Tylototriton verrucosus 2 inch morphs eating badly

[ester]

I'd like help/experience/input on how to get these morphs through this tricky stage.

I have them in a setup with conditions ranging from dead leaves (dry) moss/bark (humid) and a dish of water (wet ).

They're hiding, lethargic and have trouble shedding their skin from their toes.

I've been trying to feed them chopped worms but they won't take any food from tweezers. I've left woodlice (small), fruit flies, chopped worms and blood worms in the terrarium.

They're kept at room temperature, which ranges from 22 C in the morning to 19 C at night.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Ester

 

[edward]

Hi Ester,
When I have reared them, I kept them on moistened paper towels in plastic shoeboxes. I added crumpled slightly moistened paper towels to provide hides and a moisture gradient. The towels were changed twice a week. I fed them on pinhead crickets and ffs. In my experience they are very shy and do not do well with frequent disruptions.
In the future I probably would set them up in a larger enclosure that allows for a larger moisture gradient and would disturb them as little as possible.

Ed

 

[ester]

Thanks for the advice. I'll try not to disturb them for a whole week. I've just added a lot of fruit flies to their terrarium (40x25x25cm).

How big were your verrucosus when they morphed? Is 2 inches on the small side or normal?

 

[edward]

Hi Ester,
Tim's and Erik's comments in the E. andersonii thread also apply here.

Ed

 

[jesper]

Hi Ester,
I've tried raising verrucosus both terrestrial in a wet towel setup, terrestrial in a naturalistic setup(i.e. soil, bark and moss) and finally totally aquatic. The ones brought up aquatically have been so much easier.

In the towel setup they ate ok, but were much more shy. The ones raised aquatically grew at 2-3 times the rate of these ones.

The ones in the naturalistic setup didn't do well at all, bad eaters and very shy - I eventually got them aquatic with great results.

I'd try to get them aquatic.

Btw the ones that are aquatic are very active and are constantly looking for or begging for food, they are anything but shy.

 

[ester]

I took the skinniest one from the terrestrial setup and placed it on a floating bit of bark in the aquatic setup with the 4 larvae.
If this works I'll try to get all terrestrial ones back into the water.

Does anyone have pictures of their aquatic setup for verrucosus?

 

[ralf]

Ester, from your description the terrestrial juveniles might be stressed already. Transferring them to a totally different aquatic setup might mean even more stress and bears the risk of losing the animal(s). How did the breeder keep them?
No secrets in an aquatic setup for verrucosus-complex. Water, cork bark island and juveniles. Keep in mind however, that these animals were kept in such a setup since hatching. This also involved quite time-consuming single feeding with tweezers.
These are animals from last years breeding at sizes between 6 and 8 cm. They are currently kept at 18° Celsius and I don't use a heater for these animals.

 

[jesper]

I went from terrestrial to a setup with so little water that they can walk in it i.e. no need to swim. I had plenty of java moss in this setup. I also kept steep shelters that they could hide beneath but not climb.

Any setup change will stress the animals particularly going from terrestrial to aquatic or vice versa. It's a big risc as Ralf says.

I would not put terrestrial animals in a tank with "deep" water(i.e. they need to swim to get around) before they are used to a low water setup. There's both the swimming stress and the drowning problem with a deep water setup.

 

[jarno]

The problem with my tylo juveniles is that they swell up like a balloon if I try to keep them aquatic. If I leave them they die within 2 -3 days. If I bring them back to their terrestrial setup they get normal again. What's wrong with them? Ideas?

 

[ester]

So far so good, no bloating yet. The morph swims near the surface and sits on the floating objects like bark, cork and aquatic plants.

Ester

 

[ester]

The small morph that I placed back into the aquatic setup took his first bit of chopped worm from tweezers today!

Last time I checked the other 5 morphs they looked ok.

 

[jesper]

Nice to hear that he is eating again Ester.

Jarno - I have seen this with verrucosus in bad shape. I have no idea why it happens. Stress in combination with an infection perhaps?
Does this happen if you put them in shallow water instead of deep?