Newt eggs...please help!

[sarah]

We recently made a new pond in our garden, and moved some plants with what I believe to be newt eggs on them into the new pond. This was just over a month ago and I havn't noticed any of them hatching, although when I look closely at the eggs I can sometimes see the things inside moving. Does anyone know how long they should take to hatch? Im in England if that makes any difference because of the weather.

Thanks!

 

[joan]

Congrats! If it's warm, and you see them moving, hatching is imminent. You should also be aware that great crested newts are protected in england and if these are cresteds, you are not allowed to touch them or move them or keep them or even look at them funny. If they're not cresteds, you might want to collect a few larvae and allow the rest to live in the pond.

 

[sarah]

Thanks! I did notice about 4 weeks ago some of them were moving inside the jelly, although they are much bigger now and you can even see colour developing on some of the biggest ones.

When the eggs hatch, what will they look like and should they be easy to see? I don't think they're the crested ones, although Im no expert! I'll leave them be just in case

 

[joan]

Here's a good article that gives you some idea as to what they'll look like. These are of many different species, but it should set you off on the right foot. http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/raising.shtml

If your pond is really new, it might not have enough micro-foods in it, and you may want to think about stocking it with some daphnia.

 

[sarah]

Brilliant article! I moved some of the pond water into a small fish tank along with some of the weed the eggs are in and I saw my first hatchlings

Im not suprised I couldnt see them before, they're tiny!

I saw some mosquito larvae at the bottom of the tank, and a few other little bugs. Will the new babies eat these? I think some of the bugs could have been daphnia, they were small so difficult to tell.

 

[joan]

They'll eat anything they can fit in their mouth. Mosquito larvae will be too big for them right now. But eventually they'll be eaten (probably not before turning into mosquitos, so I'd remove them). Some insect larvae are carnivorous, especially dragonfly nymphs. I would strain out all the bigger swimmy things while the larvae are still little.

 

[josh]

Why arnt you allowed to touch crested newts or move crested newts or crested newts crested newts or even look at crested newts funny? is it that they are very rare?

 

[joan]

They're extremely protected. It's something like a 1500 pound fine (PER NEWT!) to harass them.

(Message edited by joan on May 30, 2005)

 

[aaron]

there a protected species in which many articles from newspapers etc it has sometimes cost building developments up to crazy amounts of money[80,000]in some cases to re-locate them .all though they are legal to keep in some circumstances[not wild caught] but captive bred i myself have crested newts rescued from a quarry/landfill site years ago by a biologist/conservationist who i believe visits this forum regulary. the eggs in your pond are most likely to be palmate or smooth.