INSANITY - New Newt Keeper

How's this for insanity?! When I first discovered my love of newts I kept info logs on "everybody". The C.o and T.g. are just a couple of the data pages, I had several other species at the time and kept the same logs. And yes, I named all of them - and yes, I could identify each and every individual - now that's nuts! :smile:

I don't know how in the world you were able to tell them apart!!! I've been looking for something like this, you've got my wheels turning. I should post pictures of my feeding schedule spreadsheet.

Well... it's a very organized sort of sanity, anyway...

-Eva

pffff, I 'm spending enough time by keeping and breeding them
Don't you have a family???
What you need is a hobby LOL

Mine wasnt as well organized as yours (and I dont name my newts) but I started doing exactly what you did (even feeding schedules, water quality parameters, what and who ate, etc) but it got to involved for me.

Your not alone! I am crazy about newts too.
(As well as many of the other members on here. )

Mitch

It gets worse. Just wait until you are in chat some night and someone asks a question that forces you to go dig through over a decade of logbooks on all your critters!

I myself do not use spreadsheets, I find them to be far too limited in their content. Instead I have close to fifty notebooks filled with everything from water chemistry test results to highly detailed dates of breeding and egg viability percentages.

Even my feeder cultures have log books. I wish everyone keeping caudates on a large scale kept such notes. It would be interesting to assemble a database over the years to track breeding data and the like. Such records could be the key to replacing statements like "not much is known about captive breeding this species" with highly detailed accounts from multiple keepers.

The scientific community often compares notes. I feel the "hobbyist" community should do the same. (It might even lend us a bit more credibility with the "pros")

Well said, Sludge. I only keep records of dates of acquisition/trade/sale and the years in which a particular group bred. I am thankful that i started doing this when I did. If I hadn't, I would have forgotten a lot by now. It's really handy to be able to look back and know when things happened.

Johnny, I'm curious to how you have your notebooks arranged? I've got quite a few notebooks, not nearly as many as yours, full of info as well but it's so disorganised it isn't funny! For example, I have my A. maculatum breeding results from this past spring stuck in bewteen water change schedules and which newts had vet visits coming up.

Aha! Lots of "Nut Keepers" out there!

I really appreciated the following statement(s) from SludgeMonkey: "Such records could be the key to replacing statements like "not much is known about captive breeding this species" with highly detailed accounts from multiple keepers. The scientific community often compares notes. I feel the "hobbyist" community should do the same. (It might even lend us a bit more credibility with the "pros")"

I think that this forum will be respectfully considered and queried by the "official scientific community" as this forum offers not only incredible photos of specie identification and behaviors but provides a worthy knowledge base built on genuine application by the dedicated and intelligent members of this forum.

Re organization of data: I just use three ring binders with labeled tabs. I have info broken down (with data and pics) by species which includes details of health, feeding, breeding, housing conditions, etc. Then food info such as "Microfoods for Larvae" broken into categories of baby brine shrimp, grindal worms, mircoworms, etc., then adult food items.. Also have handy dandy "Buglopedia Index" detailing "feedable" pond critters (macro invertebrates) - good ones, bad ones, etc..(dragonfly larvae deadly). I also included a balancing tank chapter, water quality info, compatible test kits, etc. I try to keep it as simple as possible The data binders are nice to have for quick reference.