caught some newts

[Galapoheros]

Went dipping around in some puddles over the weekend in E. TX. Caught beetle larvae, Gray Treefrog tads and other stuff. I brought back around five larval stage newts. Pretty sure they are Central newts (Notophthalmus viridescens louisianenesis). Had to look that long name up of course. They are only about an inch long now. I had to put SOMEthing in that aquarium. Frozen bloodworms from Petco and good to go. I'll post more pics when I get DSL but right now, it's one at a time.

 

[JLDomestics]

Very cool! Water cleanliness is an important factor with tadpoles and amphibians in general.

 

[Hedorah99]

Hey. I am breeding some Notophthalamus sp. at work right now. If you can get your hands on live blood or black worms, it would be a lot better for the little guy. At that size if you can even start some live daphnia cultures, he would love it. They look cute but are voracious predators.

 

[Galapoheros]

I had daphnia in the aquarium before the weekend. The daphnia are already gone. Now there are just snails and fat newts. I have daphnia in a 55 gal barrel I collect rain water in. There are bloodworms in there too. Is there an easy way to collect live bloodworms? You think Petco would have a net that was fine enough to seine daphnia or do you think I'd have to order one? In the past, the filtration sys I have moved the dead bloodworms around enough to interest salamanders but I would like to mix live food in their diet. I think I just need to find a real fine net. Pretty good hunters, walk around looking in the holes in the rocks I have in there for prey. They don't just sit and wait.

 

[AneesasMuse]

If you can get a hold of some nurse's type white stockings (nylons, if you will), you can make your own seive. I use my old ones for brine shrimp and they work great! Any kind of "support" stocking will work... they have a tighter weave and will be more opaque looking... kind of like tights.

LOL.. I'm having a hard time explaining this :razz:

 

[dtknow]

Galapheros:

Are you sure they are N. viridescens?

Since you are in Texas, they could also be N. meridionalis, which are a protected species.

Edit: I did a quick google, and the larvae of N. meridionalis apparently look nothing like the ones you've got.
http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Notophthalmus/N_meridionalis.shtml

I keep 3 species of newts, and have thought of obtaining some Notos if it weren't for space considerations.

If you can, get blackworms and daphnia. Blackworms are pretty much the ideal food for them at that size.

 

[Galapoheros]

I wish they were the Black Spotted newts but I knew they weren't when I checked the range map for newts. I didn't know those were protected. According to the map, unless introduced or an unknown species, they should be N. viridescens. I found an eft out there about 15 years ago. I grew up in the area and only found one eft all those years of looking around growing up there (Bryan area). Very hard to find. I also found a couple of sirens out there about 5 years ago. I still have those. Those are kind of interesting. I keep them outside. So what's a good way to collect blackworms? Right now, the babies are eating bloodworms. The bloodworms are a little big but working. I have a lot of tiny baby snails in there. They are eating those too. They should be fine, I've done it before but it would be nice to have live food. I just don't know of an easy way to collect live food.

 

[dtknow]

Sometimes you can find blackworms in the roots of aquatic plants but it is way easier to go purchase them. If you know any trout hatcheries the settling ponds are said to have lots of blackworms...that is where many blackworm companies harvest from.

If not, I'd just use a cloth net to harvest daphnia. Mozzies would work too if you keep the larvae in shallow water.

 

[bugmankeith]

Really small earthworms will work too if you can find them.