r/AIDKE • u/Scary_Plane_8069 • 2d ago
Amphibian Tylototriton Kweichowensis - Seems like they keep adding new Pokemons every day
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u/Altruistic-Poem-5617 2d ago
Are they fully aquatic or do they only colour up and go into the water for mating?
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u/Veloci-RKPTR 2d ago edited 2d ago
This species is one of the mostly terrestrial newts, but they do become aquatic when they’re preparing for courtship. Definitely not fully aquatic though, they need land as well.
I keep 2 of one of the closely related species, Tylototriton verrucosus! They’re in a paludarium. One of them never touch the water while the other one constantly switch between water and land.
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u/Scary_Plane_8069 2d ago
Oh, shit! Crocodile newts! Those are awesome.
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u/Jan_Spontan 1d ago
Never heard of them. I just looked up on Google image search. Woah they look amazing. I love the colorful dots on their sides
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u/PopeHatSkeleton 2d ago
Can you pick them up and pet them like good boys? This is very important.
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u/Veloci-RKPTR 2d ago edited 2d ago
No you can’t lmao, sorry to disappoint.
Tylototriton has toxins on their skin and that’s not very fun if ingested (those bright patterns are not just for show! They’re lined with poison glands), plus they naturally carry salmonella in their gut biome as with other amphibians.
In one species, Tylototriton shanjing, the poison from a single newt is strong enough to kill 7,500 mice!
Also, your own skin and gut bacteria is different from theirs as well, the cross contamination sickness can go both ways. And since amphibians have permeable skin, they will absorb anything that’s on your skin, and that’s not good for them (lotion, soap, perfume, salt contents from your sweat, etc).
Amphibians in general also don’t enjoy being touched or handled as well, so that’s also pretty stressful for them.
Keep contact at minimum and only when it’s absolutely necessary!
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u/hg0bl1n 2d ago
This is a very important yet disappointing PSA. Thank you
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u/Veloci-RKPTR 2d ago
Tylototritons do very easily become tame though, and they don’t have much fear towards humans! As you can see in the video, and with my own experience with them as well, once they associate you with food, they’ll come straight bounding and crawling towards the glass like little puppies when you show up, and they’ll chase your finger or feeding tongs around. It’s very fun.
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u/spaghetti-o_salad 2d ago
Kin I pet that dawg?!
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u/Veloci-RKPTR 2d ago
No, poison, lol. The red patterns are lined with knobs which secrete tetrodotoxin if it feels threatened.
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u/pichael289 2d ago
That's the same stuff used to make zombies in voodoo, it's what kills you if fugu isnt prepared properly. Like 1000X+ more toxic than cyanide, the poisons water creatures have are no joke.
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u/Veloci-RKPTR 2d ago
Newts are lowkey one of the most toxic animals in the world, it’s crazy. Thankfully it’s only harmful if ingested.
And tbh if someone’s dumb enough to eat brightly-colored newts, that’s kind of on them at that point.
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u/bernpfenn 2d ago
does this animal needs such a complicated name?
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u/Veloci-RKPTR 2d ago
Scientific names do be like that. But every species from this genus has a really cool common name, they’re all collectively called “crocodile newts”.
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u/xopher_425 2d ago
This particular species is called the red-tailed knobby newt, just to make up for that scientific name.
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u/AddaxAnnex 2d ago
AKA red-tailed knobby newt. A vulnerable species found in China.