Paramesotriton care sheet: will there ever be one?

J

jesper

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Just thought I'd encourage people to share their experiences on caring for these newts.
One question I have is if anyone is keeping their adults terrestrial or semi-terrestrial(fuzhongensis-guanxiensis "complex").
 
I'm now pretty sure I have two fuhzong newts and one caudopunctatus. I keep them in a mostly aquatic environment with heavy filtration, like the one they were in at the pet store. Other than feeding and housing these animals I don't know much else about taking care of them. I wish could find out how to hibernate and breed them.
 
I've heard that the metamorphs are really hard to raise etc. Yeah I keep mine aquatic too, I had an island but they never touched it. I put the island back in there the other day and suddenly to my big surprise one of my three males climbed up more or less started to live semi-aquatically.
I've also thought a bit about their "granulated" skin, I have heard people say that granulated skin are better protected against dehydration. So is this a sign of an at least semi-terrestrial life in the wild??
 
My newts occasionally go onto the land masses I have provided, a rock, a pile of gravel, and a piece of wood. One of my supposed fuzhongs, though I'm still not completely sure, Is trying to use one of the land masses to escape fortunately unsuccesfuly. I don't know why it's trying to escape my other suposed fuzhong is very happy in its environment. I doubt it's teratorial behaviour that's driving the newt out of the tank, it's the larger of the two. Could it be that the newt needs some time to settle in to the new environment, I just moved it in yesterday.
 
It takes time for newts to settle in, just like any other animal including humans ;)
Basically it could be the water parameters that are bad, but if is only one then it's probably nothing. Also paramesotriton is known for their aggressivity as you know, I have been warned countless times not to keep my three males together. No problems thus far though.
Have you sexed yours?
 
I think I have male and a female though this may just be wishful thinking. The one that I think is a female is larger, has a proportionately tail longer tail, and smaller toes than the one I think is a male, it's also darker in colour.
 
Juveniles I have had have done well in a woodland setup. I just throw in some sweepings once a week, and they grow well.
Terrestriality (if thats a word) seems to me to be more individual within species, but some species are more semiaquatic tha others - eg. fuzhongensis is more terresrial than caudopunctatus.
The problem with doing a caresheet fro 'Paramesotriton' as a whole, is that each species requires sometimes quite different care. As most of the species encountered in the pet trade are not 100% identifiable, e.g. my own 'fuzhongensis' are different to 2 other people's 'fuzhongensis', which means that what works well with one person's animals may not work with animals which are thought to be the same species, but are actually not.
I give new animals lots of options, and see what they prefer, then adapt their enclosure to these preferences, eg. I give areas of rocks, heavy plants, high and low current velocity, and areas of shade and brighter light, and areas of shallow and deeper water.
Chris
 
My newt stopped trying to escape when I turned off the flourescent lighting, obviously it was not used to it. In the wild don't paramesotriton generally live in mountain streams, both my set up and the one at the pet store have tried to replicate this. My observations of my newts seem to support the idea that fuzhongs are more terrestrial than caudopunctatus's. My supposed fuzhongs spend more time in the shallow well planted part of the aquarium while my caudopunctatus spends its time crawling about the rocks in the deeper part of the aquarium. I recently found I own a book that mentions both P. chinensis and P, caudopunctatus but in only gives a vague description and says "This highly aquatic species can be kept much like the Hong Kong Newt." Its a pretty good book giving full information on keeping and breeding about 70% of salamander species and descriptions of a further 5%.
 
Caudopunctatus and fuzhongensis do overlap at Gupo Hill (i think I spelled it correctly), but I think that they use different areas of the habitat. The Hongkongensis I had did not enjoy any current at all.
Different species need different temperatures.
If your newts don't like the lighting, you could add lots of ledges ands 'tables' of rock. Paramesotriton prefer to have something over their heads. if you put two fairly thick rocks, about the height of the newt, sid by side with a gap between big enough for the newts, then put a flat piece across the top, it provides a good hiding place. Make 'caves' like this all round the tank.
Chris
 
Ciao,
I would just like to explain myself, I originally didn't think it necessary, but obviously this was not the case
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When I wrote "paramesotriton caresheet", I meant that no paramesotriton species has a caresheet. I DID NOT try to tell someone to write a caresheet for all paramesotriton, that would be utterly stupid. Yes that fuzzies are more terrestrial than caudos, this can easily be figured out by their tailshapes for example. I am still wondering if anyone has kept adult fuzzies terrestrial.
Cool that you managed to raise some of your young Chris. What was the survival rate and at what size did metamorphosis take place?

My highly limited experience with fuzzies tell me that they prefer to reside close to they surface, in my tank they prefer the "high" open places to the caves at the bottom.
 
My "fuzhongs" seem to have mixed preferences. They often spend time in the shallow part of the aquarium but they also like to visit a hollow piece of coral (I don't keep them in salt water, they would have died a long time ago) with many holes in it which they seem to enjoy crawling through I guess it's kind of like a mini cave.
 
No problem Chris, I was in a bad mood...
Didn't mean to take it out on you. A damn tube up my nose and down my throat makes me somewhat edgy(Phase I Drug "trial")
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Btw Chris, I know you got loads of experience with paras having raised some from eggs right?
I wanna know what happened! Last time(months ago) I heard anything they were just hatched I think...
I don't even remember what species it was...
 
My caudos:

23180.jpg
 
Nice caudos, mine has an infected nose wound. I've separated him (I'm pretty sure it's a male) from my other newts and rinse the wound with chlorinated water every day, would keeping him on land help the wound heal.
 
Jesper
after a disaster involving some nasty cyclops which killed off lots of my larvae, I ended up with two juvies - a hongkongensis from Juraj and one from my mystery female (probably once in a lifetime opportunity). Unfortunately my mystery juvie, into which I had poured literally hours of effort every day during the larval phase where he had not legs due to cyclops, mannaged to escape, afrter being settled for a month, and I found a tiny mummy in a corner....
sad.gif

Benjamin
Keeping him on land would just increase stress, as they are, as has been pointed out, very aquatic. Try to get some baytril from a vet. Mix a drop with a drop of aloe vera gell and apply once a day to the wound. If you do it morning one day, then evening the next he will effectively have longer to recover from stress between captures. Provide him with lots of cover, and try to get him eating. It may come down to force feeding with a tube and syringe...
Chris
 
I am having trouble feeding him, he hasn't eaten since I put him in quarantine but he's fatter than most caudos I've seen. I'm wondering If I should put him back with my mystery (probably fuzhong) newts after he recovers, after I removed him from the aquarium they took over the parts that he used to occupy.
 
Just make sure he is in a big enough tank to be stable - a 2 footer is best (I use these). Put substrate (eg. fine gravel), some hardy live plants, e.g. elodia, duckweed, and lots of rocks to form caves and a filter. Don't light it. Leave him alone apart from using the medication. As the wound is on his mouth, it will be painful for him to feed. They can survive a long time without food (I had one that went for a month and a half because of a fungal ulcer on the back). Once he has calmed down, he can put all his energy into healing, rather than panicking.
Chris
 
I don't have any tanks that big just lying around he's currently in a one footer with fine gravel. I'll get him some plants as soon as possible. I can give some fake ones right now.
 
Hi Chris,
How's the hongkongensis then? You managed to raise him?
 
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