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Young newts: |
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Kato Member Joined: 14 Sep 2006 No. of posts: 6  View other posts by Kato |
Posted: 24 Sep 2006 Do growing newts shed thier skin ? In my other posting 'new pond' I mentioned that I have taken about 50 newts in various stages of their development from a pond which is to be relocated. I have kept most of them in a fish tank complete with rocks and moss etc etc and most seem to be doing well. Today I transferred them to another tank and took the opportunity of counting them again, there seems to be about ten missing from my original count which prompts a previously asked question - do the larger ones prey on the smaller, I also found what appears to be a complete newt skin floating in the water, it's completely transparent and looks just like a 'see through' newt. If they don't shed their skin what could have caused this ? What preys on these young creatures. The only other things in the tank are water snails, something that looks like a small leech and various shrimp like creatures etc. By the way, I seem to have answered a previous question myself - young newts will eat freeze dried bloodworms and tubifex, it's quite amusing to watch them stalk it and then attack and shake it. Thanks in advance for any answers ...
Kato Kato |
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Caleb Forum Coordinator Joined: 17 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 448 View other posts by Caleb |
Posted: 25 Sep 2006 Yes, that sounds exactly like the shed skin of a newt- they look a bit like a 'ghost newt'. They will sometimes eat the shed skin, but it often ends up floating in the water. And yes, big newts will eat small newts. |
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Suzi Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 No. of posts: 860 View other posts by Suzi |
Posted: 25 Sep 2006 I guess you would have had trouble by now but beware if you've got a leech in with confined newts. I say this as when I was a youngster we used to store minnows that we used as live bait in large lidded tins on the lake (Windermere) bed weighted down with stones. The tins had perforations to enable flow of water yet these also allowed in leeches. A very grisly sight to open the tin and find all the minnows sucked hollow by leeches. Suz |
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Kato Member Joined: 14 Sep 2006 No. of posts: 6 View other posts by Kato |
Posted: 27 Sep 2006 Thanks for your replies ............... those leeches sound pretty horrific though !! Kato
Kato |
- Young newts |