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signal crayfish and newts: |
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mynewt Member Joined: 18 Jul 2006 No. of posts: 12  View other posts by mynewt |
Posted: 20 Sep 2006 Hi there I've just found signal (American) crayfish in a nice GCN pond - does anyone know whether they impact on our native newts - either by attacking adults or feeding on eggs in water plants ? Is it too early to say - and is anyone studying this ? In the Seychelles the biggest problem for hatching Aldabra tortoises is having their legs bitten off by land crabs, apparently - and crayfish have pretty big pincers too ! |
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-LAF Senior Member Joined: 03 Apr 2003 No. of posts: 317 View other posts by -LAF |
Posted: 20 Sep 2006 I'm not sure if the GCNs toxic skin secretions would deter signals or not, but I would have to assume that they would certainly eat our other newt species. They are known to feed happily on amphibians and apparently are very fond of amphibian eggs. The good news is that they taste delicious, boiled with a bit off dill then cooled and shelled like langustines. Makes manual removal more appealing. Lee. Lee Fairclough |
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AndyS Senior Member Joined: 26 Aug 2007 No. of posts: 95  View other posts by AndyS |
Posted: 17 Oct 2007
but it might still be relevant to others, if you're sure they are American signal crayfish and not our native crayfish, then where possible should be removed and disposed of e.g a number nine boot or as Lee suggested, cooked They breed prolifically and eat almost anything they can lay their claws on and also carry a virus which also infects and kills our native crayfish over the past couple of years along the Basingstoke Canal they have trapped well over a 1000Kg of them with traps. and of course not being a native species if caught can't be put back.OK |
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Matt Member Joined: 09 Feb 2006 No. of posts: 23 View other posts by Matt |
Posted: 21 Oct 2007 [QUOTE=mynewt] I've just found signal (American) crayfish in a nice GCN pond - does anyone know whether they impact on our native newts - either by attacking adults or feeding on eggs in water plants ? Is it too early to say - and is anyone studying this ?[/QUOTE] Hi there I had a similar problem earleir this year when I found a few Signals in a new GCN breeding pond on the edge of a development site. I'm pretty sure the ones I found had been put in there by some of the local kids - apparently the signals can be found locally in nearby streams. I think they would certainly predate newt eggs on vegetation if they could find them. I netted them out and stamped on them. Matt BRAG - Berkshire Reptile & Amphibian Group |
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Suzi Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 No. of posts: 860 View other posts by Suzi |
Posted: 21 Oct 2007 Suz |
- signal crayfish and newts |
well a bit late!! ( hey I'm new and still looking through the forums)
washed in fresh water for a couple of days before eating is best just to flush them out 
