Your first newt/salamander

[al]

My first newt was the Eastern spotted newt when I was 10.
They are one of my favorite species of newts. Once you get them settled and eating, they can be long captives. It seems they don't do well with any stress to their environment. I've always had problems when I had to change their tank or if a filter died. The Triturus vulgaris reminds me of the Notopthalmus sp. They are a pretty hardy species to keep. All in all, my Spanish ribbed newts are another favorite at top of my lists. I really enjoy most species and like each ones uniqueness.

 

[mark]

My first salamander was a couple Garden Slender Salamanders(Batrachoseps major major) that I found at my grandmother's house when I was 5. With my dad's help I managed to keep them alive for 5 months. We kept them in a gallon goldfish bowl with a lid on it with leaves that were just starting to decompose as a substrate. We cleaned it out twice a month. The leaves were from our compost pile and had lots of springtails in it. Lost the slenders during the heat of summer. I actually bred them years later while I was in high school. Hoping to get the chance to breed them again next year.

 

[mark]

My first newts were a trio of C.orientalis which I foolishly kept in a large aqua-terrarium with my Hyla cinerea. The frogs never went near the water and the newts never seemed to leave the water – it seemed perfectly reasonable that everyone would get along fine. One by one over the space of a year the frogs succumbed to a mysterious sudden death. One minute fit and healthy, the next flat on their backs or floating, mouth open in the water. Let that be a lesson in species mixing….

That was 12 years ago when caudata.org didn’t exist and the words of the “guy in the pet shop” were gospel. How things change with time and experience. I ended up giving the orientalis away but soon found myself with a tank of Pleuros – some of which are still going, all these years later!

 

[michael]

Eastern spotted newts.

 

[jennifer]

Eastern broken-striped newts. Acquired for a college experiment, then kept as pets.

 

[chris]

Paramesotriton fuzhongensis male. I've had him for about 7 years now