T. grans or toroso with black eyes?

E

ester

Guest
I picked up 5 more taricha last week. The previous owner had a hard time finding suitable food when they decided to leave the water for a while, one has gotten extremely thin. Other than that, all appear healthy. I've started them on a diet of wax moth larvae (as they are on land) to fatten them up a bit.

The thinnest one has so far refused to eat on its own, but I managed to force a small wax moth larvae down its throat anyway. It can't afford not to eat.
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One of the bigger ones is a bit of an enigma.. ever seen a taricha torosa/granulosa with dark brown irises? This lot was given to me as torosa, but I just really can't tell the difference between torosa and granulosa.
Dark eyes:
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The other two types of eyes that I know:
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The eyelid says granulosa. I think it looks more like a discoloration than it being a possible torosa or rivularis.
 
That last photo (bottom right) is just adorable. Best of luck with nursing them back to health!
 
Ester, any mating updates? I caught mine amplexing again the other night for hours on end.
 
I agree with Jennifer, I absolutely love that last pic. It just looks so innocent.
 
I would have to say the mystery newt is torosa. The eyelid (and eye) is dark, but there is still a (barely) visible lightness to the upper eyelid in comparison to the surrounding area.
 
I am glad you are feeding the first one. It looks terrible.

As for the eye coloration, yes only rivularis in the Taricha genus have completely black eyes, but it's difficult to tell with the photo. I'm 95% sure it is not a T. rivularis though.

For the differences between T. granulosa and T. torosa, wait until they are healthy and are in breeding condition.
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It's a lot easier during those times to identify the differences between the two species. If you are comfortable prying their jaws open, you could check for the Y-shaped volmerine teeth, but that would be more of a (yes: torosa /no:might still be torosa) sort of test.

Good luck with those!
 
It finally started eating, I now have one left that doesn't want to eat on its own. However, it is not putting on any weight, even when eating two wax worms every other day. I guess it'll just take time to feed them up to a healthy weight.

As for the dark eyed one, I suspect it's just an oddball, but it's big black eyes are really startling and beautiful. There's a hint of something in it, but nothing you could call gold.
 
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