Basic question about measuring.

[Chinadog]

How many inches are there in a foot?
No, no, only joking! It's;
Can anyone tell me the correct way to measure the snout to vent length of a newt? Is it from the snout to the beginning of the cloaca, or the end of the cloaca where the tail starts?

 

[Sith the turtle]

I believe its where the vent ends. I'm not sure, but I'm very positive about it

 

[Blackbun]

Check out page 5 of this link.
Snout to (start of) vent.

https://chriswpetersen.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/colletti-sp-handbook.pdf

 

[Chinadog]

OK, cheers for the link!
I've read that the tail length compared to snout to vent length can be used to sex juvenile Cynops newts, so I'm going to have a go with the ones I have at the moment and then see how they turn out when they mature.

 

[Blackbun]

Would love to hear how you get on Chinadog.

 

[AuSu]

This sounds interesting!

 

[sde]

Yep, blackbun is right, its to the start of the cloaca. Unfortunately i didn't know that til earlier this year so all of my previous Taricha granulosa measurements are a bit off as i measured to the end of the cloaca

 

[Blackbun]

Yep, blackbun is right, its to the start of the cloaca. Unfortunately i didn't know that til earlier this year so all of my previous Taricha granulosa measurements are a bit off as i measured to the end of the cloaca

Dear Seth, when I was reading up on this, in the scientific research papers, a great number of scientists sounded as though this measurement criterium hadn't been universally accepted and so they specified what they did BUT emphasised researchers just need to be consistent in what they measure. So, in some papers you'd be correct.

 

[sde]

Dear Seth, when I was reading up on this, in the scientific research papers, a great number of scientists sounded as though this measurement criterium hadn't been universally accepted and so they specified what they did BUT emphasised researchers just need to be consistent in what they measure. So, in some papers you'd be correct.

Interesting, thanks for the info. I guess i will just keep doing it as i am so that i keep the measurements consistent.

 

[Chinadog]

Yeah thanks everyone. I think the main thing when measuring for comparison is to be consistent, if I always measure to the start of the cloaca every time, the body to tail length ratios will still be recordable. I don't suppose anybody has any tips for getting accurate measurements from small (ish) juveniles with minimum fuss and stress to the newts involved?

 

[Blackbun]

Dear Chinadog maybe you could place them in a glass bottomed tank sitting over a piece of graph paper and then take a photo.

 

[Chinadog]

Cheers, I'll give it a go. The C. ensicauda are already in a clear tub and there's a spare critter keeper type tank for the pyrrhos. They're getting ready for a bigger home anyway.