Question: Babies losing gills or being nipped off by each other?

Hi everybody, this is my fist post here, i have followed several posts here before and found it very helpful so firstly thankyou for that.

This is all new to me and I am currently raising baby crested newts, smooth newts and palemate newts (which are all native to my area) with a view to releasing them into my garden pond.

I have some at different stages in development due to differing hatching times, a couple of the larger ones which are about 4-5 weeks old and about and inch and a half long have now gotten shorted gills, one in particular looks to be slightly more developed than the others and has much broader legs. but a couple have gills shorter on one side and i am worried that they are starting to nip each others gills off, I always try to keep an abundance of food in the tank, but sometimes i get up in the morning to to my surprise to find it has all been eaten.

Is it too early for them to lose their gills?, what sort of time should it be happening?, or is it more likely they are nipping each other one they have finished all the food?

Thanks in advance

Andy

Are you aware that it is illegal to possess crested newts? It's also illegal in most places to release captive animals into the wild.

The shortened gills are probably because of nipping.

Hi, thanks for the response, I am aware that it is illegal to disturb, catch or kill crested newts in established colonies in the wild, apparently it is not however illegal to raise them from eggs for release into your own pond and i actually found the email address of one of the UKs only licence breeders and egg sellers (Charles Snell) right here on this forum, I did ask him the question whether that would make my pond a 'protected habitat' but as it is not strictly classed as 'the wild' it would not be.

As for releasing them, they are native to my area and i used to catch them in a local pond just round the corner when i was a kid (obviously letting them go again), going by what i have read (here and other places) it is only illegal to release non native newts that might mess up the natural balance of the local ecosystem.

In many places, it's illegal to release any animal that has been taken into captivity. This is especially imperative when you have captive specimens that are not native, such as axolotls or chinese firebelly newts, etc.; as these animals can introduce pathogens to other captives, which are then released into the wild when you release the animals.

You'll definitely want to double check this with your local authorities.

In addition to plenty of food, be sure they have plenty of room and visual barriers (e.g., plants) to decrease "encounters" and thus decrease nipping.