Freik says hi!*Wall of text*

[Freik]

Hello!


I am going to introduce my self, but first I would like to tell you a bit of the pets I keep.
The first pet I got was;

Frida, a female yellow bellied slider - trachemys scripta scripta. I got her when she was a hatchling, about 6-10 months old (not sure), and now I have had her for 6 years (still counting!). I keep her in a 100 gallon tank, with a special home-made plexi glass platform (don't got any pictures of the platform, sorry). I also use a Fluval 404 outside filter for her, which is a very good filter (recommended by me). The picture below won the second place in a photo contest on a Norwegian reptile site!

The second pet(s) I got was the two japanese tree frogs, hyla japonica; Frigge and Frogge. Frigge was the male, and Frogge is the female, and I wasn't able to breed them.. Unfortunately, Frigge died just one-two months ago, leaving Frogge all alone Here is a picture of them;
Frogge:

Frigge:

I have kept amphibians for two years (Frigge and Frogge) and reptiles for over 6 years (Frida, and the next; Bjarne).

Next out is my bearded dragon, pogona vitticeps; Bjarne Brøndbo. He lives in a tank that is about 85 gallon, and he is a male. The tank got a self-made background, which I didn't make, but the previous owner, which also kept him a bit bad - he gave him only salad for too long time. But he is living and is healthy, so there is no problems with him. Here is a picture of him, and please note: after his last shedding, he got some beautiful orange markings around his eyes and mouth, that you can't see on the picture:

Then to the last of my "family"; Flipp, Flopp and Flathead. They are my salamanders, and my newest pets. Flipp and Flopp are of the family cynops orientalis - Chinese fire belly newt, while Flathead is a pleurodeles waltl - Iberian ribbed newt. They live in the same enclosure as as Frogge, but the reason that Flathead is there is because I was unsure what species he was when I bought him.. I was going to buy three fire belly newts, but it appeared that one of the fire bellies had bee sold, so I took Flathead instead. Anyways, here is a picture of Flathead, which is a male (PS: sorry for the bad quality of pictures of the salamanders, I'll see if I can make some better ones!);

And then Flipp and Flopp, which I think are two males, unsure though (PS: That is the place where I feed them so that the tank keep clean);

And a little about me;
I'm a 17 year old boy from Norway. Usually I call my self Freddy on the internet, but the name was used, so I went with; Freik, which is a shortening of Fredrik (that is my name). I love pets over everything, and I got some, as mentioned earlier. I also go to school of course, and I only got one year left.

Thats all about me, sorry if it was too much to read, but I couldn't shorten anything of it
:talker::talker::talker:

 

[Otterwoman]

Welcome to the site! I have a small zoo myself, so I know about loving pets more than anything else.
They must keep you busy! I have three cats, six cornsnakes and 15 hatchlings (just hatched yesterday), 8 tanks of various species of newts, two geckos, and a hedgehog. I know they keep me busy. There is so much great info on newts on this site, you'll learn everything you could want to know!

 

[Freik]

Thanks for the welcome!

Woah, 15 hatclings and all those others?! Nice collection at least Well, I got a dog as well, a elkhound female to be more specific, named Oda (weird name for a dog, but the previous owner called her that). Don't got any pictures of her though.

 

[Otterwoman]

I don't have a dog because I think they are too much trouble.:wacko:
Anyone want a corn snake?:crazy: ha ha

 

[Mark]

Welcome to the site Freddy. That's quite some pet collection you have there.

You might want to read the article on mixing disasters: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/Mixing_disasters.shtml and reconsider housing Cynops, Pleurodeles and Hylids in the same enclosure. They should really be separate for their own safety. On another note your P.waltl is very thin - feed him earthworms regularly and he should bulk out.

 

[Freik]

On another note your P.waltl is very thin - feed him earthworms regularly and he should bulk out.

He was like that when I got him, but he is fatter now I'll try and get a picture for you, but at the moment the battery for the camera is recharging (it will be done till tomorrow).

About the mixing species thing, I have successfully mixed these species - never seen any biting, not any fighting at all really. But I'll see if I can make another enclosure for the P. waltl, as he is a bit bigger than the other newts. I have only seen the hyla japonica in the water a couple of times - but only for a short minute or so. I can move the P. waltl, but not the C. orientalis, as I don't got any space left here. Do you think that C. orientalis and H. japonica can "live together"? They both live in China (and Japan for the H. japonica) and requires the same temperatures, as far as I have read.

 

[Freik]

Updated pics of Flathead!

Thats the pictures I just took of him - do he still look thin? *And yes, that is him on my bed, couldn't hold him/put him on the floor so*

 

[Freik]

I just checked the first pictures and the last ones, he look a bit fatter at least, but he is eating - so I shall see what I can do to fatten him up!

 

[Mark]

Hi again Freddy. I wouldn’t risk mixing any of them personally. It’s not necessarily about environmental requirements but more to do with who will try to eat who. The P.waltl will grow to at least double the size of the Cynops and will certainly try to eat them one day. The Cynops’ toxins may kill the P.waltl when this happens. The frogs could easily spot a limb or head of a newt moving and think it was a bite sized snack. Again the toxins could kill the frog before it spits it out. You also need to consider that newt toxins may be released into the water and affect other inhabitants.

Don’t forget that newts are relatively undemanding creatures to house. You can easily store them in cheap plastic tubs with suitable lids.

PS. Flathead looks much better in those new photos

 

[Freik]

PS. Flathead looks much better in those new photos

That was the kind of answer I had hoped for I bought him in a pet store, at the same time as the fire bellies, but the fire bellies was fatter.

Oh, you say small plastic boxes, do a pet box of 20 liter (about 5 gallon) suit well for, lets say one salamander (then I'm talking about the C. orientalis, as Flathead is too big)? Or what size where you thinking of, as I can easily buy something bigger at some shops here if those I got are too small..

 

[Freik]

Checked your post about your racking system - I'll go with something like that, thanks for the tip! Think I'll buy some from Ikea (thats where they sell them, right?) - maybe tomorrow.