P.hongkongensis (pre-and post-morph)

[TJ]

The other P.hongkongensis thread was getting too long so starting a new one here

 

[TJ]

 

[ralf]

Excellent pictures, Tim. Just love the first pic. Were you successful in feeding the post-morph animals already? Being little voracious feeding machines as larvae, they usually take a break after morphing.

Ralf

 

[TJ]

Thanks Ralf. I posted that first one twice by accident, but yes, it certainly was a "to-die-for" shot!

I scrambled to get as many photos as possible before they moved but my camera wouldn't cooperate (time delay between shots is too long and it loses focus under 4cm)

Regarding feeding, great if they're fasting because I didn't have any pinhead crickets for them anyway until today. Will feed them when I get home and see if they'll eat. Meanwhile, what you said about the larvae being voracious eaters inspires me to fatten up the 35 or so that are on the verge of morphing!

 

[TJ]

 

[TJ]

Still only 8 morphs so far, one of which died while being kept on moss (not sure there was any connection), prompting me to switch to the 'moist, unbleached paper towel method" -- which I've never before tried.

The juvies can somehow summon up the energy to climp the sides of their container, but are generally sluggish and not eating well. Started them out on pinhead crickets, but after the one juvie died, I switched to flightless flies to be on the safe side (a few flies can be seen in the above pic.

I'm taking the advice that the best thing to do is to fatten the the larvae up as much as possible before they morph.

 

[ralf]

Hi Tim,
it seems that quite different setups may lead to success with Paramesotriton. I think it was Nate who successfully raised P. chinensis in this kind of setup.
Some suggestions for your setup:
You already provided some cover for your animals, if I perceive correctly (flower pot with holes in the sides). You might want to add some rough rock or bark to aid the shedding of skin for your animals.
Key factors also seem to be a high air humidity in combination with „dry spots“ (also important for a number of other species). Does that sound weird? Not at all, give the animals the opportunity to choose. Cover the tank with glass, plastic foil (whatever you got to increase humidity) and provide some dry sitting spots (like bark or better two pieces of bark on top of each other for the animals to crawl in between). The animals tend to change preferences individually and within hours.
The animals have to feed. If they already feast on Drosophila and crickets, that’s okay (hope your apartment isn’t infested with crickets by now). Try to lure the drosophilas into reach of your animals by putting a small piece of apple or banana on a lid on the bottom of your tank (replace frequently as it will start to mould). You might also try the pincer method (takes quite a lot of patience).
Some people are successful by offering live tubifex on a moist paper towel which can be removed afterwards. One might also try small maggots (bait shop) as they were successfully used for the raising of Tylototriton over here (cork bark setup). I use white worms, collemboles and the frequent changing of fresh patches of moss directly from the woods (with lots of small organisms). I know that the latter will be hard to find in the middle of Tokyo.
Hope this helps. Keep us informed.
Ralf

 

[paris]

i have done chinensis-and i now have 6 hong kong eggs i am looking foreward to raising. after my loss of half of my morphing ensicauda young in a set up with 1 cm of water and lots of elodea-i have switched to java moss and just a film of water. java moss will grow anywhere moist-so spreading a thin layer of it over the bottom of a container and using that film of water it will grow to fill in the spaces. the added benifit of this thin layer of damp moss is you can introduce live black worms to the set up (make sure they are healthy ones!!-i had worms die in a set up and go septic and kill young too-make it a small amount of worms-not alot like i did) these worms will spread out in the moss and through their activities of moving about will attract the attention of the hungry morphs. if you need a deeper area of water for those that still have gills to emerge from-just prop the container up on one side untill they all loose their gills.

 

[chris]

Will their bellies become orange as they grow, or is it something that happens with captive bred animals, like with bombina toads?
Chris

 

[TJ]

Dunno the answer to your question, Chris, as they're my first. Maybe Ralf knows...

Ralf, thanks for those tips! I've have indeed noticed that they tend to prefer dry spots, They certainly all like cover! Several crawl up inside the overturned pot thingy where there is a little ledge. Others crawl under a dry area of the paper towel. They're still not eating like Cynops larvae would be by now, but some have filled out and I did notice one the other day take in a flightless fly (Drosophila?), which is what I've been feeding them. Will add a rough rock in there tonight! I've been spraying the sides of the tank (partially to prevent the flies from crawling up the glass), and am using a plastic lid, so there should be plenty of humidity in there. I've lost a couple more, but I'm happy to see that some are looking good (while others are still skinny and don't feed even when the fly is crawling right in front of them). Will try the banana seduction method tomorrow (I was slow to notice your post!).
Pincer method (using bloodworm) failed. Either that or my patience failed

They ignored live tubifex, which I tried to feed both on paper and by pincer. The small maggots I got from the bait shop are not small enough.

....oh, and yes, I do have a cricket infestation problem

Hope yours turn out well Paris. Do show us some pics for comparison!

 

[ralf]

Hi all,
that's an interesting setup you describe, Paris. I think I will give it a try with some freshly morphed juveniles this year.
Chris, the feeding of organisms which contain carotinoids (the red color in crustaceans, like Daphnia, Moina, Hyalella, Gammarus or Artemia) will contribute to belly coloration as the animals grow. A lot of keepers have experienced this with Cynops also.
Tim, there might be additional losses as the Paramesotriton juveniles tend to be quite reluctant eaters. However, you already observed feeding in some of them, which has to be regarded as a good success already.

Ralf

 

[TJ]

On setups, I've heard all about how sphagnum moss is too acidic and should not be used, but here in Japan it's commonly used so I've never been totally convinced not to follow suit.

Maybe it depends on the source or type of sphagum, but I've had great success raising my C.ensicauda larvae in it. In fact, I can't remember the last time I've come across a C.e morph fatality and I'm raising dozens, dozens and dozens...so I wouldn't dismiss sphagum as readily as others do. I must be doing something right, despite conventional wisdom

Still, I recently came across some non-sphagnum moss and just this evening shifted my pygmy marbleds into it, along with some sphagnum (just in case that's what they prefer as they do like to burrow).

I'm very much open to setup critiques. Ralf, you were saying a rough rock should be added, right?

Paris, I usually shift my C.e morphs away from even shallow water as soon as they climb out of the water onto floating artificial lilypads or up sides of the tank. Did you lose half your morphing ensicauda to drowning or something else?

 

[ralf]

Hi Tim,
a rough rock or piece of bark, just in case an animal wants to use it for skin-shedding.

Ralf

 

[TJ]

Decided to duplicate this combination-moss setup with my some of my hongkongensis as it's easier for them to catch prey than on a flat surface.

Paris, here's the setup I use for my about-to-morphs. Don't know if it's Java moss or something else but it seems similar to what you described. I guess if I would just tip one side up like you do, I wouldn't have to remove the morphs...

(one morph there in the lilypad)

 

[TJ]