Limb regrowth in Triturus alpestris

One of my T. alpestris males had his front left leg bitten off in late March last year, and I've taken some photos illustrating the regrowth:

Jun 19:


Jul 17:


Aug 7:


Sep 5:


When I first discovered his leg was bitten off, the lower leg was missing, and the humerus was exposed.

I isolated him in a container of fresh tapwater, which I changed daily. As the wound was very clean, I didn't think it was necessary to apply any medication. The chlorine in the tap water may have helped suppress any fungal growth.

The humerus dropped off after about one week.

At the end of April, he showed a strong desire to leave the water, and was moved to a container with damp tissue paper and moss. At this time, the wound had healed over, but there was no sign of regrowth.

The leg slowly grew back over the next few months, and now looks much the same as in the last photo: I don't think it will ever grow back to its original size.

That's a really neat set of photos. May I use them on Caudata Culture?

This is slower limb growth than I have seen in Notophthalmus and Cynops. I would bet that the limb eventually does return to a normal size. Given the slow growth, it may take another year.

You mention that the newt moved to land in April, and the photos start in June. When did the original injury occur?

Indeed nice set of pictures. Not much has been published on this phenomenon except for Axolotls..can I ask you to write a short note for the POD@RCIS magazine or perhaps better...for the Caudata.org magazine (what do you think John?.

Thanks for the comments.

Jennifer- the injury occured in late March- I thought I'd mentioned that. Yes, feel free to use the photos. It is pretty slow growth, but it's a fairly old newt- probably eight years old, now I think about it!

Sergé- I wouldn't mind writing a short note about it, but there's not much more to tell, to be honest!