Andrias davidianus -- swaying

[william]

i suppose the swaying would be similar to an axolotl or siren waving it's gills to get more oxygen.

btw, something tells me that it wouldn't just be british kids causing havoc in the newt enclosure, some british adults can be exactly the same if not worse. if that was in britain the bottom would be littered in coins...

 

[edward]

They can grow surprisingly fast dependent on the diet. While the ones at Philly didn't get 5 feet long they did go from about 8 lbs to 20+ lbs in a couple of years when I started feeding them skinned rodents... (went from large mice to large rats)...

Ed

 

[travis]

Wow,
I hadn't ever heard about feeding Andrias rodents...I thought more along the line of farm raised trout or something. Thats interesting to hear. Thanks.
Travis

 

[paris]

how about unsuspecting ducks? .....anyone hear the 'JAWS' theme playing?

 

[edward]

They do feed on rodents in the wild. I saw slides from Sumio that contained rodents in the stomach washes (they also ate crabs, and of course fish).

Ed

 

[william]

i remember seeing a picture by Tim of a japonicus eating a snake

 

[kyle]

At the Omaha zoo this summer, we fed our japonicas thumped hopper rats (it spits out live ones... I think they squirm too much lol), large amounts of night crawlers, cray-fish, and thawed trout.

 

[ben]

The One that used to live at bristol zoo was about 40" long and loved the odd rat in it's diet, plus you can hold the tail and not loose your fingers when feeding them!
Ben