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sean n dad

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Sean n Dad
Hi all,
My son wants to start raising Newts/Salamanders. So I have a few questions.
First I have aquariums and am familar with raising fish. I have a good understanding on water quaity & filters. I have started my son out by getting 2 books on Newts/Salamanders that we are reading together.

Some of the pet shops locally don't seem to know much about newts/salamanders, and I don't want to get an animal that is not a good starter for us.

I will probably use a 20gal long tank with an internal filter. I was thinks of setting it up with 1/3 land and the other 2/3's water.
Here are our questions:
- Is a 20 long a good size to start with?
- Does it make sense to use a substrate? if so what type? gravel, sand, aquatic soil?
- What kinds of materials are the best to use?
- What is a good Newt to start with? Eastern Red Spot Newt(someone on E-Bay is selling them)
- Where is a good place to buy from on-line or in Philadelphia area. I travel for work between Allentown, Philadelphia, Lancaster & York, Pa. So, any where in these areas is ok for me to go to.
Any other advice is welcome.
Thanks,
Ed(dad)
Sean n Dad
 
Here's just some opinions by me, but others will have different opinions.
Also, have you seen the Caudata Culture section? Here are some links:

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/articles.shtml

(many articles about housing and ideas)

and the FAQ:

http://www.caudata.org/cc/faq/faq.shtml

Anyway, a 20 gallon is a nice large tank to start with. I think the more space, the better. I stopped using a small substrate because I had a problem with invaders, and now I just use large rocks. That's just me, though. That's what I get for adding pond water and pond plants. But using just decorative rocks I've found it much easier when I need to siphon food and other wastes from the tank when it's time to tidy.

How much land vs. water will depend on what species you go with. For a Noto (Eastern Red spotted), that would be good.

Captive bred newts are the best way to go, ecologically. There is an Expo in Hamburg PA and there is a newt breeder from our forum who sells there. You can buy from him online or arrange to pick up at the show, which is a lot of fun, once you're done standing on line. Ha ha, it's either online or on line.

http://www.northernberksreptileshow.com/htm/showinfo.html

Keep reading. What books did you choose to read? I've been reviewing a few in our "book review" section.

Edit: How could I be so forgetful? We have ads right here on the forum for cb ('captive bred') animals.

http://www.caudata.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=65
 
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sean n dad said:
Hi all,
My son wants to start raising Newts/Salamanders. So I have a few questions.
First I have aquariums and am familar with raising fish. I have a good understanding on water quaity & filters. I have started my son out by getting 2 books on Newts/Salamanders that we are reading together.

Some of the pet shops locally don't seem to know much about newts/salamanders, and I don't want to get an animal that is not a good starter for us.

I will probably use a 20gal long tank with an internal filter. I was thinks of setting it up with 1/3 land and the other 2/3's water.
Here are our questions:
- Is a 20 long a good size to start with?
- Does it make sense to use a substrate? if so what type? gravel, sand, aquatic soil?
- What kinds of materials are the best to use?
- What is a good Newt to start with? Eastern Red Spot Newt(someone on E-Bay is selling them)
- Where is a good place to buy from on-line or in Philadelphia area. I travel for work between Allentown, Philadelphia, Lancaster & York, Pa. So, any where in these areas is ok for me to go to.
Any other advice is welcome.
Thanks,
Ed(dad)
Sean n Dad
Click to expand...

I think a 20 long aquarium is an excellent size. For substrate I would either go with a bare bottom, large rocks as Dawn says or sand. Pool filter sand available at any pool and spa store is excellent for this. As for materials I would say anything that you use with fish should be good as long as it is inert i.e. no shells or other calcium carbonate sources.

A good newt to start with would be any of the Cynops and you can find species information in the links in my profile. A good place to start looking for animals would be here. If you buy captive bred animals they are far more likely to be healthy and longer lived. I think Jennifer may still have some Cynops available. Or, follow Dawn's advice and use the Hamburg reptile show. Michael Shrom's animals are excellent.
 
Don't buy newts on eBay. For the same price, you can buy captive bred animals from reputable breeders here. Also, selling live animals violates eBay's policies. (I can't find the ad so it may have been removed already.)

Another good starter species is Pleurodeles waltl (ribbed newts). CB ones are available sporadically. What they lack in beauty they make up for by being hardy and very tame.
 
Jennewt said:
Don't buy newts on eBay. For the same price, you can buy captive bred animals from reputable breeders here. Also, selling live animals violates eBay's policies. (I can't find the ad so it may have been removed already.)
Click to expand...

It does indeed.
Further to that I'd advise against buying an animal you havent seen(from any source other than a reputable breeder) simply because theres no way you can check the health of the animal before you purchase it.

Edit: It seems like everytime I go to the local petshop I see a parent and child leaving with a newt which I know is going to lead a very short and unpleasent life in a fish tank. Its marvelous to see a father and son team properly reasearching a pet before they buy. You've brought a smile to a cynical old(!) man, best of luck to you.
 
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Lasher said:
It does indeed.

Edit: It seems like everytime I go to the local petshop I see a parent and child leaving with a newt which I know is going to lead a very short and unpleasent life in a fish tank. Its marvelous to see a father and son team properly reasearching a pet before they buy. You've brought a smile to a cynical old(!) man, best of luck to you.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the kind words.
I want my son to treat this hobby with respect, wonder, a desire to learn & do the right thing. I have raised fish for most of my adult life and I know what it takes to do it correctly. But, I also know what happens if you are not prepared, and sadly I have lost fish because of my own mistakes. I want my son to be successful at this, I want him to learn and get to know what these animals need to live. I also feel it is important that he learns to take care of some other living creature and to know what it is to be the care giver of another living thing.

After speaking with my Son, we both decided we would like a newt or salamander that is aquatic & would do well in a tank that is split 1/3 land, 2/3's water. We are going to go with a 20gal long, because that is what I have in my fish room that is empty. Maybe sand as substrate, still not sure about that. Most importantly, we want a creature that is active and not hiding for 23.5 hours a day.
We would also like something that is colorful. If you folks have any suggestions I would appreciate it.
Thank you,
Ed
 
Another species you might want to look into is Taricha Granulosa (Rough Skinned Newts) often called Oregon newts in the pet trade. They aren't very colorful brown on top with a yellow or orange stomach. Not overly active either, but they become quite tame. The one I had would often be seen out in the open and would take food right from my hand. As mentioned earlier Cynops species are a good choice aswell, their colors are quite striking.
 
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Cynops species would be your best choice in my opinion. Obviously it depends what is available to you but I believe Ensicauda generaly have more terrestial tendencies than others of the genus.
I think most of the other commonly available Cynops species are mostly aquatic as adults so it may be a good idea to find a species that suits you before you setup your tank as the land area may be 'wasted space'.
 
Most newts don't like high temperatures. Itf this tank is in a heated fishroom that should be something to consider. Cynops ensicauda popei is a very pretty newt that goes OK with higher temperatures.
 
I have T. grans (the Rough skinned newts that Triton mentions) and Tylototriton verrucosus, and both of them have lots of personality. They come to me when I enter the room, they beg for food, they have adorable little faces. The T. grans are mostly aquatic but will sometimes come out of the water.
 
You could come to the Hamburg, Pa reptile show this weekend (April 26 08) and have a look at some c.b. salamanders their. I'll have: Triturus marmoratus, Messotriton alpestris apuanas, Triturus dobrogicus, Cynops cyanurus, Tylototriton kweichowensisi, Axolotls, Pleurodeles waltl, and possibly others.
shrommj@ptd.net
 
Mike,
I just e-mailed you. I enjoyed your presentation at the Buck County Aquarium Club, nice job!!
Sean & I are planning to come up to Hamburg. We want to choose newt, then make sure we have the tank setup & setup correctly. Then when we get our new pets we can just place them in the tank.

Thanks everyone for your help!!!!!
Regards,
Ed
 
Hi Ed,
Thanks for the compliment and welcome to Caudata.org We're you the guy sleeping in the front row? You or anybody from the forum are welcome to stop by the house if you call first and can find me at home. I recently changed a lot of my setups and much of it is presentable.
M.
 
Mike,
I was the guy standing in the back that asked you "what species is on your wish list to work with" & also asked about the giant salamanders in Japan.

Thanks for the offer, I may take you up on that. Sean & I will see you in Hamburg. We are going to come up and look & see what you have, then decide. I want to have Sean create the tank first & get it setup, then pickup the animals so we can just place them in their new home.
Regards,
Ed
 
i agree that t. grans or any other taricha is a great choice, they seem so happy and playful, and as Dawn said whenever she enters the room, i love how they do that, but when theyre hungry so will my c. orientalis and probably most newts.
 
I disagree about "other Taricha". Not only are they not as personable, they're also not available as captive bred specimens.
 
Having ended up feeling quite unwell after handling a Taricha(big cut on my hand, didnt think about it at the time) it might be worth mentioning their rather potent toxicity as well.
 
Well folks after going round & round here is what Sean decided on, Triturus marmoratus (green marbled newt) & I got a pair of Tylototriton kweichowensis (knobby crocodile newt) for myself, but Seans says they're his!!!
I will post pictures later this week. A big thank you to Mike Shrom for all his help, advice & opening up his home to us & show us his collection. We got our pets from him and they are in great shape.
Also a thank you to all who gave their input here as well!!

Ed
 
Best of luck with them. I am sure with the research you did before hand and the great source you obtained them from you will have your newts for many years to come. And its always great to see pictures!
Heather
 
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