Unexpected death of T. shanjing

E

ester

Guest
Well, the beautiful pictures I took and posted in the photo section of the forum are of a now deceased animal (the one on the left & closeups).

I am going to try and get a necropsie. It happens out of the blue. The animal is still good looking and active but refusing food for a week or so. Then it's dead.

These are LTC, being kept in europe for 2 years.

Any ideas? They're kept in a terrestrial setup, with very dry, dry and humid/wet parts including a small water area. They're fed a staple diet of worms, on rare occasions I feed them crickets.

Also, should I just keep the deceased animal refrigerated or place it in the freezer?
 
i'm so sorry Ester, I can't help you with any of the problems, but just offer my condolences...
 
Sometimes tylotoriton can seem to be dead with no reflex or response at all - you can touch their cornea and they won't react, but come round after a day or so. Don't freeze it or let it get dry until you know for certain that it is definately dead.
is the other showing any symptoms of illness?
Chris
 
One ate yesterday, the other has been fussy about worms for two weeks at least. I've isolated both for now.
 
What is the pH of the substrate? It looks like you have them on a type of sphagnum moss. Low pH substrates can cause stress, rigor and eventual death in caudates.

Ed
 
I am not sure about the pH of the substrate. I used a feather-moss from a pine forest, not sphagnum. There's also dry parts without moss, birch bark to sit between or under.

I will replace the entire setup because whatever it is might be contagious, what substrate do you recommend?
 
Hi Ester,

I have seen this with shanjing when kept on acidic media. If you have a spot that collects water check the pH.
I don't know if the feather moss is high in humic and tannic acids like sphagnum.

Ed
 
Sorry, Ester.
sad.gif
I just had a similarly inexplicable death of a healthy-looking T. verrucosus.
 
What's the next step..

This just happened, when I looked at the newt, it moved one front leg. A little later it moved the other front leg.

It's unable to move any other part of its body. It cannot lift it's head, nor do I see any throat movement. The tongue came sticking out a little sometime this morning but I attributed that to the newt being dead.

The eyes are still clear, I've had it in a clean plastic container with a little water and a wet tissue covering the newt.

I am open to suggestions. I will do a couple of photos in a moment.
 
Hi Ester,

I would place it on damp unbleached paper towels and wait.

If you have access to the supplies, amphibian ringers solution would be a good choice to moisten the towels as this will help deal with any osmotic/ion imbalances.

Ed
 
A very friendly apothecary prepared the ringers solution for me. It's placed on and covered by damp paper towels.

One more question, at what temperature should I keep the newt? Refrigerated, cooled or room temp?

Thanks for all the help so far.
 
HI Ester,
What temps were you keeping the newts at before?

I would suggest keeping them cooled as refrigerated would reduce the rate at which new ions (If this is the problem) could be absorbed but it will also reduce the oxygen requirements of the newt. However it will also add thermal stress to the newt if there are large temperature swings.

Also you should change the ringers daily.

Ed
 
Hi Ed,
I was keeping the newt at room temp before. I had it in the refrigerator when I thought it was dead. I took it out when there was a glimmer of hope it might still be alive.
 
ester:

i hope your newt pulls through.as you may recall i had health problems with my shanjing around xmas. they are both thriving now. i think the ringers will help if the newt is just sick.

the sad fact of life is that all things die..and sometimes there is nothing we can do about it.

i wish you much luck!

keep us posted.

ge
 
Unfortunately I lost the newt. Thank you all for helping out, if nothing else I learned from it.

The two remaining shanjing are both eating well, I switched to wax worms for now. They both readily take these.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    Chat Bot: punchluvr has left the room. +1
    Back
    Top