Tuesday, August 24, 2010

It's like getting the last kid out of the house and finding out you're pregnant again.

As some of you may remember, Dave and I have had some fire-bellied newts as pets for the past couple of years.  We got them right before we got married (along with some red-eyed tree frogs, which sadly died about 9 months later).  We recently gave them away to a nice man with some children who would enjoy them, because with taking care of Krew and our pups we've not given them the attention they deserve.  (As in, we would forget to feed them and clean their cage.  Yes....that makes us horrible newt parents.)




On Sunday, Dave and his brother Dan decided to clean out the newt cage so we could put it in storage and make some space in the living room for Krew's play area we're planning.  I was upstairs doing some housework, and I came downstairs to get the vacuum.  Dan said to me, "There's a surprise for you!"  At first I got excited, until they told me that the surprise was in a tupperware container on the kitchen table.  Then I was like, Oh no....

Oh yes.  I went over and looked down, and lo and behold, there were two itty bitty newts with gills!!!

Yup, that's right.  Our fire-bellied newts reproduced.  And we had no idea.  I guess this shows how little attention we were giving them.  I did some research online after our discovery.  The chances of breeding in captivity are very rare, and supposedly the females produce 50 to 200 eggs that are easily visible.  How on earth did we miss that????

Well the mamas tend to eat the eggs and the baby newts, but two of the babies somehow managed to hide and live.  So now we are back to having newts again...and not just any newts, but baby newts that we have no idea how to take care of.  Good grief.  As Dan said, it's like parents who just got their last kid out the door, only to find out they're pregnant again.

Here's an image I got online that somewhat resembles what the babies look like:


SO...if anyone has any hidden knowledge of how to care for newborn fire-bellied newts or has any desire to raise some, please let me know!!!!

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