stupot1610]

You don't see many people in the UK with Triturus? Really? I think you are not looking very hard, my friend, because there are A LOT. T.marmoratus alone is very common among UK keepers.

I only really see people keeping alpine newts and both the marbled newts, I never really hear about many others, at least not regularly.

Stuart

 

[Stupot1610]

I have a breeding pair of T.carnifex, juvenile colonies of T.cristatus , T.marmoratus and have some T.dobrogicus coming next week.

That's quite a collection, how did you manage to get hold of the T.cristatus ?

Stuart

 

[xxianxx]

The T.cristatus were sourced as eggs from a cb colony, raised then sent to me with the appropriate paperwork. Lots of different species are kept in the UK, there just not mentioned much on this site. Check out newts and salamanders group on fb

 

[Stupot1610]

Could you send me a link to that group because it can't seem to find it.
Thanks,
Stuart

 

[caleb]

Most of the caudates I keep were Triturus when I started with them (e.g. Triturus alpestris, Triturus italicus, Triturus montandoni etc).

All of the other caudates I keep have been Triturus at some point in their history (e.g. Triturus orientalis, Triturus pyrrhogaster).

 

[Stupot1610]

Apparently there are T.cristatus near me so I'm hoping that they'll eventually breed in my wildlife pond. Obviously I won't disturb them though.

Stuart

 

[Stupot1610]

I've read that Triturus can mature within a year, is this true? And does it happen regularly? Also, how soon after metamorphosis can sex be distinguished? This is quite interesting.

Stuart

 

[Azhael]

And even in less time than that. I've had T.dobrogicus mature sexually at about 7-8 months old since hatching.
The time they take from metamorphosis until they are sexable varies a lot since some individuals morph with a large size and may mature sexually shortly after, but others can morph much earlier with a much smaller size and take much longer to mature. All in all, most captive Triturus mature quite fast.

 

[Stupot1610]

That's really interesting. I hadn't heard of it until I was browsing the forum earlier.

Stuart

 

[caleb]

There was an article in the BHS Bulletin a while ago about raising T. cristatus to maturity in less than one year.

They raised larvae at low density (9 in a 60cm tank), with as much food as possible, kept them aquatic after metamorphosis, and did not cool over their first winter. These newts metamorphosed much earlier (though not larger) than larvae kept with less food and at a greater density, started breeding at 36 weeks after hatching, and had produced eggs by 40 weeks.


It's also not unusual for Italian newts (Lissotriton italicus) to mature in less than one year- they don't need to do much growing after metamorphosis if they morph at a reasonable size.

Alpine newts and Montandon's newts (L. montandoni) can also mature at one year old, though it's more unusual in these species.

 

[morg]

I have had both crested newts and marbled newts going from hatching to breeding in less than a year on numerous occassions. Each time they were raised aquatic. Terrestrial raised they take a lot longer to mature

 

[Stupot1610]

I didn't realise marmoratus could be kept aquatic, I've always thought of them as more of a terrestrial species.

Stuart

 

[mr cyclone]

Most triturus can be kept aquatic ,dobro,cristatus,pygmeay,marm .
It has been my experience that if I've raised them myself from egg and denied them the terrestrial option after metamorphosis they will remain aquatic providing the temperature is correct. Any animals I recieved that have already had a terrestrial phase ,seem to prefer both and don't fair too well at being forced into aquatic conditions.