Taricha torosa / granulosa NEWT. pics and story

Hi all,

Today, I got a chance to glance around a local pet store. To my surprise, I found one little taricha newt sitting in a bowl of water. Listen to the stores set up: The tank was about 10-15 gallons big, had all gravel bottom with a ceramic ornament present in the gravel, had a giant bowl with about 1/2-1" of water in it. Sounds good at first right? well, THE TANK WAS EMPTY, meaning NO WATER. So this little gal was sitting in 1/2" or so of water looking up at the stars waiting to be rescued. Nice set up for a possible granulosa ha?

Here's a nice ending to this: I said, I would take/save her, and the guy said okay, he went, got a DRY CARDBOARD box, "made for taking home mice, hamsters, etc...", and swooped her up, put her into the BOX and CLOSED IT. I just sat in surprise for a moment, then asked him to put some moist paper towels in the box.

Can you believe this? I don't know if the newt would've made it home in a dry cardboard enclosure, do you? I wasn't going directly home for another hour or so.

Thought I'd share the experience with caudate lovers.

I believe this to be a T. granulosa although, without the teeth pattern we can only guess.

I always double, triple think whether it could be a torosa, but it never turns out that way. Maybe a hybrid, hehe....

Here's a picture: "including the BOX"

Yeah, he's still a bit small so the eyes and full color pattern aren't quite done yet. Nice find.

BTW, it's very easy to check the tooth pattern, just use the rounded edge of a credit card or personal ID card to gently pry the mouth open.

$5 says it is a grans. darker eyelid, streamline eyes, staying in water part....

If anyone was wondering about tooth patterns, I stumbled upon this site:

http://courses.washington.edu/vertebra/451/photos/amphibian/salamander_photos.htm

Pin Pin, $100 says it's a granulosa!
Wanna take this bet???

Here's a useful behavioral observation if you don't have your credit card handy.
"When assuming an intense unken posture (one should tap repeatedly on the dorsum to induce this), T.torosa holds the tail tip out straight, whereas T.granulosa curls the tail tip into a single coil." (Reimer 1958)

Can someone tell me if I have a torosa or granulosa. The pet shop said it was a torosa. We are having fun watching him. We assume he is a he because he has a gland lump at the top of his tail (you can make it out in the first picture). At first he wouldn't feed but is now enjoying blood worms. Also it's a battle keeping him cool in this always-warm apartment even with air con. Someone posted about their tail but you can see in the top picture his tail is straight and in the bottom one (forgive the low light - we are trying to keep him cool) it is 'snaked.' Thanks, everyone!

and

I'm 99.9% sure you have a granulosa Janice.

I'm with Jeff. I'd bet money it's a granulosa, and that it is female, not male.

Hi Janice,

Your newt does seem to resemble T. granulosa much more than T.torosa. Unless I'm mistaken, here are no 'visual' differences between the tails. There's differences in the unken position, but the main identifiers are 1) eggs (torosas lay egg clusters, granulosas lay single eggs) 2) shape of the volmerine teeth (this is a bit difficult as well, as it involves prying your newt's mouth open) and 3) place of collection.

Pet shops typically (almost 90%) sell T. granulosa.

As for keeping the tank cool, it looks like you're keeping him in a 2-5 gallon tank? Putting the tank on the ground, running a small fan over the top of the tank (evaporative cooling), and also getting a much larger tank/cooler to survive the hot summer.

it's a 5 gallon tank. he (?) is pretty small, less than 6 inches. If it gets very hot, I will do a trade up for a larger tank. right now i have a bit of a solution by putting the tank in front of the air conditioner -- this is keeping the water at 22, whereas it was going above 24 before. I could experiment with putting the tank on the ground but that would make it not be cooled by the air con. not sure. i looked at kim's cpu fan idea but would have to ask someone else to make this for me.

why do you think it's a female? this newt has a quite distinct bump at the tail, which we read was the male gland. it hardly matters but it would be interesting to know.

Putting the tank in front of the air conditioner is definitely a great place! If you can keep the water at a continuous 22C, that is perfect.

You would probably need to take a few more detailed photos. The cloaca doesn't seem to be swollen enough to be male, but it might also not be in breeding dress.

Paris thinks s/he might be 2 years old. At what age would fertility start? (Sorry I don't know the real words yet! I'm learning!)When I get my new camera I will get a close up of the cloaca.