Plague of dehydrated newts

[Chris B]

Went down to the cellar today. There were newts all over the floor, about 20 of them. On closer inspection they all seemed almost dead and dry, one or 2 almost crispy. I quickly collected them up in a bowl, took them upstairs and put some water in, and within 30 seconds they all came to life swimming all over the place. Took them down the field to nearest pond and plopped them in.

Why did 20 newts suddenly appear in my house? Do newts swarm? Have they evolved the drying up trick to get people to move them from one pond to another?

 

[Polyanwood]

There are rules about moving newts because they are protected... not sure what they are...

They do go back to where they were born to spawn... Is your cellar very wet?? Has it got it's own population breeding down there?

I really like newts.

 

[Chris B]

The cellar can get damp but never any standing water. Don't they breed in water? I knew great crested newts were protected but I don't think these were them.

 

[Polyanwood]

Yes they spawn in water. In long strings, usually attached to weed and in the shallows if they can. I thought they were all protected... but I might have imagined that because I wish they were.

 

[fox403]

don't lay in long strings that's toads thinking of newts lay single eggs each wrapped in plant leaf. strange them heading in your celler

Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk

 

[Hivemaker.]

I agree,your thinking of toad spawn in long strands,also common,or smooth newts spend most of their time on dry land.

http://wildinbritain.co.uk/Ponds/NEWTS.htm

 

[susbees]

We have common newts in our farm pond. Until last year I erroneously thought that amphibians need to be kept moist all the time, well maybe toads less so (we have those too and plenty frogs). I unearthed one small newt under a very dry hedge a long, long way from the pond when gardening and found a large frog residing in dust on the floor of the tool shed. The half-grown toad I grazed with the garden fork whilst again digging turfs off a dry bank to make a heather border for the spoilt bees had its skin superglued and was released after three days.

 

[crazy_bull]

We used to get hundreds in our old cellar, the used to hibernate in the cracks in the walls as it maintained a constant and slightly damp temperature all winter, we lost them all one winter when we had a family of rats move in, they ate the lot, i guess it might have got to dry for them in the cellar with the lack of rain we are having.

C B

 

[keithgrimes]

I used to have a very small newt. It was minute.

 

[fox403]

keith and u call yourself a northerner with jokes like that

 

[Chris B]

I just remembered I keep beer in the cellar. Newts like beer dont they? (P***ed as a newt).

Not too many skunks in the neighbourhood thankfully as they like to get drunk too.

I did wonder what all the night-time party noise was.

 

[For want of a better word]

Last year I bought a batch of axolotle eggs from a guy in Liverpool (FleaBuy) all hatched as common smooth newts!
Should have known better!!!

 

[fox403]

mmmm now Axolotls lay in clumps in plants are newts only lay a egg at a time in a plant

 

[For want of a better word]

but the look very similar when sent via post in a small plastic bottle, and both grow front limbs first and look very similar when tiny!

Same guy as sold hamster to Manwell in Faulty Towers probably!!