Newt larvae

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

Caught this little fella in the palm of my hand whilst scooping algae out of the pond. So it looks like my newts got down to some newt lurve...




So how long will they stay in the water? This chap seems to have a lot of development still to do - will he really reach newthood before the summer is out, or will he stay in the water until next year?

Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Wednesday 22 July 18:49

[Mr GrimNasty]

They only have to absorb the gills so they'll soon be off - still very small. Come Autumn you'll find them concealed all over the place in surprisingly dry places, they overwinter out the pond, in fact the babies probably won't be back until they are ready to breed, at least several years from now.

The froglets are already out and about, you seen any?

[Mobile Chicane]

I'd suggest you leave scooping out the pond until autumn when the breeding season is over.

If you absolutely must scoop, leave the scoopings on the edge so that whatever you've fished out has a chance of getting back in.

[viscountdallara]

Lovely to see them... Lucky you

FYI

http://naturenet.net/law/sched5.html

[Mr GrimNasty]

I don't suppose he was intending to sell or trade it anyway!

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

Mr GrimNasty said:

The froglets are already out and about, you seen any?

My frogspawn hatched into a writhing mass, then they dispersed and seemed to disappear overnight - couldn't see any tadpoles at all. I reckon the newts ate a lot of them. However, I have spotted just one or two froglets hopping about amongst the vegetation in the shallow end of the pond, so at least a small number made it through to juvenile stage. But I certainly don't have them in any appreciable numbers. I guess that's natural - frogs play a numbers game and only a tiny fraction will make it.

I didn't really have all that much frogspawn anyway - there was just one pair of frogs and they produced a couple of dollops of it, but that's all. Maybe there'll be more next year - the pond is still barely a year old.

[Mr GrimNasty]

They've mainly dispersed from the pond by now, I bet if you find the right corner, some damp longer grass, a strawberry patch, a pile of stones etc. and have a look, there will be zillions.