Molch's Marbled Morphs

Molch's Marms turned One Year Old today.

Well, sort-of; one year ago the first ones hatched from the eggs sent to me by the very generous Otterwoman :)kiss:)

all 10 are doing great; they now live in a 20 ga long forest-floor setup with moss, cork bark and some wicked moss-covered moose vertebrae to climb around on. They are about 10-11 cm long and very voracious. At night, they all come out and wander around like hungry beasts on the prowl. I can lie in bed at night and watch them by the light of my headlamp.

I think I'll keep them terrestrial for the summer, and then next winter/spring introduce them to water. I can't tell sexes yet.

molch-albums-marmoratus-larvae-picture21779-11-months-old-10-cm.jpg


molch-albums-marmoratus-larvae-picture21780-11-months-old-10-cm.jpg


molch-albums-marmoratus-larvae-picture21784-11-months-old-10-cm.jpg
 
Happy birthday, Newts! You've obviously done a great job raising them - they look lovely. The bit about the moose vertebrae is a little disturbing. You should check to see if activity around them increases with full moon, who knows what could be happening...
 
The bit about lying in bed watching them with a headlamp on worries me even more:eek:


Regards Neil
 
Hi !
Very nice newts!
my marms are 6cm and 8 cm - how old proppably they can be?
Cheers Tomasz
 
Tomasz - they can grow at different rate, depending on temperature or food. But most likely yours are less than a year old, I would guess?

Below some pics of the newts crawling around on those wicked moss--covered moose vertebrae I mentioned :D

molch-albums-marmoratus-larvae-picture22194-1-year-old-climbing-moss-covered-moose-vertebra.jpg


molch-albums-marmoratus-larvae-picture22195-1-year-old-climbing-moss-covered-moose-vertebra.jpg
 
OK thanks, Molch!
and wo more questions - how do you feed them and how temperatures is in they tank?
 
Tomasz, they obviously eat meat - moose is best, judging from how well they cleaned it off the bones... :D

My adult marms are now also kept terrestrially and eat earthworms (whole smaller ones and portioned nightcrawles) and little slugs (their favourite).
 
evut said:
Tomasz, they obviously eat meat - moose is best, judging from how well they cleaned it off the bones... :D
QUOTE]

I think the well-camouflaged newt in the first photo is waiting to pounce on a vulture! ;)

Lovely marms Molch, my 2008 bred adults are having the first breeding season where they all want to be aquatic. Last year they were tricky to sex but no such issues this spring - five females and one lucky male!
Click to expand...
 
TomaszJanulewic said:
OK thanks, Molch!
and wo more questions - how do you feed them and how temperatures is in they tank?
Click to expand...

Hi Tonasz - the temperature in their tank is currently about 55-60 F (ca. 12-15 C)

They have some isopods and earthworms living in their tank that they hunt down at night. They also ate fruit flies when younger, but now they are getting too big to be very interested in those.

Twice a week I feed them by laying down some wet paper towels on which I make small heaps of thawed-out bloodworms, blackworms, and chopped earthworms. They will come out and pick the worms off the paper towel, and then they will **** on the towel when they are done. It's amazing how they clean everything off by morning. Then all I have to do is remove the towel with the poop and the (usually few to no) leftovers and bingo - clean tank, fat newts :)

I love these guys. Love me a newt with a healthy appetite :D
 
Oh my goodness, they are such adorable little guys! Congratulations :)!
 
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    with axolotls would I basically have to keep buying and buying new axolotls to prevent inbred breeding which costs a lot of money??
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    Not necessarily but if you’re wanting to continue to grow your breeding capacity then yes. Breeding axolotls isn’t a cheap hobby nor is it a get rich quick scheme. It costs a lot of money and time and deditcation
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    @Thorninmyside, I Lauren chen
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    Would Chinese fire belly newts be more or less inclined towards an aquatic eft set up versus Japanese . I'm raising them and have abandoned the terrarium at about 5 months old and switched to the aquatic setups you describe. I'm wondering if I could do this as soon as they morph?
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