T. shanjing larvae pics

R

rachel

Guest
Finally I took some stills of the little guys. The one in the bottom picture is one of the oldest and is over an inch in length.

Hope you enjoy!

Rachel
67523.jpg


67524.jpg


67525.jpg


67526.jpg


67527.jpg


(Message edited by jennewt on July 10, 2006)
 
Sorry, hopefully a moderator can fix the pics to be vertical instead of across the page. In the meantime the 'bottom' picture refers to the one on the most right.
 
Hi Rachel, your larvae look great. I'm raising some larvae myself, but they are Triturus alpestris apuanus and I have 30+ larvae.
 
I fixed the formatting of the photos. The larvae look good, Rachel. They are surely big enough to start eating chopped blackworms, and I strongly encourage you to start using them. They are likely to "fill out" and grow faster on blackworms.
 
Jennifer,

An inch sounds big but they are long and slender. Some of them are still quite small, approx 1/2 inch, do you think that if I put some chopped blackworms in and see if they all chew on them? How small should the pieces be and how long will the pieces live?

To be honest, the brine shrimp are driving me crazy. Hatching rates have been variable and I have started using filtered water to raise them to see if it improves. Maybe I should have been doing this all along. Also the ammonia problem has been solved. The recent poor tap water quality must have taken a toll on the filter so I changed it.

If I was working with them all day I would have had time to notice such things but I have been running around like a chicken with its head cut off and I have been trying to fit two routines in. Hence I have been getting to work at 6:30am and not leaving until after 8pm.

All 48 larvae look good though and that has made me happy.

Thank you again.

Rachel
 
With chloramine, yes, filtered water will work better for the brine shrimp. When you chop blackworms, they end up being variable in size, so the larvae just eat the ones that are the right size and wiggly enough for them. I put a blob of blackworms on a small plastic lid, then cut them up with a straight-edge razor blade. The pieces live for days.
 
Hello all,

Just thought that I would update you with some pics of the larvae as they are now. They all seem to be at different stages in terms of colouration and gill size, but quite a few are starting to show major pattern and skin texture changes. The last pic shows one that has kept climbing out onto the plants. I will be setting up semi-terrestrial tanks on Sunday for them.

Hope that you enjoy!!!
I have 46 larvae at this current time.

Rachel

69030.jpg

69031.jpg

69032.jpg

69033.jpg

69034.jpg
 
Congratulations, they look fantastic! Now the next challenge begins... raising terrestrial juvies.
 
You should be able to get flightless fruitflies or other terrestrial food items for them pretty easily(the frogs or whatnot probably eat them). Chopped earthworms may work also as they grow.

Congratulations on the progress!
 
For food... the things Joseph mentioned, plus pinhead crickets if you have access to them. And any other small insects or grubs or worms.

For housing... the choice is damp paper towels versus soil. This is analogous to the choice between a fishbowl changed every couple of days versus a cycled tank. The dirt is "dirtier" but contains beneficial bacteria that break down wastes, and thus needs less maintenance. In either case, they need some hiding places (for example, cork bark or real/artificial plants).
 
Nice Rachel. Way to go. Gorgeous newts. How many do you have now?

GE
 
46!!

I will just be glad when they start eating again on land. I have been offering them blackworms on the damp paper and fruit flies. I am nervous about Pinheads as crickets can be so vicious.

Shanjinglings! I love that!!
 
They look fantastic! Very healthy little newt moprhs.
Hopefully they begin feeding regularly for you. If you do feed pinheads, just start with very small amounts of crickets.

Best of luck!
 
You could also try pieces of cut-up earthworms. Those will wiggle, but not crawl away like the blackworms do. It's normal for new morphs to not eat much, if at all, for the first few days (up to a week or more) after leaving the water.
 
Because I work at a zoo, they are very strict about the kinds of foods that we can feed to prevent parasites. I therefore don't think that I could feed earthworms, however there are blackworms around on the towels and the morphs can really move when they want to so I hope that when they get hungry their greedy instincts that they had when they were larvae will kick in... and they will not be able to resist those fruit flies that keep walking in front of their noses.

happy.gif
 
Hi Rachel,

I work at a Zoo and earthworms as well as blackworms are a staple for the herp collection.

Ed
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    There are no messages in the chat. Be the first one to say Hi!
    Back
    Top