A Question for those of you with newts....

18 years ago

I know some of you have good populations of newts. Please copy and paste the questions into your answer for easy answering.

Please could you tell me roughly what your pond is like, and why you think newts like it?

Size,

Max depth,

Any moving water- fountain or fall?

Any filter?

Edges,

Rocks or logs around?

Type of weed,

How much sun,

Density of weed- how much clear water?

When do you normally first spot newts and babies each year?

How tidy is your garden?

Do you also have frogs or toads?

Do you also have ornamental fish?

Do you also have native fish ie sticklebacks?

Do you feed fish in this pond?

How long have you had newts? or how soon after building pond did they appear?

Thanks in advance

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Comments (5)

mralp2
18 years ago
Size,
Max depth, 3 feet
Any moving water- fountain or fall? no
Any filter?no
Edges, steep & one slope
Rocks or logs around? no
Type of weed,start wort is best
How much sun, i have no shade
Density of weed- how much clear water? 75%
When do you normally first spot newts and babies each year? April & may for newtlets
How tidy is your garden? rough
Do you also have frogs or toads?frrogs
Do you also have ornamental fish? definite no
Do you also have native fish ie sticklebacks? no
Do you feed fish in this pond? na
How long have you had newts? or how soon after building pond did they appear? pond 3 yrs, newts after 12 months

Hope that helps , pond size 4mx4m,with liner, I also remove (safely) great diving beetles, put in village pond!!
chippewacat
18 years ago
Any moving water- fountain or fall? NO
Any filter? NO
Edges,
Rocks or logs around? ROCKS WITH SPACES UNDERNEATH AROUND THE POND, LARGE WOODPILE COVERED IN IVY ABOUT 3 FEET AWAY FROM THE POND
Type of weed, STARWORT, AND THAT REALLY COMMON BORING OXYGENATOR WHOSE NAME ESCAPES ME RIGHT NOW...
How much sun, ONLY ABOUT 6 HOURS IN WINTER, SUMMER GETS SUN MORNING AND EVENING (NOT FOR ABOUT 3 HOURS MID-DAY)
Density of weed- how much clear water? 2/3
When do you normally first spot newts and babies each year? THIS YEAR LAST SAW NEWTS IN NOVEMBER, AND NEWTS APPEARED WITH FROGS LATE JANUARY
How tidy is your garden? NOT VERY! BELIEVE IN SEMI-ORGANISED CHAOS
Do you also have frogs or toads? YEP!!
Do you also have ornamental fish? NOPE
Do you also have native fish ie sticklebacks? YEP
Do you feed fish in this pond? NO
How long have you had newts? or how soon after building pond did they appear? I THOUGHT I SAW THEM AFTER ONE YEAR (SPRING) BUT CONVINCED MYSELF IT WAS A FAST STICKELBACK AND MY WISHFUL THINKING. SAW THEM FOR SURE THE FOLLOWING YEAR (ABOUT 6 INDIVIDUALS), SO I THINK IT WAS A FLASH OF NEWT I SAW THE FIRST YEAR AFTER ALL.

Mine are common newts (although a mile away there are great crested newts, so I keep hoping). Garden is triangular with two sides busy road, so I am amazed they found the pond. Other corner backs onto gardens which back onto woods/lake. Never seen babies, but that does not mean they are not there, as each year there are consistently adult newts about. I think though that the main predator would be the big dragonflynymphs. Deepest part of pond is 3 feet, so glory knows what happens there. Noticed that the newts congregate near the rocky houses, and some extra holes between the rocks have appeared near the water surface....

What is your situation?
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mralp2
18 years ago
Hi Chippewacat, Do sticklebacks eat the tadpoles & newtlets, are they native of the british isles?? Do they cause any problems in a wild life pond..thanks..Mike
chippewacat
18 years ago
Hi Mike

Have noticed the large stickelbacks will gorge themselves on small tadpoles, and some tadpoles seem to have rather short tails. But the spawn increases year by year so I don't think they cause much of a problem. I don't know about newts as I have never seen baby ones yet (or toad spawn, but as I have seen toadlets something must be going on down there that I can't see--I don't have the clearest water in the world, a lot of soil in the pond, and lots of hidden areas under weed).

I do think that the very very small fry are eaten by the amphibians and other stickelbacks, and now the stickelbacks seem to have reached an equilibrium. The first year I had the stickelbacks there was one male (Spike) and 3 females (Buffy, Drusilla and Dawn) and with the permission of a kind ranger, I released 800 into the wild! Now there are more males that kind of explosion hasn't happened, and I have noticed they don't get as big. (Caught Spike munching on newly hatched tadpoles before the first breeding season--he was huge!).

The main predator is the big dragonfly nymphs--that's why I brought some spawn indoors last year to get them to a bigger faster stage. I think the tadpoles are most vulnerable when they first hatch. Blackbirds seem to feast on them too, until they get deeper into weed and under pebbles. The nymphs and dragonflies are amazing too, and they go after the fry too so they don't have to only eat tadpoles---so I hope that between lots of spawn and lots of fry to munch on then the dragonfly and the amphibian population can increase.

Have to admit though, watching the male stickelbacks during breeding season is a laugh!

Have fun,

Chip
rob page plymouth
13 years ago
can i keep sticklebacks with newts and how can i obtain some rob page

A Question for those of you with newts....

Comments (5)

mralp2

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