Is this a paddle-tailed newt?

[stuart]

Hello All,

I got a couple of 'salamanders' from my local pet shop a few days ago. After looking round online to find some info about them, it appears they may be paddle tail newts!

If any of you could let me no if you have any idea? I'm sure you will!

Hope the pics work ok.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Stuart

 

[paris]

yep-thats a P labiatum, and the one on top of the thermometer is a male

 

[stuart]

Thanks for that, quick reply too!

How can you tell the one on the thermometer is a male?

Do you no a fair amount about the Paddle-Tail?

If so, what do you think to my tank? Any changes?

Thanks!

 

[paris]

the white spot on the tail and the vent size indicate it is a male. your set up is fine. you will have some problems if those two are the same gender, even females will fight and attack males.
here is a link to the care sheet.
http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Pachytriton/Pachytriton.shtml

 

[stuart]

Thanks for your help,

How would i go about hand feeding them? Is it only really around meal times that they may attack each other?

 

[TJ]

It's now recognized as Pachytriton labiatus......though "labiatum" seems to be a taxonomic synonym

Your setup looks very nice, Stuart. But is the water cycled? If you just got the newts a few days ago and then set up the tank without cycling the water, you need to be very careful that an ammonia spike doesn't kill them.

You should be able to hand-feed them without removing them from the water once they settle down a bit, using a pair of plastic tweezers and a worm.

They may also attack each other because they're territorial.

 

[stuart]

Thanks for your help.

The water in the tank has been filtering for a while now. Few weeks before i got the Newts. Although i am looking for a new filter.

Is it safe to keep the 2 Newts together or would it be best to take one back? In the shop they have about 5 together in a much smaller tank so i don't no if they fought!

Thanks again for the help, anything else you think i should no and might not would be good too!

Cheers

 

[chris]

Just watch them - they may well be fine until they settlein (mine were). In my case, territorial behaviour begun by setting up two areas within the tank in which the other was not welcome. There would be 'stand-offs' at the border. However, once one animal (both were males in my case....didn't know what I do now) gained dominance over the other he took over the who;e tank and chased the other any time he caught a glimpse or whiff of him. The smaller individual gave up trying t fight back, and would simply leap out of the water in panic more or less constantly. They were se[arated soon after.

 

[heather]

What Chris described is very similar to what happened with mine once they settled in, about 2-3 weeks after I got them. I had a male/female pair, and the female was by far the aggressor. She would harrass the poor male all the time so he would only stay in one hide, only venturing out when I put food directly outside the door of his hide. The aggression got bad enough that I placed the male in a temporary tank while I went to class one day, thinking he wold be fine with no lid for an hour - wrong. I came home to an empty tank. Never found the poor little guy, it broke my heart. I even force fed him for the first week after he was given to me before he would eat on his own, so I got a little attached. Still feel terrible about it...