Raising (& Breeding) Ommatotriton

There have been a few threads over the years about Ommatotriton care, some of which have had less than happy endings. There were a good number of captive bred Ommatotriton available in the UK last year and I was wondering how people were getting on with them?

Mine came from fellow forum member Billy and were probably a couple of centimetres in length when they arrived in July 2010. They were raised in a small plastic tub with a clip lid drilled with ventilation holes. A piece of muslin sat between the lid and the container to prevent prey items escaping through the ventilation holes. A thin layer of topsoil lined the base of the container and some small bark pieces placed on top. The container was then filled almost to the top with moss collected locally and sprayed with water once a week. They were fed springtails, woodlice, fruit flies and white worms. When they reached around 4cm they were transferred to a larger container but otherwise the setup was identical to the original tub.

When the worst of the frosts were over I decided to put them outdoors in a large plastic container. The base was drilled for drainage and a thick layer of clay beads covered with top soil used as substrate. Using the garden hose I tested the drainage very thoroughly. The British weather has a habit of water logging containers and I was concious this was an upland species from well drained and perhaps in some cases arid habitats. Much has been said about moisture being an issue for these guys when young. Again bark pieces were stacked up and moss placed on top, some grass has also grown in there. The centre of the lid was cut out and replaced with a plastic mesh, large enough for insects to crawl in but small enough to keep the newts from escaping. The whole set-up was then placed in a shady spot.

They are approx 11cm in length now and have really bulked up since being outdoors. They are most active on cool nights. It's worth mentioning that these are about as wild as a captive newts can be. They have never been hand fed and disturbance is kept to a minimum. With the exception of cultured white worms they have only ever eaten prey collected from the garden. This mainly consists of woodlice, slugs, spiders and large black springtails. They have never eaten earthworms. I plan to overwinter them in a frost free garage and see if they take to the water next spring. I'll try to get some shots of their setup.

Despite the horror stories of raising Ommatotriton my experience so far has been one of a robust, hardy newt but not necessarily a good pet species. I made the decision early on that I was going to be very hands off with them and although I have nothing to compare this experience with I think they have benefited from this "wild" lifestyle. I think they make good subjects for an outdoor enclosure. Their flight response is quite remarkable - they flip themselves into the air, landing like a cat at full sprint. Quite difficult to photograph!

I'd be interested in hearing how others have got on.

Ommatotriton ophryticus - Northern Banded Newt

Re: Raising Ommatotriton

Mine are going well. I have them in aquaterrariums. The land area is clay-based and only have a moisture gradient on a ramp of clay.
The two largest newts, roamed the area of ​​water in winter, but the 2 smaller newts remained in the area of ​​land.

The 4 juvenile Eisenia foetida eat very well both on land and in water and other micronutrients.
Newts on land area are very shy but in water they become very curious.
A few days ago one of the aquatic newts (male) emerged to land area, the other triton (male) is still in the water.
A greeting.

Re: Raising Ommatotriton

do you guys have pictures of the inclosures or diagrams for your setups ? i kept vittatus about 6 or 7 years ago and had about 20 juveniles kept in a really large glass viv with 1 quarter of water with plants and 3 quarters soil with plants and hides i kept parts of the land moist locating the newts and feeding became problamatic so i moved them into ice cream tubs to rear them then sold them not long after .was moving house ,fantastic looking in breeding colours

Re: Raising Ommatotriton

ive now got three great wee ommatriton juvies i got last week from billy james been feeding them with whiteworms springtails and soon to be fruit flies once ive harvested my first culture im keeping mine in a clip lid box with a square cut out of the lid and mesh covering this for ventilation the tub has a thin layer of compost one side has a few chunks of live moss(not sure what kind) quite moist and the other side has branch bark from logs and a handfull of dead leaves from the garden the box is kept in a spare bedroom which is quite light and warm not sure of the temperature.The newts semm really happy and fattening up i lifted back the moss today to have a wee look and see how they were getting on and two were stalking prey and hoovering up springtails then fled for cover didnt see the third specimen but im sure he was up to the same ,left them too it as i didnt want to disturb them too much,unforyunately my whiteworm culture didnt enjoy the same temperature as the viv as it has crashed noooooo!!!! clearly needs to be kept outside i think

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Spectacular ending!! 11cm is really a neat size. Crest is already showing up How envious am I .
May I ask how many you started and how many there are now?
Cheers,
Jorge

Re: Raising Ommatotriton

eljorgo said:

Spectacular ending!! 11cm is really a neat size. Crest is already showing up How envious am I .
May I ask how many you started and how many there are now?

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Adults grow to around 17cm so they've still got a little way to go. Jean Raffaelli suggests they take at least 3 years to mature. I started out with 4 and I still have 4. Hopefully they'll all make it to breeding age and I'll have at least 1 of each sex. So far they are all doing really well.

Mr Cyclone - good luck with yours. Whiteworms do well at low temperatures. At this time of year you can either keep them outdoors in the shade or in a fridge. My cultures do best at around 4-5 C and die back during the summer.

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aye cheers mark im getting another culture next week to have a bash at gona try both methods thanks

Re: Raising Ommatotriton

Better late than never, here are some shots of my Ommatotriton tub. A layer of clay balls is covered with topsoil, cork bark and moss. I haven't done much in the way of planting, plants have just arrived over time and some of the grasses and weeds are now being cramped by the lid. The mesh on the lid is siliconed in place with gaffer tape for extra security.

The newts are fat as barrels. I feed them once a week by picking up objects in the garden and brushing off the woodlice, slugs and snails found underneath directly into the tub. There's a small water dish which the newts like to sit in, suggesting they would maybe take to the water if more was offered. I'm working on their winter quarters already and I'm hopeful for next spring.

With lid:


Without lid:

Re: Raising Ommatotriton

I like it Mark. Enough ventilated but still looks humid. Good job with the lid I wish my work would end that much aesthetic ...
cheers

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Lovely! It´s just the opposite of what a friend of mine uses xDD His container is dry and barren, but it´s worked great too.
Is that Cymbalaria muralis? If it is, it´s the first time i´ve seen it growing on land xD Your enclosure is so good even plants that normally grow on walls like it!

Looking forward to seeing the winter quarters and next spring results (fingers crossed)!

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Thanks Jorge. I'd just sprayed them so it probably looks a little more humid than normal.

Yes, I believe that is Cymbalaria muralis, Azhael. If you look closely it's even flowering in there. It grows in all of our patio pots and of course on the walls too. I guess it's pretty adaptable and opportunistic, especially as I didn't put it in there, at least not knowingly.

It's interesting to hear your friend's enclosure is dry. My guys love to sit in the water dish at night and they get whatever the British weather throws at them, which believe me is wet. Even with all the rain there's plenty of micro climates in the enclosure, finding a bone dry spot amongst the bark stacks is not impossible.

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Argh..british weather, what i wouldn´t give for that now.
It seems like these guys do well in a variety of environments just as long as it´s outdoors xD
My friend lives in Alicante which, despite his complaints, to me equals to living in Africa He has had his 4 animals outdoors for a year, in a container with just dirt and hiding places. Just one solitary small plant that only recently has managed to root in there. Sounds pretty horrible, but he dug them up the other day and they are looking fantastic! Grown up, fat and healthy, well, you know, like yours xD
Where he lives it´s very dry, but not that different from what their natural habitat seems to be, really.

We (yes, i include myself, because i love them as if they were mine) have high hopes for this species. If all goes well, they should be moving into a big outdoor enclosure where hopefully they´ll thrive and breed.

That´s interesting about the Cymbalaria, as i say, they only seem to grow on walls over here, never on soil. It´s a plant i was always fond of from my days of youthful hunting of lizards

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They clearly do well outdoors with minimal interference. The poor results some people reported indoors makes me wonder what the critical factors are. Perhaps some populations in more arid parts of it's range are less tolerant of certain conditions. I think Billy keeps the parents of these aquatic all year outdoors: http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-...on-euproctus/66773-ommatotriton-like-wet.html

As the most neglected of all my animals they are some of the fattest. Now that's a belly...

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they look lovely. I'm thinking I should raise my terrestrial newts like this outdoors - our summer s are perfect for that, just have to be sure to put 'em inside before it freezes in September hehe.

this is such an awesome species. Has anyone ever had them in the US?

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looks like the animals on the pictures are males.
I have 9 ophryticus ophryticus and 5 ophryticus nestrovi, all still young. In a view weeks I'm getting a view vittatus

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These animals definitely like it dry.I believe the best way to house them with trial and error is a dry substrate,with a water bowl and some bark hides .Simplicity

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The plants in this tub went a bit nuts as you can see. The wall plant obviously likes it in there. If you look closely you can just make out a couple of newts hanging out in the top left corner. I think they will be ready to breed in the spring.



The males are already starting to crest. I might only have 1 female - she'll be getting some serious attention...

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Now that's a spectacular newt!!! It has full adult coloration already and still on land! What a remarkable success you've had! Thanks for sharing!
-Oh btw what's the plant you're using at the center? Its quite nice looking

Cheers,
Jorge

Re: Raising Ommatotriton

eljorgo said:

-Oh btw what's the plant you're using at the center? Its quite nice looking

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Azhael identified it as Cymbalaria muralis and I think he's right. It's a wall creeper, but in this case it's become more of a ground cover plant.

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Amazing looking, Mark, i´m dead jealous
You must take pictures when they finally go into the water. I have a feeling those males are going to be trully spectacular.