Hello

Hello! I'm Kat, a postgraduate student in the UK. I've never kept herps in captivity before (except the traditional classroom tank of frogspawn, brought to an end when a tiny, tiny frog made its bid for freedom on parents' evening (it was recaptured and released into the pond where it was spawned)) but they sound fascinating and could be a good fit for my small, rather chilly flat.
I'm especially interested in C. orientalis, but I'm still investigating which species are easy to keep and likely to tolerate my beginner mistakes.

Just wondered what people do with their pets if they go on holiday or have to be away for some time... I'm assuming they'd be okay for a couple of days if they were healthy and had been fed just before you leave and when you come back, but what if it has to be longer than that? Do people move the tank to a friend's house or does the change in environment cause too much stress for the newts? Do you get a friend to come in and feed/clean them?

What about moving from a soft water area to a hard water area? I assume that if you empty as much (e.g. soft) tank water as you can into a bucket and take that with you, then gradually introduce treated hard water as part of your 10% changes, that will give your amphibians enough time to acclimatise to the different water conditions?

Sorry if there's an obvious answer to this, I just don't like getting a pet unless I've thought of everything.

Hi,
welcome to the site, im sure you will find plenty of interest here.
Happy reading.

Welcome!

hi and welcome. i put pre prepared earthworms in the fridge in little pots with dates and which enclosures they go into and a mate/housemate come round every other day (i know water should be changed daily) changes water clean food and feed, and they get some money and beer out of it.

You can soften the water using oak or indian almond leaves.
I live in Thames Valley so very hard water - i use these to soften the water for my ACF and to raise my tadpoles. They do stain the water slightly but that can be remedied by the addition of a carbon filter to your filtration.
It also depends on the species you are keeping - some species like axolotls are documented as doing better in harder water areas.
You can get them readily on eBay or from Andrew at Pollywog. I have bought them in teabag form (called "tadpole teabags"!!) from Andrew and they did the job well.
It depends on your setup.. Sometimes having the whole leaves in the setup looks nice.

C.Orientalis should be good for beginner. If the newts are well fed, healthy and matured, they can go on without eating for weeks. However, having a friend to occasionally check for emergency is a good backup. You especially want to monitor dramatic temperature change to your tank while you are away. Anyhow, finding a person who know exactly how to take care of newt and salamander can be difficult.

When you are really leaving for a long vacation, you can then post again for more detailed suggestion. The "search" on this forum may give you some good results as well.

Thank you for all your responses :happy:

I do have someone in mind for keeping an eye on them - she's a vet student and has worked with herps in a fairly limited way (poisonous snake units mean you don't really handle them) but seems interested.

How cold would too cold be? I don't think my flat will ever get too hot for them, but I am worried it might be too cold if I'm not there and not heating the room.

Hi Kat
Have you seen the Caudata Culture care sheet for this species - if not you will find it beneficial:

http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Cynops/C_orientalis.shtml

You will note (see breeding section) that these newts are quite tolerant of cooler temperatures - as is the general rule with salamanders. Heat on the other hand can be fatal.