Mystery Newt or Salamander

[JEAE21]

Hi, My friend caught this little pink guy when we were fishing at this place called Stevens Creek Reservoir. He was by the shore I think, and we placed him on the water and he swam pretty well, by wiggling. But then he quickly got onto the shore and hid under the rocks, slowly.

Any idea what he was? Is he one of those terresterial ones or the aquatic type.
And what is the difference between a newt and a salamander?

http://s59.photobucket.com/albums/g317/JEAE/?action=view&current=Yokoso014.jpg

http://s59.photobucket.com/albums/g317/JEAE/?action=view&current=Yokoso016.jpg

[evilxyardxgnome]

Looks like a salamander. I think newts are smaller.

[santoury]

It's a salamander, but I don't know which type. Cute!

[santoury]

Newts are not necessarily smaller - but most newts have a flattened paddle tail, but they both look superficially identical.

[davo]

well, I'm no expert but the things you can do with google are amazing...
I googled salamander and california and it came up with what looked like a great site for ID'ing. Aneides lugubris seems to be a pretty close match... and they look like they have quite an extensive range in comparison to some of your other natives. http://www.californiaherps.com/salamanders/pages/a.lugubris.html an arboreal salamander, which is cool, didn't know there were any arboreal salamanders. Better look up some info on them now lol.
You have so many cool salamanders. If I lived in CA, I wouldn't stop until i've seen them all!

[Vicious_Fish]

Looks like some type of Ensatina.

[Vicious_Fish]

Now that I looked it up, I think Davo is right.

[davo]

Oh newts are part of the Salamandridae family, one of those all newts are salamanders but not all salamanders are newts. In general newts spend most of their adult life aquatically, although of course no hard fast rules here! (aquatic salamanders and terrestrial newts do exist!). Think it is easier to sex newts (again avec exceptions). I believe the difference has much to do with time as it does scientific, but if it's in any of these genus, it's a newt:
Cynops, Echinotriton, Euproctus, Neurergus, Notophthalmus, Pachytriton, Paramesotriton, Pleurodeles, Taricha, Triturus, or Tylototriton

[JEAE21]

Wow, I wasn't expecting so much responses in so little time!

Thanks Davo, it looks escatly like it with the yellow spots?

Hey do salamanders and newts have venom? Can I keep them with turtles? Would they both be safe...I don't want the amphibian to get eaten it looks cool!
I'll look it up if they can be in an aquatic set-up, with basking docks!

oh and what should the captive diet be?

[loconorc]

Yeah, you got an arboreal! way cool!

NO AMPHIBIAN HAS VENOM. Poison dart frogs and a few asian newts and msot toads have POISON. There is a difference you know. Arboreal salamanders are no posionous to my knowledge. Let the guy go, they don't fare well in captivity and arent very common in the wild.

The turtle would eat it in a flash. Besides, is arboreal. LIVES IN TREES. It would be a totally wrong set up anyway. They do not bask btw. California is very temperate.

If you want a cool pet salamander, I can point you in the right direction. But spare the arboreal guy. They have a bad track record of survival in captivity, and it might even be illegal.

THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SALAMANDERS AND NEWTS. Except newts have a terrestrial stage called an eft. Thats about it. There are no physical differences. Newts are sometimes rougher. They are in the same order. All newts are salamanders, but not all salamanders are newts. Get it? Just like all toads are frogs but not all frogs are toads.

[davo]

Yup, wouldn't be suited to a life with a turtle.
Your lucky to have things like that wandering around...
amphibs are the in the greatest decline in the animal kingdom, I wouldn't take the guy (if it's legal) unless you knew what you were doing and were ready for captive breeding. There are plenty of cb newts and salamanders about, go with them if your interested. Also after you handle these guys (if you feel the need that you have to), wash your hands ;)

These aboreals are really cool... they don't have lungs! Apparently they can bite too...

[JEAE21]

well we released after a quick pictures/videos, loconorc..

do they sell salamanders/newts at pet stores? I think I'm gonna buy that amphibian set-up from drsfostersmith. the one with logs, water, etc..

are any sala/new bad with turtles??
Would they do well in my koi pond? Or will I totally lose track of him?

[PoofaceQ]

depends what kind of turtle, but most if not all would just eat the salamander or newt. also in a pond setup it may work, but youd never see it so it might as well just be in the wild.

[loconorc]

No I mean NO salamnder or newt is suitable for either a turtle or fish pond. Too small (like 99% of them) they will get eaten. And if by some miracle you get a hellbender or Chinese giant, the fish are gone. And maybe your dog too.

If you want a salamander, know that you shouldnt hold it. Theyre look but dont touch. Our red spotted newts, red salamander, and spotted are never handled at the nature center.

If you want a good pet species, look for: axolots, tigers, fires, spotteds, fire-belly, or Iranians. Kingsnake's classifieds usually have most of those for sale. Axolots might be a little hard to find.

Check out axolotl.org (.com?) and caudata.org.

[guppy]

Okay, this is not the Aneides lugubris (arboreal salamander) but rather one of the fairly large lunged salamanders called Northwestern salamander (Amybstoma gracile). You are at the sothern end of it's range but the are actually pretty common in the bay area. They are terrestrial at that stage, live under stones and lobs or bark, and feed on inverts, pretty easy to keep.

[JEAE21]

loconorc..what about the Japanese Giant Salamander.lol they're protected though, haha.

yup guppy he was under a log..i'll go look at a picture of the NW salamander..
..looked at it; i'm not sure but it looked more like an arboreal.. it was pink and had yellow spots..
maybe a hybrid? possible??

[loconorc]

Haha japanese giants make one hell of a display at a zoo! One in a big couple-thousand gallon tank and maybe some cool Japanese accent and some large native fish...

Haha one can dream right?

[lovespunaround]

If it's an Ambystomid, it should be relatively easy to take care of. I know some of them are difficult feeders when you bring them into captivity as adults, but other than that I don't know of any problems with keeping them. Plus, they're really freakin cool...I'm a tiger/spotted/marble fan myself :)

Loco, a couple of posts back you were very adamant that salamanders and fish cannot coexist in the same aquarium. What then do you suppose the Japanese giant salamander is going to do to said native fish? hmmmmm.......

[loconorc]

I meant big fish. I don't know what kind of big fish live in japan, but Im sure theres SOMETHING too big for them to eat! lol!

[JEAE21]

Loco, a couple of posts back you were very adamant that salamanders and fish cannot coexist in the same aquarium. What then do you suppose the Japanese giant salamander is going to do to said native fish? hmmmmm.......

lol


well loconorc; native fish: well the big fish would be carp, koi, salmon, and trout..
the non-nativfe big boys would be: snakeheads and blackbass.

[guppy]

loconorc..what about the Japanese Giant Salamander.lol they're protected though, haha.

yup guppy he was under a log..i'll go look at a picture of the NW salamander..
..looked at it; i'm not sure but it looked more like an arboreal.. it was pink and had yellow spots..
maybe a hybrid? possible??


They don't hybridize.
Well I put on my glasses and took another look. I had not realized that those were spots, I thought it was just flecks of gravel or sand so you are probably right.
One thing that threw me though is the arboreal salamander maxes out at 4" and the NW at over 5". Do you have fairly small hands? lol.
The arboreal is also fairly easy tokeep as are the ensatinas.

[JEAE21]

lol no guppy. haha
i checked right now and his whole body length was around 6"
was a good swimmer too.

maybe it got big because of the mercury.lol

[David Tobler]

That is with out a doubt in my mind an Arboreal Salamander.

[guppy]

Aha< found what I was looking for, the 4" length mentioned was snout to vent overall. That makes it definitly an arboreal, Mea culpa.

[JEAE21]

haha guppy what site were you looking at?

[guppy]

Several including DNR and Californiaherps.

[JEAE21]

thanks i'll go look