Semi-Aquatic

Welcome to the Semi-Aquatic Department of Triops Experts™ U.K. Here, we specialise in semi-aquatic creatures such as Newts, Frogs, Toads ect. and we bring information about them to you here on this page. If you have any questions, please go to the contact box at the bottom of this page or click

  for the contact page...

here

The Newt is an amphibian of the Salamandridae family, order Urodela or Caudata, found in North America, Europe, and Asia. Their eggs are laid singly in ponds or slow-moving streams, attached to aquatic plants. This distinguishes them from the free-floating eggs of frogs, that are laid in clumps, or toads, that are laid in strings. The larvae leave the water as a terrestrial form called an eft, returning to the water when mature to live or to breed. The adult form has a lizard-like body and is either aquatic or semi-aquatic.

Our Newts have now been succesfully released back into their natural habit after a short time of studying and closly observing their every day lives and feeding habits. The recoded data is on file in our archives and is available on request and for special reports or projects only as Newts are endangered in their natural habitat and are not to be perminantly moved. We kept our newts for 2 weeks and then safely returned ALL of them back to their pond, which for legal reasons locations cannot be named. We relesed them in February 2008, and we can report that they are all still safe and well. Also, you may already know, we do not test anything on any animals, so please don't worry, we only watched them for 2 weeks and recorded data that we found out about them.

We cannot say much more about th newts due to legal reasons, but please e-mail us via the contact form at the bottom of this page and request for the 'Newts Archive' for the recorded data and more information.

Some Videos are provided by YouTube™ are located to the left. The Triops Experts™ Archives do contain info about the above subject. To obtain this info use the form at the bottom of this page and we can get the requested information out to you.

Frogs and Toads, like newts, are anphibious creatures. They spend their childhood and early stages of life develoving in the water as tadpoles. They then start to grow limbs until they are a complete developed animal. Once they can leave the water, they still need to be kept wet or damp, as they can breath through their skin and therefore needs to be kept hydrated. Toads do not usually live near water, but under logs and in damp places. Frogs and toads will feed on various insects that are smaller than them.

They are both easy to rear and the common species can be kept in a large aquarium tank.

Adult frogs are characterised by long hind legs, a short body, webbed digits, protruding eyes and the absence of a tail. Most frogs have a semi-aquatic lifestyle, but move easily on land by jumping or climbing. They typically lay their eggs in puddles, ponds or lakes, and their larvae, called tadpoles, have gills and develop in water. Adult frogs follow a carnivorous diet, mostly of arthropods, annelids and gastropods. Frogs are most noticeable by their call, which can be widely heard during the night or day, mainly in their mating season.

The distribution of frogs ranges from tropic to subarctic regions, but most species are found in tropical rainforests. Consisting of more than 5,000 species described, they are among the most diverse groups of vertebrates. However, populations of certain frog species are significantly declining.

Toad refers to a number of species of amphibians. A distinction is often made between frogs and toads by their appearance, prompted by the convergent adaptation among so-called toads to dry environments. For instance, toads often have leathery skin for better water retention, and a brown coloration for camouflage. Many so-called toads also burrow, which requires further adaptations. However, these adaptations merely reflect the environment a species has adapted to, and are not reliable indicators of its ancestry. Since taxonomy reflects only evolutionary relationships, any distinction between frogs and toads is irrelevant to their classification.

For instance, many members of the families Bombinatoridae, Discoglossidae, Pelobatidae, Rhinophrynidae, Scaphiopodidae, and some species from the Microhylidae family are commonly called "toads". However, the only family exclusively given the common name "toad" is Bufonidae, the "true toads". Some "true frogs" of the genus Rana have also adapted to burrowing habits, while the species within the toad genus Atelopus are conversely known by the common name "harlequin frogs".

Some Videos are provided by YouTube™ are located to the left. The Triops Experts™ Archives do contain info about the above subject. To obtain this info use the form at the bottom of this page and we can get the requested information out to you.