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Limb loss and newts: |
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martin g Member Joined: 04 Jul 2006 No. of posts: 43  View other posts by martin g |
Posted: 13 May 2007 This year as a little educational project for my son I brought in half a dozen palate newt eggs from the pond into a small tank inside. My son will study the development and once they are ready they can be returned to the garden. The little guys are now around 1 inch, one or two a touch larger and they eat anything and everything. I give them plenty of daphnia, blood worm etc but this isnt enough, they have ideas on eachother. This comes on to my question, the slighlty larger ones nip at the others and few appear to have lost fore limbs as a result, it doesnt seem to bother them. In fact the worst culprit has a foot missing itself. No animal has been eaten as they are too large but this nipping persists. So, do young newts have the ability to re-grow these missing parts? or will they grow up deformed? I have never seen a newt without all its extremities to be fair. As I mentioned the odd thing is that it doesnt seem to bother them at all and they are all healthy and as voracious as ever.. |
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Caleb Forum Coordinator Joined: 17 Feb 2003 No. of posts: 448 View other posts by Caleb |
Posted: 14 May 2007 Yes, they will grow them back. Cannibalism is usually a sign of underfeeding, or overcrowding, though... and they can eat ridiculous amounts. Even adults can regenerate lost body parts, though it seems not as completely as larvae or juveniles- There are a series of photos I took here, showing partial regeneration of a front leg in a captive alpine newt. |
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martin g Member Joined: 04 Jul 2006 No. of posts: 43 View other posts by martin g |
Posted: 14 May 2007 Thanks Caleb. I thougt just six was a small amount but you are right they eat like nothing else, its hard to keep up so its either up the food or reduce the numbers. I can put approx 50 daphnia in and they seem to dissapear in an hour or so. Worse than kids. |
- Limb loss and newts |