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Post by Pollywog on May 21, 2006 16:51:48 GMT
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Post by Pollywog on Jul 10, 2007 18:25:51 GMT
Hi Killian, If your still wanting to see what their enclosures are like watch a programe called Roar it's filmed at the zoo and is on the CBBC channel at 1.30 in the afternoons.
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Post by Pollywog on May 2, 2006 9:36:15 GMT
Bri, It's a touch early for European herps to come in but hopefully in the next few weeks we will start to see the first arrive.
Killian, I've delt with the guy advertising european amphibs on c-view and other classifieds and I certainly would not recommend him. He agreed to sell me some newts and set a price he then ignored my e-mails, when I finally got a response he put the price up. Also during e-mail conversation he openly addmited to smuggling a number of European Animals into the country himself and buying the others from a friend of his that collects them while in Europe on business trips. The newts did arrive in good condition but I would not want to deal with him again.
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Post by Pollywog on May 2, 2006 9:43:26 GMT
you could try a bit of Barley Straw
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Post by Pollywog on Apr 19, 2006 21:45:43 GMT
We've got well developed vulgaris eggs in the garden pond now along with the thousands of temporaria tadpoles and the remaining vulgaris larvae from last year. Some of the Bombina variegata have been bought out of hibernation and are currently calling away and in amplexus the rest will be given a while longer along with the Bombina bombina till it really warms up and then be bought out of hibernation. Work has started in the garden so hopefully I will be able to get some outdoor enclosures built this year but all is waiting on my neighbour to take down the pine trees over hanging the area.
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Post by Pollywog on Dec 21, 2005 10:58:12 GMT
There will be a few enclosures mainly for holding import stock such as Salamandra, Bufo viridis, Bombina, anything that comes in from Europe to save me a bit of tank space indoors.
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Post by Pollywog on Dec 20, 2005 22:23:55 GMT
I've dug out a space ready for building some outdoor holding enclosures next year, I'm just waiting over the winter as the rain and floods come and go as I'm on a hard clay soil and want to make sure the area drains away well.
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Post by Pollywog on Oct 26, 2005 14:06:49 GMT
I don't mind natural hybrids and have kept a number of hybrid Bombina bombina x variegata as well as Rana esculenta, it is hybridisation of animals in captivity that I am against.
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Post by Pollywog on Oct 25, 2005 18:39:44 GMT
Personally I am strongly against both.
Hybrids are a risk to the purity of bloodlines and with many populations of amphibians now in steep decline it is even more crucial that we keep species pure.
As for mutations what do you mean? Colour morphs or genetic mutations? Colour morphs I have no problem with as long as they are not caused by hybridisation although they are mostly bought about through inbreeding which means that the genes are pretty poor causing more developmental problems. Genetic mutations such as the glow in the dark Silurana I am against as with hybrids they are a risk to the purity of the species.
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Post by Pollywog on Jan 19, 2006 20:09:25 GMT
The split between cristatus, carnifex, karelinii & dobrogicus was long before this book was written so they are covered in it’s text. It is the more recent splits placing helveticus, vulgaris, montandoni, boscai & italicus as Lissotriton - alpestris as Mesotriton - & the vittatus group as Ommatotriton including the designation of ophryticus as a full species rather than a subspecies of vittatus. If memory serves me correctly it also counts pygmaeus as a subspecies of marmoratus, which has since been split to full species status.
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Post by Pollywog on Jan 19, 2006 18:51:45 GMT
Hi Phil, I own a copy of this book and it is quite good, it's now been somewhat superseded by The Newts and Salamanders of Europe by Richard Griffiths. This is a good book and the most upto date on the subject although also written before the taxonomical changes of the Triturus group.
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Post by Pollywog on Sept 30, 2005 15:36:03 GMT
white bait is fine, make sure you warm the dead fish to 80°C for five minutes in water immediately before feeding and add a vitamin and mineral supplement to the food.
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Post by Pollywog on Sept 30, 2005 10:43:37 GMT
It is often recommended in old text books that salt water fish should be fed to fresh water fish and fresh water fish should be fed to salt water fish to avoid passing on any infections, however the norm seems to be to feed fresh water fish.
If you want to feed fish be wary that aquarists often put chemicals such as copper in the water that may be harmful to your amphibs. Guppies and White Cloud Mountain Minnows are both good choices for feeders.
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Post by Pollywog on Jun 7, 2005 20:17:11 GMT
You can try making a small "compost heap" of leaf mould, grass cuttings etc. in the corner of the enclosure. This will provide a supply of several species of springtails, woodlice, earthworms and whiteworms.
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Post by Pollywog on Sept 26, 2005 21:58:36 GMT
I can confirm that it is a L.helveticus. The dorsal stripe is of equal intensity down the length of the body, in L.vulgaris it is more prominent at the base of the head and then fades as it goes down the back. The easiest way to tell them apart is of course to view the throat of the animal.
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