Framingham Nature Blog - Eastern Newt Larva

My winter goal was a success. On the 19th, I woke up and found a little tadpole-like organism with feathery gills hanging out on the wall of my tank. I was looking at an Eastern Newt - Notopsalmus Viridescens hatchling. This is going to be tough. I was not prepared at all, since I did not see any newt eggs.

To protect them from the hungry adults and the sucking filter, I moved it into a container with about a centimeter deep water in it. I'm sure there will be more larva, so I keep scanning the aquarium for another squiggly movement. When I caught the first one, another nearby wiggled down under the gravel, so I know there will be more.

This was really inconvenient timing, as we were going out the breakfast, interrupting me. As soon as I got back, I scanned the glass for more. None. I looked back at the container. Feeding it is going to be a huge challenge, as it will probably require very specific prey. If all goes well, I plan on releasing any larva I get as soon as it gets warm enough outside for it to do well. I probably still have time, though before i feed it, as it is probably still living off of the yolk.

After a larva grows up, it will emerge from the water, using newly developed lungs, and spend a few years on land as a bright orange "Red Eft". from this stage, it transforms into the brownish, more aquatic, breeding adult.

For now, it has not even developed legs and refuses to feed. I hold blood worms up to it and it swims away (a fear response). I am very worried. At this stage, it is vulnerable to starvation and will only feed on tiny, live foods. 3 Days in, and it still wont feed. I am not sure how I am going to obtain appropriate food at this time of year and I do not want it to share the same fate as "Gorf" the bullfrog who starved to death.

I am trying to feed it some invertebrates i collect from the aquarium it was born in. I gave it limpets, young snails, limpet and snail eggs, and algae. I am hoping there are small animals living in the algae. Its lack of movement concern me. Sometimes I will find it in the exact same place and position it was in 12 hours ago.

Please comment on February's page whether you predict it will starve or survive.

I am also concerned by it's lack of color. In the past week, the Newt has lost a lot of pigment that would show it is healthy. It is definitely starving right now (23rd). Look at this before and after display. The first photo was taken on the 19 and the second was taken on the 22nd. Please note that I did not edit either photo.

The photo above to the left was of it when it was still being nourished by the yolk. The yolk will continue to feed a larvae for about 24 hours after hatching. Now, it is having to hunt for it's own food, but it wont eat anything i provide.

Speaking of yolk, that same afternoon, while scanning for more larva, I noticed that one of my plants had leaves that had been strangely folded up. I uprooted the plant and floated it in the larvae setup. the folded leaves had 2 Jelly covered eggs adhered to them. These were clearly newt eggs. I am going to try and hatch them in the larva setup. If all goes as planned, I will be caring for 3 baby newts.

By the 26th, There are even more eggs in the aquarium and the larva has grown stubs where its legs will be. It more some reason has regained some of it's color. I am very confused. The only possible explanation is that it is eating something, otherwise, I doubt it would be able to survive an entire week and grow. It has probably been snacking on the snail egg masses in it's setup, or the baby snails.

I keep finding more eggs daily. They are easy to spot because the leaves around them are bent to protect the eggs.

(Egg in middle of photo)