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Verrucosus morphs

TJ

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Five of the seven I raised from eggs have morphed fully now. Another one still has small gills but strangely hangs out on moss outside of the water. The last one has a big set of gills and remains fully aquatic. Here are a few pics taken today:

10929.jpg


10930.jpg


One of them has finally become accustomed to being fed by hand:

10931.jpg


(can't really see it very well but it's chewing on a mouthful of bloodworm)

This next one shows no sign of morphing anytime soon, even though all eggs hatched around the same time and they've been raised in the same conditions:

10932.jpg
 
Z

zuccone

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Very interesting and beautiful pics !

I have a question for you Tim, I also have some T.verrucosus adult and I would like to vary their food, can you advise me about that.

Thanks very much in advance.
 

TJ

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Thanks, Zuccone. Beautiful animals, aren't they? But sorry, I'm a newbie when it comes to T.verrucosus. These were sent to me as eggs by somebody who breeds them. I'm quite sure others here can help you though!
 
L

leonardo

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very beautiful animals Tim!
I hope my verrucosus larvae grow up like these ones!
just two questions:
-are they completely terrestrial?(do they feed also on land?)
-are they the "light-form" of T.verrucosus?(or are they te "dark" form like John's ones?)
let me know and keep us updated with your beautiful pics!
bye
Leo
 

TJ

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Thanks, Leonardo. Wish I could answer your questions well, but I really haven't observed them much since they morphed. At the moment, I'm waiting for my regular pinhead cricket supplier to open after the holidays. In the meantime, I've been feeding them frozen bloodworm, placed in the water. Don't know how many of them are eating it, but some are. A couple of the fully morphed ones still hang out in the water. I've so far only managed to feed one by hand, but haven't tried until today. They are looking a bit skinny for me but I'll have terrestrial food for them in a day or so, and will work on the hand-feeding in the coming days as well. Sorry, I don't know what form they are. I could easily find out though.

One thing I can say about them for sure...they're good climbers!
lol.gif


10936.jpg


Good luck with yours!
 
L

leonardo

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thank you Tim!
I knew that someone here managed to keep them fully aquatic...but don't know if every "form" of this species can do so...
btw, I don't think they are so skinny, and I'm sure they will eat pinheads like pigs!:)
can't you remember how were the parents of yours from who gave the eggs to you=
bye
leo
 
R

ralf

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Very nice pics. Glad to see they are doing so well Tim. These are animals of a lighter form than John's. I keep animals of the same phenotype. I keep my metamorphs terrestrial, they also feed in this setup and I succeded in handfeeding them without trying too hard (white worms). Tubifex might possibly work also on land (tweezers) but haven't tried it yet. They also get fresh moss and collemboles once in a while. Heard of other people achieving good results feeding small maggots (baitshop) in a terrestrial setup. I might give Thermobia domestica a try as soon as they get a little bigger (thanks again Paul!
biggrin.gif
).

Ralf
 
J

juraj

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Tubifex work good on land. Small chunks fed by tweezers or put on land in front of the animal. Paper towel substrate is the best for it because takes off excessive water from the portion.
 
J

john

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After an initial "playing hard to get" phase at metamorphosis, my "dark" phase metamorphs are very easily encouraged into water as long as the temperature is kept above 20 degrees C and they didn't metamorphose too small (< 6 cm).

Mine handfeed readily on chopped earthworms. I always switch to chopped earthworms a few weeks prior to metamorphosis with no problems.

Interestingly Tim, I've never seen a verrucosus metamorph or juvenile try to climb the walls of a tank. I think this may suggest that the lighter form is more terrestrially-inclined than the dark form. That's assuming there are just two forms (I think there are 3 personally - shanjing-like, intermediate [the light form we are talking about here] and the dark form I have).

Good luck with them, and as ever, beautiful photos.

Zuccone - these guys eat anything. My adults have existed on earthworms for over 3 years. Once every month or two they might get a few waxworms (hand fed in the water) or frozen bloodworms, but very rarely.
 

TJ

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Thanks for all the info guys! Since you won't find me chopping up earthworms any time soon, I'll see how they do with pinheads, frozen bloodworm and live tubifex. Ralf, I have access to maggots (local bait shop) but I heard they don't make good food. Do you think they're OK?

John, a couple of them scale the corners of the tank and stay up there for what seems like hours on end sometimes. Here they are right now:



10994.jpg
 

TJ

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They can even walk straight up the glass
biggrin.gif


11007.jpg


But then it's not a laughing matter if I'm providing them an improper environment and they're trying to escape...
uhoh.gif
 
L

leonardo

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Hi Tim
I don't think that maggot could be a basilar food for such small amphibians because they contain the protein "cadaverina" which is not so good to eat...maggots can be a good food to vary the diet sometimes...
just my two cents:)
bye
leo
 
J

john

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That's funny Tim, mine have never ever climbed the glass. Mind you, I've never kept them terrestrially. I wonder if it's a strain trait.
 

TJ

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Two remain in the water, one with a full set of gills and the other a full morph. I find it a bit odd, since the other five have long since morphed and taken to land. Another thing odd is that one of the five terrestrial morphs is different from the rest. It's skin is smoother and the ridge on its back is..well, take a look for yourselves!
shocked.gif


This one is representative of how the four "normal" ones look (as well as the morphed aquatic one):

11168.jpg


And here's the odd one:

11169.jpg


And a shot of them together:

11170.jpg


Anybody have any idea what could account for this? I'm all ears!
biggrin.gif
 
J

john

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Now that is interesting. Has it shed its skin lately? Have you just noticed this now? I've never seen one with ridges rather than bumps. You might have an interesting mutation going on there or more likely just a recessive trait of the species. I wouldn't worry about it.

I'm drooling over those photos, particularly the first one.
 
C

cataldo

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Just to add, John: I have NEVER seen my juvie or adult verrucosus ever climb glass, To be honest, I didn't think they could. Just like My fire Salamanders cannot "or don't want" climb the sides. humm.... rethinking their abilitys now...

also, Tim those are T. verrucosus spp. right?

Are you in the US? I keep hearing of those "new" verrucosus becoming available.

Cataldo
 
F

francesco

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Hi Tim
How long did your verrucosus take from hatching to metamorphosis? And at what temperatures did you rais them?
Cheers
Francesco
 

TJ

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Sorry not to have noticed above questions until now. Francesco, they took about 3 months in room temperature around 22. Cataldo, I don't know what they are but they've been identified for me before. I just can't recall. Tylototriton is not my "area"though I do love these little guys
biggrin.gif
They all feed readily on bloodworm fed by hand. The biggest of them is now over 7cm. I don't know if that's a fast or a slow rate of growth.

Here's one of them:

13407.jpg


(I had to adjust the exposure on the tape measure so that the numbers would be readable)
 
M

mark

Guest
Hi Tim, how about an update, how has the 'odd one' developed?
 
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