Marbled newts -- one year on

T

TJ

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Tim Johnson
I got eight of these back in March of last year when they were only 4-5 cm and they're now around 9-10 cm, except for one of the eight that's around 8 cm. Serious appetites! They are truly a pleasure to hand-feed. Their colors are more subdued now, but they're incredibly attractive nevertheless.

March 2003:

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February 2004:

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Thanks. Good luck with yours David, they're really great newts. Mark, I'm in no hurry to get them to go aquatic so may wait another year or so. I tried it briefly once and they didn't seem interested. They're doing fine in moss so if it ain't broke...
 
Hey Tim!
Were do they come from? Cos they seem to have a very particular colour pattern.
Btw awesome animals!
 
Hi Francesco, I heard they came from the Czech Republic. I'm guessing they're all from the same parents but I really don't know. Inbreeding in the future is a worry so I might eventually trade some away for the same with different genes.

(Message edited by TJ on February 19, 2004)
 
Francesco is right, theiur pattern resembles that of southern morphs of Triturus pygmaeus...please show some belly pictures!
 
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Here they are (all eight of them) as of now:

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I'm still keeping them terrestrial and will continue doing so for a while to come.
 
Here they are now, 2 years since acquisition. The biggest is 11 cm. I still don't know for sure whether they are pygmaeus or marmoratus
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I've set aside a 90 cm x 45 cm x 45 cm tank for them that will have a semi-aquatic setup, and into which they'll be transferred later this week.

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(Message edited by TJ on February 20, 2005)
 
Hai tim, nice shots and they seem to be doing well too. With the white belly I think they are rather T. pygmaeus then marmoratus (that's why Serge asked to see the belly sides). But anyway Serge is a bigger specialist in these species then I am, I'll let him do the honors of confirming this
 
great animals Tim, i can only hope that mine turn out as beautiful as yours!

by the way at what age can you make them aquatic?
 
Thanks, Henk. I'd sure be nice to know whether they're pygmaeus or marmoratus because I intend -- reluctantly since I've raised them for 2 years already! -- to trade a few away soon for the same number of marms being raised by a friend that are about the same age, in order to mix the gene pool.

I'll try to post pics of his too so that I can ascertain the subspecies.

William, I don't know their sexes yet, and would sure like to know that before I trade any away
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I suppose I could have compelled them to go aquatic long ago, but I've been keeping them almost the whole time in moss. I did try it once, about a year ago, but they didn't take immediately to water and I didn't continue the experiment for more than a couple of days.

Best of luck with yours!
 
Well Tim the belly of pygmaeus are whitisch (during the day), whereas they are blackish in marmoratus. During the night they both color to a pale white coloration.
The color on the back of pygmaeus also holds more brassy/colored tones, which seem to lack in marmoratus. There's also the matter of size, but this can be tricky without locality data since -if I recall well- there are both large pygmaeus populations and I even though little marmoratus population. Anyway.. Serge is one of the experts on this are, having done quite some fieldstudy in different areas out there. My guess is that yours are pygmaeus. Also I don't think too much that inbreeding settles in as quickly... maybe you should first try breeding with these and then swap the offspring among eachother. Certainly don't take the risk of having both 2 inproductive captive populations !!
 
Hi all...


first of all compliments Tim for the successful breeding of these newts.
I know how difficult could be differentiate pygmaeus than marmoratus sometimes, specially
If you don't know something about the origin of the animals.

The only variety of Triturus pygmaeus that shows this dorsal pattern are the pygmaeus from Cádiz province ( in the southern extreme of his distribution range ) and those of central Portugal : I think is one of these two possibilities ( even if I have seen marmoratus with this clear belly here in central Spain )
Can you post some pic of the periphery of the belly at this moment? maybe we can help you, specially Sergé is an expert in this "problem".

Anyway we can enquire about colour and morphology, but sometimes a genetic study is the only way.
 
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