Smooth newt help.

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freekygeeky

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For over 15 years we have had smooth newts breeding in our pond, from about 4 or 5 that i put in there as a child. They have been sucessfully breeding since. Today just clearign the pond out, some blanket weed etc etc, we found some, inthe weed. It was sacreily male biased... we found 8 males and 3 females, obviosuly there woudl be more, but we didnt search. (just clearing the pond). we are now worried that there are tooo many males to female ratio.. and the newts will have no were to go , if they decide to leave our pond...(too many males, they may try to find another pond... which they cannot do) teh pond is only 2x2x2 (foot). I am also a little worried about interbreeeeding.... its been years now, and they are ALL related. is there any way i could get some female, new blood lines, into my pond?
 
freekygeeky said:
For over 15 years we have had smooth newts breeding in our pond, from about 4 or 5 that i put in there as a child. They have been sucessfully breeding since. Today just clearign the pond out, some blanket weed etc etc, we found some, inthe weed. It was sacreily male biased... we found 8 males and 3 females, obviosuly there woudl be more, but we didnt search. (just clearing the pond). we are now worried that there are tooo many males to female ratio.. and the newts will have no were to go , if they decide to leave our pond...(too many males, they may try to find another pond... which they cannot do) teh pond is only 2x2x2 (foot). I am also a little worried about interbreeeeding.... its been years now, and they are ALL related. is there any way i could get some female, new blood lines, into my pond?
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How can you be sure that they are all part of the same family. If they are in your garden I am sure that nature will balance them out.
 
i dont think you need to worry too much about the male to female ratio as the way nature goes is that some males will mate and unfortunately others wont. my friend has a very healthy population of smooth newts in his pond in Inverness and what he does each year is he collects the excess newts and takes them back to where he captured the original newts. making sure that there is still a healthy wild population and also giving the males a good chance of mating.

good luck on future newt breedings though!
 
Levo said:
How can you be sure that they are all part of the same family. If they are in your garden I am sure that nature will balance them out.
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i collected these few 4 or 5 soe years ago, havent introduced new ones, and i live in a built up area, with walls around me, so unless they can climb walls, which i cant imagine they do.. (who knows?) then they are all interbred.

Blackhawk IV said:
i dont think you need to worry too much about the male to female ratio as the way nature goes is that some males will mate and unfortunately others wont. my friend has a very healthy population of smooth newts in his pond in Inverness and what he does each year is he collects the excess newts and takes them back to where he captured the original newts. making sure that there is still a healthy wild population and also giving the males a good chance of mating.

good luck on future newt breedings though!
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thank you!! im just worried as its such a small space... and i have seen males fight.. hopefully ewith all the egg we have...more females will come!
 
That sounds like a good idea--putting the extras back into the wild. Is your pond enclosed in cement or some other kind of boundary or are they able to migrate out into your yard as well?

If they have some wandering room, I bet the territorial issue will sort itself out as the newts spread out and give themselves more space. Is it possible for you to transfer what you consider "an unhealthy excess amount of males" to an indoor tank for your viewing pleasure?
 
ButtercupSaiyan said:
That sounds like a good idea--putting the extras back into the wild. Is your pond enclosed in cement or some other kind of boundary or are they able to migrate out into your yard as well?

If they have some wandering room, I bet the territorial issue will sort itself out as the newts spread out and give themselves more space. Is it possible for you to transfer what you consider "an unhealthy excess amount of males" to an indoor tank for your viewing pleasure?
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hey, thanks for your reply. Thats true, about the garden. i dont have a huge garden, but its massive for newts!! They cannot get out of my garden.. to another pond, but can at least move away if need be. Have thought about taking some in to my house, but is that aloud?.. also i would feel a little mean :(
 
Have thought about taking some in to my house, but is that aloud?.. also i would feel a little mean :(
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as far as i am aware it is allowed as as kids, you always hear of people keeping frog spawn in tanks so i dont think keeping newts should be too much more of a problem. just make sure you put them back after the breeding season is over to let them go back into hibernation out of the water.
 
ButtercupSaiyan said:
That sounds like a good idea--putting the extras back into the wild.
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In many places, there are strict laws against this. If you keep an animal in captivity, and it is exposed to other animals that are not native, they can easily pick up pathogens, which you then introduce to wild populations. Releasing captive animals is NOT a good idea, except under the most rigorously tested, quarantined populations.
 
ok. i agree with Kaysie but if the newts are a) native, b) taken from the wild in the first place and c) been kept in a garden pond, meaning that no chemicals or external pathogens have been added then surely they should be ok to release back into the wild?
 
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