Eastern newts!....

If I was you would set up a tank. Get it thriving with a bunch of live plants and a half dozen feeder guppies. After it is fully cycled in about 6 weeks, do a water change, add some more leaves and try again. If you have any almond leaves throw one of those in. People do breed them but getting them to give them up after all the work it takes to raise them will be nearly impossible. I consider raising one from a egg to and an adult a very huge achievment.

So if the oak/almond leaves are so important to their survival, do you think most captive Notos die from fungal infections that the leaves would naturally keep in check?

When using oak, should fresh green leaves or brown leaves that have fallen off the tree be used?

tyzoone said:

I just found that one of the females has died and I've only had them 2 days... The others seem to be rather active otherwise. Is there any visual implications I can check for in the others?

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Lots to be said here about parasitism and maladaptation syndrome.

A common cause for a newly acquired captive to die without any obvious signs of illness is parasitism exacerbated by pet store and/or new environment stress. A lot of these animals, captive bred or wild caught, harbour parasites, and we tend not to treat amphibians for parasites when acquired. Lots of reasons for it, including no access or motivation to seek an amphibian-wise vet, and the difficulty in dosing tiny animals.

Pet stores tend to have less than ideal conditions that are preceded by the stress of being captured and transported (or just transported if the animal is captive bred). Lots of herps will suffer greatly from these scenarios but still survive, often looking "okay enough" to be purchased by someone, and then they die.

Over the years I have gotten some eastern newts a few serparate times. Brought them home and set up a tank. Only to have them die in a few weeks. Years later I tried again. I placed some in a pond tank set up I had going for a few months I had total success. I now always have my tanks set up with oak leaves and densely planted. I'm not sure if it was the aged water, tannins in the water, or if it the security and stress relief the plants provided but I do know they led to long term survival and reproduction success. A properly set up tank from the beginning is very important. I also just aquired 20 N.v.p. They came in skinny but I fattened them up and only lost one newt over a 5 week period. I credit having them in a pond set up as the reason for this success. As Herptiles posted stress and parasites is a bad combination. Try to collect your own if you can. eliminate the stress of being in a store or wholesaler for weeks. That plus a proper set up should help you be successful.

Hey guys,

Just wanted to thank everyone for their feedback and let you know that I've started a new family! A link is here:

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-...otophthalmus-taricha/99555-torosa-family.html

Give me your feedback in the new thread!

What exactly do the oak leaves do? Just water conditioning in general? Are they good for other species also? I currently have to T. grans that are nearly fully aquatic so maybe it'll help them as well.

I have never kept Eastern but have found the Peninsula newts rather hardy . Granted not as pretty as the Eastern .