Ester
New member
There's an advantage to this species playing dead when touched..
However, you can almost feel the newt radiating its displeasure while taking pictures.
After a year of keeping this species it's still as reclusive as ever. They will not beg for food and each time they eat I still feel a great sense of accomplishment/gratefulness. This is the only species where I get excited on seeing a poo! Admittedly, a poo can be 3cm long and half a cm in diameter. For a 12 cm long animal, that is quite an accomplishment. They don't poo often.
If they move, it's during the night. However, they can easily stay in a single spot for a month or two.
My first target reached, keeping them alive for a year. I am not sure if my second target will ever be achieved. I would like to try and breed them, however, I have no way of making certain that I have a pair. Their cloaca's are very similar. With only two animals in my possession, it's hard to tell if this is normal or if I have two males or two females.
Current setup:
20x30x30cm, mine are not prone to escape (based on the fact that they hardly move at all). The soil I use is humus (coconut fiber) with dried beech tree leaves mixed in to slowly decompose in the rather wet soil. They show a strong dislike for open spaces, cork tube as a hide is therefor unsuitable. Rather, they'll dig themselves into plain soil should they lack a suitable place for hiding.
I created a lean-to with a piece of flat bark resting on the cork tube. They can mostly be found underneath it, wedged in between the bark roof and the soil.
I keep the soil pretty wet, though not soppy. They will dig down into the soil if the top layer becomes too dry.
The placing of their terrarium is on the east side of the house in the window sill. They get plenty of morning sunshine. I have tried placing the setup elsewhere (where no sunshine reaches the setup) however, to me at least this seems to affect their willingness to eat in a negative way.
Before feeding I mist the setup extensively. They are still picky eaters, with one eating only wax worms, and the other only earth worms. They'll eat once every 1-2 weeks during the summer months, less during winter.
I never kept a log of when I find poo, but I would hazard a guess at once a month. Poo tends to be a compact oval bundle, a bit pointy on one side. I recently noticed there seem to be two sizes, something in the range of 1.5-2 cm and the other is 3 cm.
Overall appearance: one seems to be "fatter" or rather a bit more filled out than the other. This has always been thus. On hopeful days I like to think this indicates that I may have a male and a female after all. But I fear this is being hopeful and not really based on anything real.
However, you can almost feel the newt radiating its displeasure while taking pictures.
After a year of keeping this species it's still as reclusive as ever. They will not beg for food and each time they eat I still feel a great sense of accomplishment/gratefulness. This is the only species where I get excited on seeing a poo! Admittedly, a poo can be 3cm long and half a cm in diameter. For a 12 cm long animal, that is quite an accomplishment. They don't poo often.
If they move, it's during the night. However, they can easily stay in a single spot for a month or two.
My first target reached, keeping them alive for a year. I am not sure if my second target will ever be achieved. I would like to try and breed them, however, I have no way of making certain that I have a pair. Their cloaca's are very similar. With only two animals in my possession, it's hard to tell if this is normal or if I have two males or two females.
Current setup:
20x30x30cm, mine are not prone to escape (based on the fact that they hardly move at all). The soil I use is humus (coconut fiber) with dried beech tree leaves mixed in to slowly decompose in the rather wet soil. They show a strong dislike for open spaces, cork tube as a hide is therefor unsuitable. Rather, they'll dig themselves into plain soil should they lack a suitable place for hiding.
I created a lean-to with a piece of flat bark resting on the cork tube. They can mostly be found underneath it, wedged in between the bark roof and the soil.
I keep the soil pretty wet, though not soppy. They will dig down into the soil if the top layer becomes too dry.
The placing of their terrarium is on the east side of the house in the window sill. They get plenty of morning sunshine. I have tried placing the setup elsewhere (where no sunshine reaches the setup) however, to me at least this seems to affect their willingness to eat in a negative way.
Before feeding I mist the setup extensively. They are still picky eaters, with one eating only wax worms, and the other only earth worms. They'll eat once every 1-2 weeks during the summer months, less during winter.
I never kept a log of when I find poo, but I would hazard a guess at once a month. Poo tends to be a compact oval bundle, a bit pointy on one side. I recently noticed there seem to be two sizes, something in the range of 1.5-2 cm and the other is 3 cm.
Overall appearance: one seems to be "fatter" or rather a bit more filled out than the other. This has always been thus. On hopeful days I like to think this indicates that I may have a male and a female after all. But I fear this is being hopeful and not really based on anything real.
