Firebelly newts babies need advice!

[Luciole]

Hi guys,

last year I posted about how my female laid eggs and I was planning on letting nature do it's thing and let the babies with the adults, so they were all in a deepish water tank with lost of plants and filtration.

Turns out this summer I am counting about 20 newts that look like adults but about 1/4 to 1/3 the size. My female also laid more eggs as I am now seeing all sorts of stages of babies crawling/swimming about.

Now the advice I need, as it seems I am able to keep them alive, is how old/big do I have to wait before selling/giving them away? As much as I love the little things, I can't keep all those peps around or else I will have a water chemical apocalypse going on.

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[alexps]

You can sell them at any life stage.I sell mine at about half grown with my phone number plus this sites address and have had very few problems. I also say that I will have them back at anytime for any reason.

 

[jewett]

If packaged and shipped appropriately, just about any life stage is safe to ship newts. I prefer to ship eggs myself, but have also shipped larvae, new metamorphs, well started juveniles, all the way up to adults.

Larvae are the most expensive and risky, because of the weight of the water and the risk of your water chemistry going bad while in transit, and so the least recommended life stage, but if you pack them so they are insulated against warm temperatures and send them overnight, you should have good success with any age.

Also, this article is great: Caudata Culture Articles - Shipping A lot of the info is specific to the US so you may have to do more research or wait for Canadian members to chime in, but the packaging tips are universal!

And congrats on your successful newt keeping - you must have some happy and healthy adults on your hands

HJ

 

[Canecorsonewt]

It's up to who's going to buy or take them off your hands. They should be easier to find homes for if they are easy to take care of. Like if they eat night crawlers and pellets food found in most pet stores.

 

[Luciole]

I don't think I will ship, I think I will just put them up on sale or internet, or for free if they give me proof they know what they are doing by sending me tank setting and all and all.

One of my co-worker said she boiled to death her newt cause the pet store told her to put a heater, and she put it on max setting in a tank too small...

Any ways... I need to think about what I will do with all those babies!

 

[Chinadog]

You can sell them at any life stage.I sell mine at about half grown with my phone number plus this sites address and have had very few problems. I also say that I will have them back at anytime for any reason.

Me too. As long as they're through the tricky stage right after morphing and eating properly I let them go if someone wants them. I just make sure the buyer is clear on how to care for them and I've had no problems at all. I also give them my number and ask for first refusal if they decide to let them go.