Can Pacific Chorus Frogs and Rough skin newts be housed together?

[AbranV]

I have two baby PCF's both are fresh "out of the water" froglets and I was curious to see if a rough skinned newt could be safely housed with them.

My concerns are

1. Could the newt's toxicity be harmful to the frogs?

2. If they can live together, what would be an ideal size tank?

3. Any general RS newt advice?

Thank you for your time

-a

[Strider18]

Hello! I can answer a few of your questions. First of I wouldn't house different species together, but a frog and a newt may work but you would have to ask the other members about that. I use a 15 gallon tank for my pacific chorus frog as for the newt they need 15 gallons... I would use a 30 gallon semi-aquatic setup for those two animals if you did house them together. As for the 3rd question I am not sure as I do not keep rough skin newts. I hope this helps!

[Dimmer Jester]

Rough skinned newts have one of the strongest toxins in the newt world. I wouldn't risk it. A rough skinned newt can even take down a bullfrog. I think it's best to keep them separate.

[tgampper]

You can learn more about newt toxins from the Caudata Culture web site at: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/toxin2.shtml. Most species of newts have various levels of toxin. Tarichatoxin or Tetrodotoxin can be fatal to humans.

[sde]

They cannot be mixed. Taricha granulosa is the most toxic newt on earth, and is among the most toxic animals. Even though they live together in the wild doesn't mean they can be successfully housed in a standard enclosure. The newt could do harm to the frog without even touching it, via toxin contamination.