Playing with Newts

One of my Red-spotted newts is climbing out of the water for the first time on October 11th. 

It's been about 3 weeks since I put newts in this paludarium.

 Normally, all 3 newts stay in the water all the time. 

Okay, the newt is back into water.

 Newts often stay motionless like this, making very slow movements as they observe surroundings.

 And... red-spotted newts are very adorable. 

Let's skip the motionlessly hanging out for the sake of saving your time.

 I promised in a previous video to keep a normal playback speed in videos about newts. 

That is the only way to show how cute newts are.

 The other two newts seem to be busy... as usual. 

Only the newt that tried to climb out today seems to be unusually active. 

This one. 

And it is also my favorite newt. 

Once in a while every red-spotted newt comes to the water surface to grab some air. 

Perhaps, newts in the last aquatic stage of development still breathe atmospheric air. 

And the air bubble in the belly sure helps to stay afloat. 

All my newts have different numbers of red dots on the back. 

That is one way I can tell them apart. 

Also, they have different shaped tails. 

And there are some other little variations.

 And this one also has a noticeably different personality. 

It is not the first time she shows more activity than the other two. 

I am not sure about the gender, but... I assume it's her. 

Let's check how she would react to my hand... 

Ah, don't be shy. 

I know you are not scared of me. 

I will call you SheShy. 

Do you like that name?

 Come, you can climb on my finger if you want - I help. 

I see you are not scared of me at all. 

Very good. Slow and easy... 

Okay, okay...take your time. 

Thinking about it - about a month ago SheShy was a wild beast! 

And look at her now! - not scared of me at all.

 

Here we go. 

The first ever touchdown! 

He-he. 

And again!

 Brave SheShy gave me high-fives. 

Thank you SheShy for your trust in me!

 She is a very delicate newt. 

I barely felt the touch - her tiny hands or paws are very soft. 

And look, she is not running away from this corner where I hold my hand. 

Here she is coming back.

 Perhaps SheShy wants to climb up on the land - take my finger for support.

 I will be gentle so as not to squeeze you. 

You're doing great SheShy! 

I see you are not in a rush to get on the land. 

You are just curious.

 I give you space. 

Let's see if SheShy lets me touch her again. 

Here we go...nice and easy. 

You are such a soft ball. 

Do you notice how many fingers Newts have? 

So, the high-five is less than five, but still counts as high :)

 SheShy is clearly in a very playful mood today. 

I hope the worms I fed to my newts were not loaded with something mood alerting :) 

Also, there could be some other reasons for SheShy trying to climb out... 

You may remember from the first video one of the newts climbed out of the water to breathe. 

So, the low oxygen would force newts to climb out. 

But this tank has access to atmospheric air. 

Even though I don't use any air pumps or filters. 

OMG! SheShy just rubbed her back over my finger :) 

She wants to play! 

Or perhaps SheShy already figured that I am the one who feeds them and is asking me for food.

 Speaking of food - she should not be hungry yet.

 You can see her belly is full. 

On an empty stomach SheShy is pretty slim compared to other 2 newts.

 And I fed newts recently. 

Aha! There is an opportunity to check if SheShy is hungry.

 An isopod shows up for this occasion. 

I dropped the isopod in the water. 

SheShy does not care for the snack at this moment. 

Would she let me rub her belly? 

It feels amazing!

 Oh, I see. 

SheShy went down to check on the isopod.

Nope - she is not hungry for sure. 

Well, isopods stay alive underwater running around for 5-10 minutes. 

And that is usually long enough for a hungry newt to deal with one isopod at a time. 

Yes, a newt hunts and eats one isopod or whatever else at a time. 

It could take more than 20 minutes for a newt to fully swallow a live prey. 

The larger the prey the longer it takes.

Here you can see how the newt sniffs the prey. 

I am not sure if it is exactly sniffing... 

But, newts are definitely able to track the prey following something left in the water after the prey.

 There are two more newts in this tank... 

And newts are very observant and usually follow the other newts exhibiting hunting behavior.

 I think SheShy is tracking the isopod right now just for fun maybe. 

So, we may see the other isopods join the hunt. 

And this one certainly took a note of SheShy hunt :) 

And the third newt gets closer! 

Aha! Here you can see what happened to a worm that was too large for a newt to eat it. 

Endlers fish take on the worm. 

SheShy is back on the hunting path. 

My wild newts go only after live food. 

Some newt already chewed and spit out the worm.

 So, no other newts would be interested in this dead worm. 

Here is the other newt closing up on SheShy hunting ground.

 It's a funny standing position newts choose for high ground observation points. 

The other newt is still in the same observation position. 

Overseen the whole field - watching all other news and me :)

 Here is SheShy.

 Do you let me touch you again?

 Oh my! SheShy wants to touch me! 

Really girl! 

You're teasing me :) 

This kind of interaction with your pet is the highest reward of a pet keeping hobby. 

Aha! Watch this!! 

The newt snapped on the isopod and missed.

 Not exactly missed it - rather dropped it. 

Newts don't have teeth and cannot bite. 

So, if the prey does not fit in the mouth of the newt then it may wriggle its way out.

 I gather my knowledge about Red-spotted newts through long hours of observation.

 Well, some of my assumptions could be wrong - time will reveal it.

 I assume that SheShy is female. 

I may know it for certain only during breeding season. 

Oh, you see - the other newt saw the hunt and came right away to check it out.

 SheShy is playing... 

or maybe it's a prelude to the mating season...

I don't know yet. 

The water temperature in the aquarium is warmer than the water was in the stream when I got newts.

And then in this regard SheShy was climbing out to check if the environment is suitable for babies.

 Hey, that is the second time this newt moves on SheShy. 

Wow, look at them! 

SheShy is teasing this newt. 

He gets distracted by the dead worm... 

Well, SheShy is full of energy and playful. 

I trimmed more than 2/3 of this video to show only the most interesting parts.

 Hopefully you enjoy the video as much as I did or more. 

I have much more to show and share with you.

 Red-spotted or Eastern newts are very interesting pets to keep. 

They have very complicated and engaging behavior. 

It is much more enjoyable to watch them live. 

My whole family agrees with me about that.

 Providing newts with live food all year around poses quite a challenge. 

I am going to explain more about it in future videos. 

Yeah SheShy, give me one more high-five for my YouTube friends to enjoy it.

 Knewt it :)

 Have fun and happy newts :)