Kweichowensis thread continued.........Part II

A

anthony

Guest
Figured the other thread was getting a tad long. I've been interested in the process of quarantining, does the animals get into a habit of daily cleaning of dressings and start coming around to eat? I've noticed that since I've had these, the larger(problably older male/female) took food the first 2 days then went off. Possibly because I'm keeping everything sanitary by cleaning and replacing the quarantine enclosures with new dressing everyday. Through my observations I've noticed that my young female(fair bit smaller than the other 2) has been eating quite often, almost every time I offer.

This is the question I propose(though I'm sure it's already been thought of). Do larger/older animals acclimate slower(due to the age), than younger animals? I think so, but I would love others input!

Anthony

(Message edited by portillo on June 19, 2006)
 
Being adult newts, that don't really do much of anything, I would presume that their low metabolism isn't requiring them to eat too much right now, in a time which could be fairly stressful still.

I think you're right, an older wild caught animal will take a longer time to acclimate to captive conditions than a younger more 'impressionable' animal. Just be patient, keep doing what you're doing (with maybe a little less intervention to reduce possible risks of stress) and it sounds like everything should be fine -
Best of luck and keep us updated!

p.s. - don't be afraid to have one long thread, it helps to keep all the information you have (which will be very useful to others going through the same experience) in one spot to read over one whole thread. Although lengthy, it really is the best way to not lose valuable information throughout separate posts
 
Thanks Kyle, BTW: I noticed your from Nebraska. And your Avatar is of the Henry Dorly Zoo. If you get a chance to go sometime soon, I have some of my monitors on display at that zoo. They were donated by a friend of mine that they were on breeding loan to. Beautiful Black-Throat Monitors(Black/White Throat crosses). Yeah, it seems they don't move around much(as of now), so I'm going to take the cleaning back to every other day. Other than that, I'm expecting 2 more on Tuesday. 1.1 to add to my group. I'll be keeping all in seperate quarantine containers for 90+ days just to make sure there is nothing wrong with them. This is the procedure I usually use with imports in the past with great results. I'm going to try and post some pictures of all the animals just to give everyone an idea of the colors I've got. Great to see such a diverse group. Thanks again for your input Kyle.

Anthony
 
Hi Anthony, your changing and cleaning their paper towels each day shouldn't put them off their food. I don't want to scare you but i noticed that if one of mine went off food during quarantine it was shortly followed by more sores. In fact, Kweichowensis love their food and are very vorracious and bold...i came to see this lack of appetite as a sign that more sores may be on the way....not saying this is what will happen for sure, just what i noticed.
If this does happen though you should be fine as you already have the treatment for them...it's all about treating as soon as possible
Also, as for your question about older animals taking longer to acclimate, my oldest bigger animal along with the smallest were the only ones i didn't have any trouble with.
 
typically when I quarantine things on paper towels unless the animal is producing a lot of ammonia waste I tend to only change the paper towels twice a week. If there is a fecal in the enclosure I will change it earlier. The reasoning behind this is that it is possible that we are excessively removing territorial cues (both chemical and visual) which can result in a larger amount of stress.
When splitting a thread it often helps to post a link to the new thread as a last post and a link in the new thread to the old posts to help keep things together. It is a good idea to split threads periodically as those people with older work stations or dial up connections may choose to not participate in the thread.


Ed

(Message edited by Ed on June 20, 2006)
 
Anthony, I fed those exact monitors just today - I'm a keeper at the Zoo. Although, I was not at all aware of the history with those monitors. I was told they were white throats, but the black x white cross makes much more sense to me. I always thought they looked a little different than most white throats. They are off exhibit for a bit right now though. The male kept sticking his nose through the mesh material, and cut his nostrils up pretty bad after doing it repeatedly. We are waiting to move them to an enclosure with a glass front.

That is all assuming that these are the same monitors you are referring to anyhow. How long ago were they given to the zoo? And did he donate them with your permission - hope there is no bad blood there ;)

Sounds like you'll have a good lot of healthy newts come breeding time - best of luck!
 
Kyle, no bad blood, donated with permission. He's a great guy. The large males name is Thor, I raised him up from a 10" hatchling. They are all captive breed by my buddy Robert Faust in Spring, Tx. The mother to those monitors was from the Hawaiian Zoo. She was the first Black/White Throat cross ever hatched out. She is beautiful. Anyways, they were donated about 2-3 years ago(give or take some time, can't really remember).

However, I just received my replacement male and my new female Kweichowensis. Now my breeding group is 2.3 male to female ratio. Not bad to start off with. They both had a small bit of chopped worm tonight, so I'm pretty happy about that. The other smaller female ate yesterday. My other female that had the ulcers(or whatever they were) has shed her skin and taken a small bit of worm tonight. All ulcers are gone! Pretty happy about that. Now the only one that hasn't had a bit to eat in the last few days is my larger male. But anyways, this is my short update for today. I've noticed that the Kweichowensis are starting to come around. Despite what happens with them in a month, they are still staying in quarantine for at least 90 days.

I have to run............

Anthony
 
Thursday June 22, 2006:

A little update. Many of the Kweichowensis have shed and are accepting food on a regular basis. The new male and female that arrived 2 days ago are doing fantastic. Very fat and sassy, the way I wish most of the others would have come to me.

In another week or so I'm going to start work on their eventual enclosure. It's going to be a 75 gallon with a 50/50 land to water ratio. The land side is going to be planted with live ferns and such, and I'm going to add wood accents and the like. It will also be created with several hides(above/below) the ground, so the animals will be able to choose what they prefer.

The water area is going be pretty densely planted and will have a base of fine grain sand. Floating plants will be added as well as some rock formations and driftwood. Should make for a fantastic setup.

I'll update some more in the coming days/week.

Anthony
 
Sounds great - definitely take photos and share them if you are able to, and have the chance.
 
June 25, 2006

Ran into an very nice guy online, he had imported Kweichowensis about a month ago. I've since decided to purchase a 1.1 pair from him. They should be here early this week. This small colony that I've been putting together is finally finished. There will now be 3.4 male to female ratio to finish off my group. This is very exciting as my colony is comprised mainly of 3 very young animals and 4 larger older animals. Hopefully I can contribute to the hobby in the next year or so. I'm really crossing my fingers, I WILL breed these guys. There will be loss, that I'm sure of, but I'm hoping by fall of 07 or spring of 08 to have some offspring in the homes of hobbyist here in the US. Hopefully CB offspring become established overseas as well. Anyways, this is for today.

God Bless,
Anthony

BTW: Look for a post probably about Thursday with a few shots of some of the colour variation and sizes I'm currently working with.
 
That's good to hear Anthony - and hopefully this seemingly rather large importation of kweichowensis has been going into the hands of other capable people such as yourself. Best of luck; and please continue with the updates -
Kyle
 
Photo's coming, I'll post them tomorrow night when I receive my last 1.1 for the group.........

Anthony
 
Here are a few shots of Kweichowensis Quarantine enclosures.........also added a few shots of 2 rather beautiful kweichowensis(1 male, and 1 female).......enjoy!

Anthony

67258.jpg
 
I like those containers Anthony. What is covering the openings in the lids? It's hard to tell from the pics.
Chip
 
Hey Chip, thanks! Those are hand-made tops. They are taped off and cut with a Dremel, then an appropriate sized piece of screen is cut to fit the opening. I then use Duct-Tape brand "super strong" clear mailing tape to hold the screen to the plastic tops. The tops aren't closed and remain "unlocked" so as to easily facilitate cleaning, feeding, and misting.

I've found that these work extremely well for Kweichowensis, and well, probably any Tylototrition species in quarantine. Hope this helps anyone with future quarantine issues, such as what the housing looks like.

God Bless,
Anthony
 
Well, it's been a crazy 2 weeks. My account was closed(still trying to figure that one out)
nono.gif
But never the less everything else is going great. The Kweichowensis are going strong, eating whenever offered, and otherwise will be ready to come out of quarantine in the next few months with no problems at all. All wounds are healing or have already healed, and I have one male that's shed twice in one week thus far. Pretty strange, but they are growing.

Well, this is my update, enjoy the read!

Anthony

(Message edited by portillo on July 19, 2006)
 
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