I don't post pics too often, so I thought I'd show off my newts. I'm STILL trying to get a positive ID on two of them, but I should have them figured out this week I hope.

Zooba is either a california newt (Taricha torosa) or a rough-skinned newt (Taricha granulosa), but I'm leaning towards T. granulosa. Triton is either a chinese warty newt (Paramesotriton chinensis) or a fuzhong warty newt (Paramesotriton fuzhongensis). Newnewt is a japanese fire-bellied newt (Cynops pyrrhogaster).

I've had Newnewt the longest of the 3. He's pretty unique, most FBNs available are chinese (C. orientalis), but since pet stores generally can't tell the difference (or even know there is a difference ) they just label them as fire-bellieds.

lol, one thing that really bugs me is the way stores label fire-bellied newts and toads as simply that, fire-bellied. Should someone stumble upon a caresheet for a european fire-bellied toad or a blue-tailed FBN, they might apply that care to their fire-bellied toad or FBN. If their species is different, then you're providing the wrong care. Ok, enough ranting, time for pics

left to right: Zooba, Triton, and Newnewt. All 3 are toxic.


Zooba:




...

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...

Triton:




Newnewt:

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+5 bonus points to whoever finds me a job!

"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

Cool animals... I love the markings on the middle one in the first pic. What do you mean by toxic (to touch? to eat?) It sounds like you really know your stuff about these newts. Have you ever thought of writing up individual care sheets for them: with tips or photos on how to I.D. them properly?
I think the last time I held a newt or a salamander, I was probably 8 years old... hmmmmmm could that REALLY be 30 years ago?!

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Andrea

beautiful pics!!!

i keep T shanjings, and maybe thinking of setting one up for cynops orentalis, if I didnt spell wrongly

but I dun think u shd put the 2 diff species together as their skin secretions might affect one another. i not very sure, but I read up on that before.

cheers

Oh yeah, they don't live together, that was just for photos. They don't emit a lotta poison unless they're really agitated, THEN it would definately be dangerous for the other newts, but for a few mins in a tub together there's no harm done.

They're not terribly harmful to humans. More so than FBTs, but not that bad. If you had a cut on your hand it might sting, and if you ate one you'd get sick or die, especially if Zooba is a caifornia newt. I'm pretty certain now that Triton is a chinese warty newt (though pet stores usually sell them as some sort of fictional fire-belly). To get an idea of how hard it is to tell Taricha granulosa from Taricha torosa, do a google image search for both, they're nearly identical. There are subtle charasteristics that set them apart, but Zooba had to go and be difficult by making his differences VERY subtle.

Hmm, I've done caresheets on several lizards, I'd love to do one on newts, but so far I haven't had time. I hope to make caresheets for a wide variety of herps someday though.

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"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

hey thats very cool of u to start on caresheets!!!
can I help? perharps we can try to prepare original photos of some fire bellied newts and then gather info on them from pple over here!!!

I did most of mine about a year ago, but since joining the AF I haven't had a situation where I had both time and resources at my disposal simultaneously. Once I get to my duty station I should hopefully have enough off time to do some more caresheets. So far none of mine have pics though, something they desperately need. I've made simplified sheets, but what I'd like to do is get a better website, put the caresheets on there, and under each one have a more detailed description of that aniumal's requirements, etc. For examples of my curent sheets, check out http://www.freewebs.com/rodents2reptiles/caresheets.htm
I've got a "sheet" on RES I wrote on the spot on some other forum too. Its in my favorites on my other computer. If you've got some good photos of herps, they'd be awesome for the caresheets. If you've got pics of something I don't have a caresheet for, ecventually I'll have one written up. I can do pretty good general sheets, like on my site, for almost any herp, but for the more in depth versions I'll only stick to the ones I keep or have kept. When it comes to detailed care on iguanas, monitors, etc, I'm totally lost

Oh, and excuse my typos. Laptops should have bigger keys.

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+5 bonus points to whoever finds me a job!

"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

whats your voccation in the force???
so envious of your vast collection!!! i only keep smaller herps that are suitable for home

cheers

Yup yup, AF here too. My critters still live with my family in ND, under the care of my brother and sister. I'd like to move some of them down with me this summer if I could, they're all pretty small. The pheasant is the biggest pet I have, followed by my basilisk and turtles. Everything else is even smaller.

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"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

those are really neat pictures, esp. like the one in the middle, when hes climbing out and making his getaway then gets caught.....oops lol