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Resurrection....unbelievable

eljorgo

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Today I witnessed something I would never think about in all my life. I am still with dropped jaw:eek:... I am keeping 2 juvenils of Red Paramesotriton undescribed species. It has been quite a difficult task feeding these guys, so almost desperate I filled a tupperware to almost full capacity (less some 2 or 3mm of air in the top. Total water column was about 5cm This was done to prevent them to escape from the water and start feeding on life mosquito larvae/earthworms in water. After place them there two days ago they were doing fine. Yesterday i opened and they were perfect but when i opened the tupperware today one of them was floating with a enormous belly and will mouth totally opened and eyes not visible (retracted) the legs were compressed to the body and his skin was very slippery with the body completely lined and rigid. I was chocked and could not believe i had lost one of my two most precious animals. Totaly confused with his jaws totally opened and tongue a bit prominent I started to squeeze gently his inflated belly and a impressive amount of water got out.After this maneuver I was so nervous that let him fall in the table in a tumble of 10cm. When he hit the table one of his limbs started moving and he turned his neck what completely impressed me. I squeezed 2 more times in belly and one in the throat till no more water came out. Then I dried him with a towel. All of this very very gently. In question of minutes his eyes became prominent (opened) and his tail started moving. Yet not good, he looked like he was taking electric shock, shaking heavily. I thought there was nothing to do. But after this activity he started walking and his throat started to move (he finally started to breath). And from that time till now (about 10h) he is perfectly fine, walking, moving if somebody touches him and his skin returned to normal. When I thought I knew "all" about Caudates, I got this valuable lesson of what some species/families can do if you discover them drown. I didn't took pictures of this sequence because in the moment, the rush was so many that I only thought about making this guy live and there he his, happy with his friend in a terrestrial setup for some days now on:D Even he might run the risk to die I doubt that all 100% since he is so perfect like he was before all of this. Anybody saw or had something like this? I am impressed with this behaviour. He was...dead... floating, rigid mouth opened, tongue out and mouth widely opened and now he is super fine and perfect...Just wanted to share this fact I never thought or heard before!!
Cheers,
Jorge(amazed)
 

Yahilles

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My heavily bloated orientalis survived 5 hours in freezer when i tried to euthanize it, when i moved it back to the room, it started moving around the ice. Next time i put it in freezer for 20 hours so it haven't to suffer longer.
Anyway, never heard of anything like situation you've seen.
 

Jan

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Impressive – both the drowning and the successful resuscitation. Thanks for sharing.

Curiosity question - how cold was the water/enclosure temps?
 
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eljorgo

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Indeed Dawn...:errr:

I´m still amazed. Adding the fact he ate a earthworm and the buddy that didn't drown haven't eat nothing...

Jan water temps were around 20ºC, - +1ºC

cheers,
Jorge
 

eljorgo

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@ Janus I had a similar case like yours. Two years ago one of my marm adult males died becasue of very high temperatures. I dig a hole in the yard and buried the big guy to my sadness. After a day under compacted soil I was so curious that I dig him back and what i saw was a active newt, moving legs but could not walk properly. I think this is death but the electric power in their nerves makes them move legs and so on even being fully dead. Don´t know if you ever caught an octopus but hours after you kill him (knife on his "head") he will still move his 8 arms and change colours. electric reactions are common, I tought my newt was going to die when I saw the taking "electric" shocks like I saw on marms. But no. He lived..:ufo:

A picture just taken to the Un-dead :D so happy he lived!
DSC00123.jpg
 

Neotenic_Jaymes

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I have had a similar happening. I had 3 drowned T.verrucosus. They were advanced morphs and I purchased them as aquatic. Obviously they weren't ready for the water. They had been drowned for about 16 hours. There was obvious bloat and the eyes were retracted. I thought they were dead. I decided to perform a CPR simulation on the little newts. Decent amounts of water came out of the little newts. Their eyes were closed and their tongues were sticking out. I was certain they were dead. afterwards I put them in a tupperware and left them there over night. The next day They were up and about roaming the tupperware. After seeing them alive I had a different impression about newts and their endurance.
 

maelstrom

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in my situation one of my hongkongensis had been looking sluggish for a couple days so i put him in a quarentine container and overnight he passed. In the morning i went to check on ''him'' and he was stiff as a board and dry to the touch and not moving or breathing. So i put him in a plastic bag and was planning on burying him in the yard. I had gotten busy doing other things and the bag had gotten thrown into the garbage. So its my job to take the garbage to the ally and the next day i got the garbage ready and took it out. Halfway to the ally the bag rips open and spills all over the place. So im cleaning it all up and i hear this rustleing.looking i find the bag the newt was in moving around lol. So i rip it open and here is k-min alive and well. Its now just about a year since it happened and hes doing perfect.
 

Yahilles

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Looks like a season for miracles! Today my first-morph orientalis escaped and i found it looking like dead in corner of my room (it could have been there for at least 6 hours! I think fact that it was in terrestial stage helped it. When i found the newt it wasn't moving, but it wasn't dry like chips, still soft in touch so i put it in tank with water... after few minutes i saw it moving it's head and front legs, few hours later it was looking like before escape, just moving much less!
Incredible animals!
 

Encompassky

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I wish I hadn't thrown away my little guy (he hasn't even got a name yet) a couple of month ago when I found him dead in his tank, bloated and everything. If I had known newt CPR I could have saved him!:(

Why and how do they drown though? My other newts were fine with the same type of water, water level, temp and stuff :confused:
 
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