Bedding material for quarantine of new Tylototriton Shanjing

I

ira

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hello everyone!

this is my first post on this board, and probally wont be my last.

Well, in about a week i will be aquiring a group of T. Shanjing and am planning on individually housing them for about 2 months while i prepare their group enclosure. I am going to use tupperwares to house the newts, dividing them into equal partitions roughly 12"x8" per newt. I feel the space will be adequate for each newt to get settled in and accustomed to feeding.

my question is about the type of substrate to use in this initial setup. I am thinking about just keeping the enclosures simple and having them be completely terrestrial to avoid any problems with stagnant standing water and rot. Right now i am planning on using a mixture of coco fiber (bed-a-beast or the like) and chemical free planting mulch consisting of decomposed leaves and bark. Each newt will also have a hide and probaly a little snipping of pothos in its enclosure too.

anyone have any reasons why this set up would be less than ideal to get my newts established and feeding?

the communal enclosure i am planning is going to be fairly elaborate and probally have a running stream and be very heavily planted.
 
because it retains moisture and will keep the humidity at a good level and it is relativly cheap and easy to find.

its been a while since i kept amphibians, has there been recent developments in why coco fiber is bad for them?

what kind of bedding material would you suggest?
 
I have mine on newspaper with a little sphagnum. I've done it with Salamandra in the past. I have an accessable water dish, low feeding dish, hiding huts, and cork bark hides in their. I'll probably keep the kweichowensis like this for awhile. I'll probably get the shanjing in a breeding setup slanted tank with a little water in a couple weeks. they look like they are ready to lay.
 
so your Shanjing use the feeding bowl? thats pretty neat, i wasnt expecting the newts to go for that.
 
The feeding bowl is just a petri dish. Some of the salamanders use it. Stuff does crawl out of the dish. I do also put food in hiding huts. I just don't want all of the live food hiding.
 
My favorite substrate is a 50/50 mix of coco-fiber and plain top soil. I like soil best, but I find that adding coco fiber increases moisture retention.

I have never bothered to do single-housing quarantine for a group of animals from the same source. Not a bad idea, though. You will know who is eating and who isn't.
 
yeah, that is the reason i am individually housing them, i really want all of them to survive so i can start a solid breeding program.
 
hi jenns suggestions the best, though i would add some dried moss, pieces of bark etc.
But not in quarantine tanks!!!
Use rock material, bricks and so on,....
But offer dry places.
Greets,
Philipp
 
I USE LONG FIBER SPHAGNUM MOSS IT RETAINS LOTS OF WATER AND IS INEXPENSIVE. I ALSO LIKE THE GOLD COLOR AND THE FACT IT DOESN'T SMELL LIKE OTHER MOSSES AVAILABLE. ITS USED OFTEN IN THE ORCHID TRADE. I USE TANKS WITH A HOLE DRILLED IN THE BOTTOM AND FLUSH THE TANK DAILY WITH A GALLON OF WATER TO KEEP IT CLEAN AND CHANGE THE MOSS OFTEN.
 
Becareful using sphagnum and peat as some caudates do not adapt well to the low pH and can be seriously stressed or even killed by the low pH.
Ed
 
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