terrestris larvae

[edbenn]

Hi
My female terrestris had 3 small larave in her water bowl. I have been keeping them in a 8 inch long tank with some elodea pond weed. They are feeding on bloodworm and small earthworms. How often should I change the water? Also the smallest one has the tip of its tail missing, will this grow back?

Thank you

Ed

 

[Azhael]

Yes, it will grow back, don´t worry. Just watch out for infection, which is unlikely.
If you are keeping them in a larga container, water changes should be partial(and every 2-3 days). If you keep them in small containers, you might need to change the water daily.

Easiest thing to do is keeping them in a large tub...but it´s all a matter of personal choice.
The diet sounds very good, try to provide more variety if you can, it never hurts.

 

[edbenn]

Brilliant thanks so much for replying. I'm really pleased with the little chaps.

 

[marco]

Keep an eye on the female too, you'l find that it will probably lay a few more by the end of the week.

 

[edbenn]

I'll keep checking.

I just saw two of the larave come up to the surface and gulp air. Do they breath air as well as use their gills? They are only tiny, around 2.5cm long.

Thanks

 

[Jennewt]

I've also seen tiny larvae gulp air. I'm not sure why they do this, but I think it's for buoyancy, not for breathing.

 

[Salamandrae]

A partial water change every 2-3 days should do it but remeber only to partially change the water and only about 25% of it as it will throw off the waters ecology and could stress your larvae out and possibly kill them

 

[John]

A partial water change every 2-3 days should do it but remeber only to partially change the water and only about 25% of it as it will throw off the waters ecology and could stress your larvae out and possibly kill them

That's only true if it is balanced, which would seem unlikely. In that case it's better to do a complete water change regularly.

 

[benw]

I tend to do 100% change every other day, but i do tend to use rainwater.

Ben

 

[edbenn]

Today the largest larvae is being aggressive towards the other two. It has bitten the ends of one of the others gills off. The Larvae with the damaged gills is now a bit sluggish and won't eat, will he survive? Should I seperate the Larvae into seperate containers or just put them in a mucher larger container?

Thanks

Ed

 

[benw]

I would house them separately, i do that if i have a few larvae, if a lot i use several large tubs with lots of rocks or weed as a visiual barrier against cannibalism.

Ben

 

[Gregarious]

I have 17 salamandra salamandra larva that were laid in my tank same as yours. I noticed the female in the water bowl (about 1" of water) and as soon as she left on her own I replaced it with a much larger bowl. The water is still shallow as adult fire salamanders can drown so, easy in, easy out. She laid 4 larva at first, then two days later 5 more, 2 weeks later 6 more and half a week after that the last 2. Every morning I would check the bowl and remove the larva if they were there. I raised them in tupper in the groups that they were born with. The tupper is around 6x9 inch's and the water about 1 or 2 inch's deep. I change 100% around twice a week. My larva was nice to each other and I had very few gills get eaten. They love live blackworms. I would suggest moving the trouble maker to it's own tupper and if your worried, seperate them all. It just means more work for you but you might like the peace of mind. They stayed in the water for around 6 weeks. I keep a nice chunk of elodea plant in with them to help them get to the surface. When they start to lose there gills it happens fast, say 2 days. I then put them in a sealed tupper of moss and water, mostly moss, that brick stuff you can buy . The idea is to keep humidity high and make it so they cant drown. Other salamander larva I might keep in this tupper for a week but the fire's are active and ready to come out in about 2 days. I then transfer them to anouther sealed tupper with dirt and plants and rocks. I dont normally offer food for about a week because they are still morphing and it will probably just stress them. They now actively hunt for pinheads and I have had no deaths. All but two have morphed and color is evident around a week after they went into the planted set-up. The other thing is there cute as hell. I hope this helps