T. Verrucossus Eft Stage

[IanF]

I'd like to know if anyone can inform when I will be able to tell when my two newts are ready to convert back to water.

I understand some people keep them fully aquatic as they don't require a juvenile eft stage- but that also requires higher temperatures in the water and my room stays around 17C in the winter so I decided to keep them terrestrially until the temperature rises outside which it soon will.

However, they are now reaching 9 months old so soon they'll be a year- at which point I understand it is common practice to convert them back to aquatic (by this time it will be around 23 C in my room at least). How should I go about this and what should I look for behaviour wise, i.e, will they eat less, more and will they just slowly start going into the water more often.

 

[Azhael]

I have no experience with T.verrucosus but going back to the water can be a risky businness.
Some species go aquatic very easily...and almost inmediately, others are a pain and may present some problems with this change.
I´d recomend you use the standard method which is placing them in a container with barely enough water to cover them, lots of plants and some terrestrial surface. Then progresively, add water, raising the level slowly over a period of several days, until there´s no completely dry area.. Offer foods that can be eaten in the water, preferably alive foods(pieces of earthworm can survive for several hours under water so they are a good choice).
Eventually they should become fully aquatic.
A small piece of advice is, don´t rush it. Again, i´m not sure how t.verrucosus reacts to this, but i´ve had problems in the past trying to convert terrestrial juveniles to water, so being careful is best.

There´s no real sign that says it´s time to go aquatic(we are talking juveniles here), but if you try the above mentioned method, and you see their skin getting smoother, that´s a good sign they are taking well to the water. If they are anything like other species their appetite will probably increase once they are aquatic.

 

[IanF]

Thanks Azhael.

 

[Otterwoman]

I wasn't sure how to go about it with mine, so Elektra was approaching 3 when she went aquatic (but who knows if she would have gone so earlier, had she had a better tank).

I received her as a larva in Dec '05 and Eddie as a new morph in Feb '07. So Eddie was about 1.

I made them this tank Jan '08, and they soon became aquatic and laid eggs in July '08.

http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=52345

 

[IanF]

Thanks for the inspiration there Dawn- I'll make it semi-aquatic again and then work it up to aquatic in a few months time. Not sure I'll be as lucky as you with the breeding though Dawn.