Chinese Emperor Newt Setup

[Vivarium1]

Hi. I was wondering if i should keep my female and male emperor newts in a half and half water and land area or terresrtial with a water bowl. for the half and half, i would silcione a piece of glass across the middle to seperate the substrate and the water right? i need help

[Jed]

Sorry if im not qualified to help you... but im pretty sure 50/50 would be best..

and you don't have to silicone anything, you can just pile up a bunch of gravel and put moss or eco earth on top of it and have it slope down, there are millions of options.

[Vodoc]

I don't know about emperor newts but I've had allot of different newts like Alpine newts and I usually built 60% water 40% earth.
As Jed said, If you don't want to use silicone you can make a natural slope. Put down some big rocks, then some finer gravel, a layer of sand and maybe some mesh because on top you're going to put soil which you don't want to be mixed with your water! You'll end up cleaning your water every 2 days... So also put real plants in so that the roots hold the dirt. Just be sure that the two parts are well separated but they can easily get from the water to the land.
Hope this helped =)
See ya

[grius]

I think you could have 20/80 water and land, with a deep range from 2-5cm. That will be enought.

[Vodoc]

Originally Posted by grius

I think you could have 20/80 water and land, with a deep range from 2-5cm. That will be enought.

Well as I said before, I don't know the needs of C. Emps. but I usually have more water then land and a minimum of 10cm deep (water section: 30x30x10 cm).
That's for 3-5 Alpine newts. Some of them never fully develop and stay 100% aquarious and other prefer to stay near the water... They need live plants to hide in, other hiding places made with rocks and wood... This takes alot of place.
Of course you could just put some gravel down, a plastic hut and a water bowl but that's just cruel. My advice is on how to make a comfortable environment for your newts.
The bigger the better, the happier your newts will be =)
See ya

[grius]

Originally Posted by Vodoc

Well as I said before, I don't know the needs of C. Emps. but I usually have more water then land and a minimum of 10cm deep (water section: 30x30x10 cm).
That's for 3-5 Alpine newts. Some of them never fully develop and stay 100% aquarious and other prefer to stay near the water... They need live plants to hide in, other hiding places made with rocks and wood... This takes alot of place.
Of course you could just put some gravel down, a plastic hut and a water bowl but that's just cruel. My advice is on how to make a comfortable environment for your newts.
The bigger the better, the happier your newts will be =)
See ya

Emperor are more at terrestrial living what i have learned from caudata and other care sheet So you can keep them on land with just a smaller water area..T.verruosus is more aquatic and need much water.

http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Ty...shanjing.shtml

Regards.

[jclee]

Originally Posted by grius

Emperor are more at terrestrial living what i have learned from caudata and other care sheet So you can keep them on land with just a smaller water area..T.verruosus is more aquatic and need much water.

Caudata Culture Species Entry - Tylototriton shanjing

Regards.

I was just about to post that same link! I also wanted to share this -- Caudata Culture Articles - Setups -- which has links to both semi-aquatic and terrestrial design ideas for newts and salamanders.

[grius]

Yes those photos are good for inspiration. Here is a direct link for the thread starter to see so he don miss.

T.shanjing tank.
http://www.caudata.org/cc/images/art...nks/terr13.jpg