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Newt/lizard found in Irish house

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  • 03-10-2011 2:40pm
    #1
    Smcgie
    Registered Users Posts: 1,379 ✭✭✭


    Hi folks can anyone tell me what this is. This appeared under my friends couch the other day and startled us :)

    http://db.tt/vIS0AXF0


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    #2
    Pie Man
    Registered Users Posts: 348 ✭✭Pie Man


    Here's your pic it didn't come up on your post also made it smaller to fit, it's a newt.


    [IMG][/img]lizx.png


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    #3
    Smcgie
    Registered Users Posts: 1,379 ✭✭✭Smcgie


    Cheers pieman!

    Are these common in Ireland? Never heard or seen one before. It give everyone quite a fright when we saw it crawling out from under the couch..

    Que women squealing like it was a T-Rex


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    #4
    Mothman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,498 ✭✭✭Mothman


    Abundant in my area, though not often seen.


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    #5
    charlemont
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,725 ✭✭✭charlemont


    Thats cool.


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    #6
    Mothman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,498 ✭✭✭Mothman


    Here's a thread from last year


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    #7
    Skerries
    Registered Users Posts: 12,320 ✭✭✭✭Skerries


    aww! he's so lidl
    Untitled Image




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    #8
    joela
    Registered Users Posts: 478 ✭✭joela


    Smcgie wrote: »
    Cheers pieman!

    Are these common in Ireland? Never heard or seen one before. It give everyone quite a fright when we saw it crawling out from under the couch..

    Que women squealing like it was a T-Rex

    Hi, Irish Wildlife Trust have been carrying out National Newt Surveys for a couple of years. Well they have been carrying it out with the help of volunteers, they hold training days around the country each year and you can attend and then you get your square to survey. Have a look here if you are interested http://iwt.ie/what-we-do/newt-survey/


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    #9
    dlofnep
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,759 ✭✭✭✭dlofnep


    Used to see them down at a local pond all the time when I was a kid. Newts are pretty common.


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    #10
    BargainHunter
    Registered Users Posts: 94 ✭✭BargainHunter


    Why doesnt my pond have any newts? Are there types of ponds they dont like? My pond is a natural pond at the bottom of my field, with loads of heavy grass around it, a fair bit of duckweed and slime in summer, and no rocks or running water. The water is clear and produces lots of frogs. Any ideas?

    Should I try to introduce newts?


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    #11
    joela
    Registered Users Posts: 478 ✭✭joela


    The frogs are the problem! Newts and frogs don't always live together happily ever after I'm afraid.


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    #12
    Mothman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,498 ✭✭✭Mothman


    BargainHunter wrote: »
    Why doesnt my pond have any newts? Are there types of ponds they dont like? My pond is a natural pond at the bottom of my field, with loads of heavy grass around it, a fair bit of duckweed and slime in summer, and no rocks or running water. The water is clear and produces lots of frogs. Any ideas?

    Should I try to introduce newts?
    How do you know it doesn't have newts?


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    #13
    BargainHunter
    Registered Users Posts: 94 ✭✭BargainHunter


    Mothman wrote: »
    How do you know it doesn't have newts?
    Ok, ok. I have never seen a newt in my pond, despite observing the pond on a regular basis.


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    #14
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,993 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    It must be a very damp house. I wonder what else is living under the couch?


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    #15
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,993 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    BargainHunter wrote: »
    Why doesnt my pond have any newts? ..Should I try to introduce newts?
    There is a report contained in the link quoted earlier in this thread....
    Aquatic vegetation increases the suitability of a
    waterbody for newts while the presence of fish is unfavourable due to predation. The smooth newt
    will however co-habit with the common frog, even using frog tadpoles as a source of food. Outside
    of the breeding season the smooth newt has a terrestrial lifestyle utilising habitats such as long
    grass, scrub and damp woodland. “Terrestrial refugia” are an important microhabitat for the newt’s
    terrestrial existence. These are places free from frost and predators required by the newt to take
    refuge in while it enters a state of hibernation-like inactivity during winter called torpor. These
    terrestrial refugia vary from old stonewalls, to fallen logs, to outhouses.
    I would guess your pond either has some fish in it, or else lacks any suitable woodland area, or old logs nearby, for the adults to live in outside the breeding season.
    As to introducing them, no harm in putting in a few tadpoles, if you could find them, though whether that is strictly legal, I don't know.


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