Stocking a wildlife pond with newts?

[Wayfarin]

Hello folks!
One of the things that I had dreamed about for a while now was building a backyard wildlife pond to attract the maximum amount of wildlife to our yard. It would probably be a simple pond, made with a flexible liner, with a shallow section for frogs to come and go at will, and with only a solar-powered pump or bubbler to keep the water moving.
There's just one problem with the idea, though. Mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes and frogs are attracted to the same kind of water sources. Still, calm water sources. And apparently, BTI is not completely safe to use with tadpoles. Any other insecticides are out of the question.
I'm determined not to stock the pond with fish, including mosquito fish. Fish are too sensitive to water stagnation, and frogs, which are probably going to be the main attractions of this pond, are more attracted to fishless ponds.
Then I thought about the whole thing for a little while, and I came up with newts. Eastern newts. They eat mosquito larvae, naturally inhabit stagnant ponds, and are an indigenous species where I live.
There's just one problem, though. How does a person stock a pond with newts?
In New Hampshire, where I live, any herptiles that originated outside of the state cannot be introduced into the wild legally. So that means that even though eastern newts are completely native here, if I were to order them online, they would probably be considered illegal imports if they came from another state. And yet, goldfish and koi can be added to ponds legally. It just doesn't make sense.
At this point, I also wouldn't want to replace the newts with another mosquito-eating pond creature. I want to have newts in my backyard!
I suppose that it's possible that efts could naturally show up on their own, like the frogs, but there's no guarantee.
My only option now would be to collect wild eastern newts from the state to add to the pond. The idea of taking newts out of the wild does seem a little weird to me, but apparently it's not illegal, as long as no more than five are collected. And they aren't being kept as pets, they're just being moved to a new habitat.
So, does anyone have any suggestions on stocking a pond with newts? Is it ethical to relocate them? Are there any notable ponds in the state from which the newts could be collected? I know of a pond in Connecticut that was teeming with newts, but that was still outside of the state. Is there any way to stock a wildlife or frog pond with newts?
Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!
God bless!

 

[Tarantuland]

Contact DNR in your area if you have questions regarding legality, but maybe there's a pond near you and you can collect your five and put them in the pond. If they're still living outdoors in the wild, I wouldn't consider it unethical. I probably wouldn't do it myself though still. But that's your decision to make.

 

[viper69]

You’re right that makes no sense!

 

[Wayfarin]

You’re right that makes no sense!

Yeah, I've never heard of people needing permits to put goldfish in ponds, despite how invasive they are. But the releasing of a captive native amphibian or a native amphibian collected in another state is completely illegal. If it weren't, we would probably create a backyard vernal pool and stock it with a vulnerable species, like four-toed salamanders, in order to boost their populations. We would probably collect five specimens from Connecticut, or another state that abounds with them, and reintroduce them to New Hampshire by means of our backyard breeding pond. I guess the law has something to do with disease introduction risks. But it's a shame. I would love to reintroduce the four-toed salamander to the Granite State.

 

[Postmalone35]

They might not be able to abate the mosquito problem.

 

[Wayfarin]

Contact DNR in your area if you have questions regarding legality, but maybe there's a pond near you and you can collect your five and put them in the pond. If they're still living outdoors in the wild, I wouldn't consider it unethical. I probably wouldn't do it myself though still. But that's your decision to make.

I might have to contact DNR or the NH Fish and Game department or something. I would probably just order them online if that was best for them, but that's illegal, and it increases the risk of disease transportation. I'm aware that a permit is required to possess more than 5 wild newts in New Hampshire. But the legality of the whole thing seems confusing from there on.

They might not be able to abate the mosquito problem.

At least they might prevent full-on overpopulations. After all, it's well-established that predators that target the larvae are often the most effective at controlling mosquitoes. And I'm not crazy about mosquitofish, since they are invasive. And BTI, which is probably one of the most effective mosquito-killers, has been shown in one study to have adverse effects on tadpoles. Newts also adversely affect tadpoles by feeding on spawn, but at least they're more natural.
I know that running water deters mosquitoes, but it also deters many frogs. And having a pump that sucks up tadpoles is completely out of the question, regardless of how often it happens.
I'm open to other ideas for mosquito control, but they have to be safe for frogs, dragonflies, plants... pretty much everything but those little bloodsuckers.
And it's not just about the mosquitoes. I also want to encourage the thriving of eastern newts as a species.

 

[Tarantuland]

I might have to contact DNR or the NH Fish and Game department or something. I would probably just order them online if that was best for them, but that's illegal, and it increases the risk of disease transportation. I'm aware that a permit is required to possess more than 5 wild newts in New Hampshire. But the legality of the whole thing seems confusing from there on.

Maybe you can find someone in state like at a reptile show that breeds the native species. I’ve met people who have permits to breed and sell native reptiles in my area. I might get one myself, I don’t believe it’s very difficult to obtain.

I don’t think 5 would damage wild populations…if it would DNR should have written a different law.

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

I definitely wouldn't order newts online and release them. Transporting and releasing native animals across long distances is a great way to spread diseases, which amphibians are particularly vulnerable to (there was something awhile back about the detection of a new Batrachochytrium chytrid fungus that kills newts and salamanders similar to how the B. dendrobatidis fungus killed off huge numbers of frogs, which actually caused a ban on interstate transport of salamanders for a while) and you could introduce newts from a different population to the area which could alter the local population.

I would only consider introducing newts if you can find them locally (like within a few miles) and you think the environment around your backyard is hospitable for them. Eastern newts are aquatic in their adult stage, but they spend a significant period of time (a few years) as terrestrial juveniles that wander around forested areas. Is your yard in a suburb surrounded by roads on all sides or is it connected to any large tracts of woods? I wouldn't introduce them in the former case because while the adult newts will probably thrive in the pond either way any offspring they produce will be trapped in your yard of condemned to death because the environment is inappropriate.

In my experience eastern newts are very common in new hampshire and other parts of northern new england. You can often find large numbers of the orange efts on mountains, especially after it rains, and ponds and lakes near where you see the efts are typically full of adults. If you look around your local area and find a good population of them nearby and your yard has access to woods I don't think stocking a few would be all that bad. I'm not sure if the newts will actually control mosquitoes more than predatory insects that will naturally move into a permanently filled pond like dragonfly larvae and diving beetles though, especially since eastern newts have a multi-year life cycle and even if the newts find the environment very favorable you'll have to wait years for their offspring to return to the pond and increase the newt population.

 

[Wayfarin]

I definitely wouldn't order newts online and release them. Transporting and releasing native animals across long distances is a great way to spread diseases, which amphibians are particularly vulnerable to (there was something awhile back about the detection of a new Batrachochytrium chytrid fungus that kills newts and salamanders similar to how the B. dendrobatidis fungus killed off huge numbers of frogs, which actually caused a ban on interstate transport of salamanders for a while) and you could introduce newts from a different population to the area which could alter the local population.

I would only consider introducing newts if you can find them locally (like within a few miles) and you think the environment around your backyard is hospitable for them. Eastern newts are aquatic in their adult stage, but they spend a significant period of time (a few years) as terrestrial juveniles that wander around forested areas. Is your yard in a suburb surrounded by roads on all sides or is it connected to any large tracts of woods? I wouldn't introduce them in the former case because while the adult newts will probably thrive in the pond either way any offspring they produce will be trapped in your yard of condemned to death because the environment is inappropriate.

In my experience eastern newts are very common in new hampshire and other parts of northern new england. You can often find large numbers of the orange efts on mountains, especially after it rains, and ponds and lakes near where you see the efts are typically full of adults. If you look around your local area and find a good population of them nearby and your yard has access to woods I don't think stocking a few would be all that bad. I'm not sure if the newts will actually control mosquitoes more than predatory insects that will naturally move into a permanently filled pond like dragonfly larvae and diving beetles though, especially since eastern newts have a multi-year life cycle and even if the newts find the environment very favorable you'll have to wait years for their offspring to return to the pond and increase the newt population.

Yeah, the idea of ordering the newts online seems to be a recipe for disease-transmission. Besides, the eastern newts that are for sale are sometimes wild-caught anyways.
Our house is definitely not surrounded by roads on all sizes, but it is a little suburban. Our front yard is pretty small, so it's not impossible that some efts would wander onto the road during a rainstorm and get crushed. Our backyard is bigger and has a small woodlot with leaves and some fallen logs. It seems that most of our neighbors also have woodlots, so without question any efts in our yard would probably expand their range to include our neighbor's property. I just hope that our neighbors don't mind amphibians.
We obviously could also build a brush pile around the pond, or lay rocks and logs around it, so the efts have plenty of shelter and would have no need to search for ideal habitat. Our woodlot is not large enough to support bears, deer, or turkeys, but I think that it could support several newts.
I do believe that we actually have a vernal pool a very short drive from our house. The drive is so short that an eft could wander into our yard without intervention. This vernal pool would seem to be the perfect place to go hunting for newts, but unfortunately, the property seems to be private, and we have never actually been to the pool due to fears of trespassing.
If dragonflies, diving beetles, and other aquatic insects are good at controlling mosquitoes, then by all means let them get the job done. I just hope that they don't decimate the frog and newt tadpoles. I might also intentionally add a large population of backswimmers to the pond, since they hunt mosquito larvae but stay too small to hunt most tadpoles. My love for frogs and newts is not conditioned by their eating mosquitoes. Some people keep goldfish and koi ponds, but I prefer to have a frog and newt pond.
Nevertheless, I'm open to any input on controlling those flying vampires in amphibian-friendly ways.

Maybe you can find someone in state like at a reptile show that breeds the native species. I’ve met people who have permits to breed and sell native reptiles in my area. I might get one myself, I don’t believe it’s very difficult to obtain.

I don’t think 5 would damage wild populations…if it would DNR should have written a different law.

Yeah, the "five newts" thing was not my idea. Apparently, it's legal to possess five wild-caught amphibians that are not at risk in my area. I don't even think a fishing license is required to collect frogs in my state, but I'm not certain.
That's a great idea. Thanks. I also believe that we have a private vernal pool a short drive from our house. Maybe we could ask the landowner, if we can find him or her, about permission to collect 5 newts from the pond.

We don't know if the vernal pool supports newts because we are afraid of trespassing on private property.

 

[Egon]

Just build it and let them come if they will. I wouldn’t stock it with anything.

Let nature take its course and let animals find it on their own.

 

[Wayfarin]

Just build it and let them come if they will. I wouldn’t stock it with anything.

Let nature take its course and let animals find it on their own.

That was the intended goal of the wildlife pond for the most part. I would prefer that the newts colonize the pond naturally, but since the area surrounding our house is a lot of open land, I'm not sure if they would. Even the frogs might take a while to show up. There is at least a reservoir near our house, but in order to get to our yard, an eft would have to wander over 400 feet of open land, which doesn't seem likely. I could be wrong, and perhaps the newts will indeed find their way on their own. But I would really prefer that our pond not remain devoid of newts, especially since we're altering our landscape in order to make it more hospitable for them.

 

[MarkJ]

Use a CO2 mosquito trap, highly effective and doesn't use chemicals;

Propane Mosquito Trap

History (in the US at least) is full of examples where introducing 'predators' to remove a pest population falls epically and creates much worse problems than the original pest ever did. I would avoid it...

 

[Wayfarin]

Use a CO2 mosquito trap, highly effective and doesn't use chemicals;

Propane Mosquito Trap

History (in the US at least) is full of examples where introducing 'predators' to remove a pest population falls epically and creates much worse problems than the original pest ever did. I would avoid it...

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm not interested in mosquito-killers that also harm beneficial insects, like bugs and beetles, or even large numbers of non-biting midges, but this mosquito trap looks like a good idea, since it targets them by taking advantage of their parasitic lust.

As for causing harm by introducing species, I'm only introducing species to new habitats within their native ranges, not introducing completely non-native species into habitats that would otherwise never have them, like what happened in New Zealand with the rabbits and mustelids.
And I can't even imagine newts or carnivorous insects having the capacity to cause "much worse problems" than bloodthirsty, disease-spreading, invasive mosquitoes.
And the frogs and newts aren't just for mosquito control. If it was only mosquitoes that concerned me, the easiest way to stop them would be to not have a pond at all!

 

[Egon]

That was the intended goal of the wildlife pond for the most part. I would prefer that the newts colonize the pond naturally, but since the area surrounding our house is a lot of open land, I'm not sure if they would. Even the frogs might take a while to show up. There is at least a reservoir near our house, but in order to get to our yard, an eft would have to wander over 400 feet of open land, which doesn't seem likely. I could be wrong, and perhaps the newts will indeed find their way on their own. But I would really prefer that our pond not remain devoid of newts, especially since we're altering our landscape in order to make it more hospitable for them.

If they aren't finding their way naturally to your pond, it likely means the surrounding area cannot support a population of newts. Introducing newts into your pond might be disastrous for them if they don't have nearby habitat to live in. Won't the newts need to haul out of the pond to spend part of their life on land?

I keep newts as pets, but mine are fully aquatic (with logs to haul out on) and do not reproduce, so there's need for land for the terrestrial eft phase.

 

[Wayfarin]

If they aren't finding their way naturally to your pond, it likely means the surrounding area cannot support a population of newts. Introducing newts into your pond might be disastrous for them if they don't have nearby habitat to live in. Won't the newts need to haul out of the pond to spend part of their life on land?

I keep newts as pets, but mine are fully aquatic (with logs to haul out on) and do not reproduce, so there's need for land for the terrestrial eft phase.

We didn't even build the pond yet, so it's probably too early to say whether or not newts will colonize it. All we know is that we haven't found any efts in our yard. Yet, we haven't really lived here long enough to say that we don't get efts in our yard. We kind of just moved here, and we've only seen a gray treefrog in terms of amphibians. As I've already said, our woodlot not large enough to support deer and moose, but since red efts are so small, I don't think that our yard is in any way inhospitable to them. There are logs, rocks, fallen leaves, etc. And obviously we could add more logs and rocks to provide extra shelter.
We live in a town, but it's not necessarily suburban. We even saw a river otter a short drive from our house.

Has anyone had success with attracting newts to their pond naturally? And if so, how long did it take? Are they easily attracted, like green frogs and toads? I would really prefer that the newts colonize the pond naturally, but I would also prefer that the pond not remain devoid of them.

 

[Lynx1]

Hello folks!
One of the things that I had dreamed about for a while now was building a backyard wildlife pond to attract the maximum amount of wildlife to our yard. It would probably be a simple pond, made with a flexible liner, with a shallow section for frogs to come and go at will, and with only a solar-powered pump or bubbler to keep the water moving.
There's just one problem with the idea, though. Mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes and frogs are attracted to the same kind of water sources. Still, calm water sources. And apparently, BTI is not completely safe to use with tadpoles. Any other insecticides are out of the question.
I'm determined not to stock the pond with fish, including mosquito fish. Fish are too sensitive to water stagnation, and frogs, which are probably going to be the main attractions of this pond, are more attracted to fishless ponds.
Then I thought about the whole thing for a little while, and I came up with newts. Eastern newts. They eat mosquito larvae, naturally inhabit stagnant ponds, and are an indigenous species where I live.
There's just one problem, though. How does a person stock a pond with newts?
In New Hampshire, where I live, any herptiles that originated outside of the state cannot be introduced into the wild legally. So that means that even though eastern newts are completely native here, if I were to order them online, they would probably be considered illegal imports if they came from another state. And yet, goldfish and koi can be added to ponds legally. It just doesn't make sense.
At this point, I also wouldn't want to replace the newts with another mosquito-eating pond creature. I want to have newts in my backyard!
I suppose that it's possible that efts could naturally show up on their own, like the frogs, but there's no guarantee.
My only option now would be to collect wild eastern newts from the state to add to the pond. The idea of taking newts out of the wild does seem a little weird to me, but apparently it's not illegal, as long as no more than five are collected. And they aren't being kept as pets, they're just being moved to a new habitat.
So, does anyone have any suggestions on stocking a pond with newts? Is it ethical to relocate them? Are there any notable ponds in the state from which the newts could be collected? I know of a pond in Connecticut that was teeming with newts, but that was still outside of the state. Is there any way to stock a wildlife or frog pond with newts?
Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!
God bless!

I have newts and salamanders that come to my ponds and lay eggs every spring. Ten years ago, there was a roadside in my town that was being developed and a wide drainage area was about to be filled with gravel. It was spring. I took some eggs and relocated them to one of my ponds. It was only about a mile away. I have a small patch of woods adjacent to my yard where the adults could find shelter and forage.

Ethically, I believe this was a good thing. Amphibians were losing a place to reproduce and I gave some representatives from this breeding population a new option. These are native species; no harm done. They are thriving here and not competing with other amphibians in my neigjborhood other than green frogs, which lay and mature earlier.

I now have two ponds, one with goldfish. The other I leave for amphibians. The goldfish and amphibians feed on mosquito larvae. I provide water irises where the larva can feed on algae and hide.

I guess the point of my reply is to be sensitive to your local ecosystem and watch out for amphibians you can rescue (rather than depleting natural populations).