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Aquatic vs terrestrial notophthalmus viridescens efts

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So it seems like I am always on here posting for help. Today was a sad day for me. Ive been trying to keep some of my efts aquatic. It was going great. I had 5 terrestrial that were doing good. And 4 aquatic. The aquatic ones were definetly growing faster. I have two tanks. A small ten gallon with rocks breaking the surface on each side, and filled with tons of live pennywort that also breaks the surface, for the ones i was hoping to keep aquatic. The other is a 20 gallon long w plants and one land area and 15 or so larvae that had not morphed. They are voth stocked with live blackworms and i feed frozen bloodworms a few times a week. This weekend i went out of town, was only gone for 2 nights. But when i got home ive found my biggest aquatic guy dead. He was smushed up against the glass under a rock. He was almost twice the size of the others. I know he didnt starve to death, he was fat when i left. He must have drowned. But why? After he had been living aquatic for about 2 weeks? Now im extremely paranoid about leaving the others aquatic. Meanwhile in the other tank, i wasnt seeing many larvae so i moved the moss around and found 5 morphs! Sadly there was also a dead one, who was pretty far gone. Im not sure what happened to him. Im pretty sad about the death of my big guy. I got scared and moved the 5 new morphs to terrestriak setup immediately. Im just not sure whats best for them. What is your opinions? I still have 3 in the aquatic tank, 2 of them are looking pretty good. The other is smaller and slimmer, im just no good at deciding how to keep these guys now that ive had these deaths.

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Thomas F

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AW: Aquatic vs terrestrial notophthalmus viridescens efts

I've heard about Notoph-keeper that successfully raise their (N. v. v.) efts aquatically. I had losses when I pick up the morphs out of the larvae box to late. I only raise them in a terestrial setup. They grow slower, but for me it is the safer way. And as I know it's their natural behaviour to stay terrestrial for the first years.

But of course: A terrestrial setup doesn't guarantees we won't have any losses.

Cheers,
Thomas
 

slowfoot

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These little guys can 'become' terrestrial literally overnight. Even if they've been living aquatically without gills. Once they do, there's just no safe way to leave them near water. I've had one drown even with a large land area nearby :(

I've tried to raise them aquatically, but after my bad experiences with this method, I remove any eft as soon as it climbs the glass or comes on land.
 
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Well my night only got worse. I keep alot of fruit at home and thus usually have some fruit flies in my kitchen, when i checked my springtails before i left there were some fruit flies in there and i noticed less springtails, thought maybe the fruit flies had eaten some. Well last nignt when i checked, all 5 of my springtail cultures have mites!!!! My master culture that i was using to start others and feed from is decimated! Hardly any springs left. Amd it was flourishing! Im so depressed. Im inexperienced in keeping cultures, but have done alot of research here. i had an isopod culture from outdoors, and its not doing well either, despite putting tons of them in there. But ive read those guys are very slow to reproduce, they are just grey ones from outside. Is there any saving my springtails? Also in my terrestrial setup there was fruit fly larvae in there! Will the efts eat those or harm them or can i just leave them in there? I leave for one weekend and stuff goes all to peices :( im so sad. I will be moving all other efts that morph to terrestrial so hopefully no more will drown. But now ill be struggling to feed with my springtails gone. There are some in with them, but i really enjoyed dumping more in for them snd seeing that theu were eating dor sure.

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Canecorsonewt

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I had the same thing happen to me my big n.v.l died in water. It was a monster it still had some gills i tested the water it was all good. So i let it be the next morning two more had died. So i put the rest on land 2 more died after that. I noticed that most of the rest had bloating. Out of 12 4 survived they had big clear bellys you could see through. But the ones in water that died did not have boating i checked them. I really dont think my newts drowned. Most where on and off land for a few weeks eating under water. Temp never got over 68f but my nitrate was a little high 40ppm or higher ammonia 0 nitrite 0. Good luck
 

Claughy

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Fruit fly larvae will probably become food I wouldn't worry about that. I've fed my dart frogs the larvae and they love it. How are you growing your springtails? I house mine in a big pickle jar full of charcoal with some water in the bottom and that seems to work really well. No idea how to combat mites though. Isopods can take a while, make sure they're a little damp, I find mine do better and reproduce more quickly that way.
 
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If i have any more deaths i will have to dig out my testing kit and test the waters. As for the springtails, I keep them in plastic deli containers, and other various plastic containers ive reused, one is in a large yogurt container. I didnt even think of using pickle jars, i know i have a large one around somewhere. Ive got them on lumpwood charcoal and feed them fish flakes and put in some sweet potatoe peices, for the carotenes. The isopods are in a larger plastic container with a few holes on one end. It has soil and leaves and cardboard on top, i mist it maybe once a week to keep it damp. Hopefully they will start producing something for me with myspringtail issue, im sure it will take me a while to get back on track, if i even can, without buying a whole new culture. I left the cultures in the fridge for about 8 hours, fingers crossed.

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Claughy

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I've heard that using grains like bread for spring tails can lead to mites, I imagine some might come in on the sweet potato but wouldn't know for sure. You can also throw flake food and vegetable scraps in to feed your isopods they really enjoy that.
 
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My little efts are dropping like flies. Its so saddening, i kew this would be a hard stage to raise but i wasnt expecting to lose so many so quickly. 7 died in one night. Some of the others arent looking well, but there are about 3 or 4 that are looking good. Ive been keeping a tiny dish w water and live blackworms in with them, some of them seem to like to sit in the water and i saw one eating the blackworms. One of my springtail cultures is starting to produce again and i think the fridge trick killed the mites bc ive been keeping a close eye out for them. At this point i will be surprised if i even have 2 or 3 efts that survive to adulthood. Its really saddening sonce i have been raisinf these guys for months and have put so so much time into them. If anyone has any tips on the rearing of the efts if appreciate them. Ive read and read and read on here. I just cant believe how hard these little guys are to keep alive!

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Niels D

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I've raised noto's 4 times aquatic now, and I haven't encountered any problems yet. I have more problems with keeping the adults in good condition (using oak leaves etc), though I have a new strain of juvies now where the parents are kept aquatic whole year round. This was my thread some time ago:

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-...8-difference-between-aquatic-terrestrial.html
Thanks Neils D. I actually read that thread a while back, someone else on here linked it to me. Its the only reason i decided to try keeping some aquatic. So far ive only had one death since morphing from the aquatic ones. And i know people are going to think Im completly crazy when they read this but for my adults, i dont have a filter and i never test the water. There is an air bubbler though. Ive only ever had 2 deaths and that was after i used dechlorinator in the water. Previous to that i had been just filling their tank with filtered tap water, that was 4 years ago when i didnt know as much as i do now. When i learned i should be using dechlorinator i did, and had those 2 deaths, of course i cant be sure thats what it was but it was just odd id never had a death until then. Now i use rain water or tap water that ive let sit out for a day just to be safe. 2 of mine came out of a roadside pond that often had trash and litter in it, so maybe they are kinda resistent. Ive always thought of them being so easy to care for until now with these babies. Most of my adults stay aquatic all year round also. The first year a few left the water, the water was lower. Since then i make sure i keep the water level constantly the same and they always stay in the water, that may be because I dont offer food on land though. Water is just so much easier. I was surprised to see so many peoples that left the water for winter. I guess bc mine have always just stayed aqautic.

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Jort

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Does this depend on locality, or can most noto's be kept aquatic throughout the year, because I always thought they need to get on land during winter.
 

Thomas F

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AW: Re: Aquatic vs terrestrial notophthalmus viridescens efts

I guess it depends on the locality and it is an "individual preference". I have an group of 7 adults (3 x wc - year of birth round about 2010 and 4 x cb 2013) 5 animals left the water in summer after the breeding period, 2 are still in water. These 2 are a cb pair and it's possible they start a second breeding period this year. The male does it last year also, but he hasn't a suitable female in his tank.

Last winter I had two hibernation tanks for the notophs. One terrestrial and one aquatic.
 
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Does this depend on locality, or can most noto's be kept aquatic throughout the year, because I always thought they need to get on land during winter.
I am not sure, but someone else on here might know the answer to that. I do remember reading someplace that notos can often be seen in winter foraging in water underneath ice!

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Canecorsonewt

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Does this depend on locality, or can most noto's be kept aquatic throughout the year, because I always thought they need to get on land during winter.

I have 2 n.v.l's i picked them up last September 1 male one female. When i got them they where 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 inch long. Now they are around 6 inch female is bigger. My female had eggs last winter after she laid eggs she left the water for short periods of time. When i would take the cover off she would go back in the water. She probably didn't spend more than a hour or two a day out of water. She left the water around april or may . He has never left the water that i have seen since i got him. Water temp ranging from 65f to 70f.
 

Niels D

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I've got juvies of a a couple that's constantly aquatic. They're a bit lighter as well. Can't really say if it's N.v.v. or N.v.l., but I hope they will be as aquatic as their parents.
 

Canecorsonewt

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I've got juvies of a a couple that's constantly aquatic. They're a bit lighter as well. Can't really say if it's N.v.v. or N.v.l., but I hope they will be as aquatic as their parents.

I cant remember where i found it but it was online,i read in Louisiana some n.v.l larvae never leave the water and some do. I think it was different areas of Louisiana where some larvae stay in water and some go on land. Im sure i just Googled Louisiana newts and found it if anyone interested in looking for it and reading it.
 
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Wanted to show you guys an update. Approximatly 7 month old efts being raised aquatically. There are 2 land areas in their tank. You can see that the light orange eft is one who prefers the land, (i just happened to catch him in the water) the darker one prefers the water. He has already got the colors of an adult. There are 8 efts living in the tank and at least 3 of them seem to prefer the water. They were growin faster than the land lovers until recently when the land lovers have started to accept bits of earthworm. There are even 2 efts that will take the worm bits right off of the forceps. Makes me so happy that they are doing well in this type of setup.
 

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Niels D

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I experienced the land dwellers to catch up with the aquatic specimens later on as well. At this moment all animals are fully aquatic here. Nice that your animals are doing great.
 
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