Alpine Newt breeding and juvenile care?

[NKmememachine]

Hey everyone, I have a couple of pairs of alpine newts that I've been keeping together (in an indoor tank) for a few months. I had wanted to breed them eventually but wasn't planning on hibernating them yet as most of the care sheets recommend doing. Their temperature has been pretty consistent (~67°F/20°C). Nevertheless, I noticed that they've started up the mating behaviors and the females started getting big. Now, I'm starting to see eggs pop up! I was wondering if any of you more experienced keepers know if they tend to breed and lay eggs frequently without drastic temperature changes. Or could it just be that putting them together was enough after they had been separated from the opposite sex for too long?
I was also wondering what tips and recommendations you all have for caring for the larvae in the event that some of the eggs I've gathered hatch.
One last question I have regards the eft stage of this newt. Do they need to be kept terrestrial or can they go quickly back to the water after they've finished metamorphosis?

I should mention that these are the Italian (Apuana) subspecies.

 

[frank beard]

I have bred Italian alpine newts (just a couple of juveniles left if someone is interested! -see my ad here) but I don't have any "experimental" data to provide anything about whether that is cold enough to trigger successful breeding. Over the last few days, I already have hatched crested newts but the alpines have not started laying eggs yet and I have only seen a little courtship behavior.

I do have more experience with the raising of the larvae and the eft stage. I started my larvae with live tubifex which I had an almost unlimited supply of last breeding season (will miss that this year!). I also fed them whiteworms and small pellets and chopped small earthworms when they were larger. I never provide an opportunity for them to leave the water and they just remain aquatic. All of my tanks have lots of live plants and I usually have one plastic plant that I don't bury in the substrate and instead just let float at the top (it blends right in with the live plants). So there are plenty of places for the little newts to rest near the surface of the water without actually being able to come out.

 

[minorhero]

Hey everyone, I have a couple of pairs of alpine newts that I've been keeping together (in an indoor tank) for a few months. I had wanted to breed them eventually but wasn't planning on hibernating them yet as most of the care sheets recommend doing. Their temperature has been pretty consistent (~67°F/20°C). Nevertheless, I noticed that they've started up the mating behaviors and the females started getting big. Now, I'm starting to see eggs pop up! I was wondering if any of you more experienced keepers know if they tend to breed and lay eggs frequently without drastic temperature changes. Or could it just be that putting them together was enough after they had been separated from the opposite sex for too long?
I was also wondering what tips and recommendations you all have for caring for the larvae in the event that some of the eggs I've gathered hatch.
One last question I have regards the eft stage of this newt. Do they need to be kept terrestrial or can they go quickly back to the water after they've finished metamorphosis?

I should mention that these are the Italian (Apuana) subspecies.

I don't follow the care sheets that call for extreme low temperature drops. The truth is that this newt does very well being kept in the 60s year round. It's true of course that in the wild they get colder temperatures and that's when they go terrestrial and hibernate. So long as you don't reduce temperatures to those levels they will happily live and breed in an aquatic tank.

As far as breeding, I was very surprised when my newts started breeding at less then a year old. What I've found is that keeping good water quality (weekly water changes) and feed them well (earth worms worked very well for me) they will breed for you.

As far as raising the larva and efts. The parents will not purposely eat the babies so you 'can' raise them in the same tank. BUT, by now you will have noticed that these guys are terrible hunters. If in the same tanks, the parents will sometimes injure or even kill the babies while trying to eat. So if you want maximum production, you pull the eggs and put them in a separate grow out tank. The juveniles can (and probably should) be raised entirely aquatic. I certainly keep mine entirely aquatic. They do fine and it's easier to keep them cool, feed them, and ultimately sell them.

 

[NKmememachine]

Thanks for the replies! I appreciate the info. I've been feeding them frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp but I'm also working on culturing blackworms and Gammarus to give them some live food (if I can grow enough of them to dump in there anyway). I'd have to agree they won't be winning any awards when it comes to their hunting! I'm happy to know that the larvae will eat tubifex then since I'm already working on growing them. Thanks again for the help!

 

[Herpin Man]

I keep my newts in the basement, and the alpines typically start breeding during the coldes pert of the winter, when the water temps get down to the low 50’s. I also reduce the photoperiod.
When the larva hatch, I remove them from the adult tank, and place them into separate aquariums. As the season progresses and more larva hatch, I separate them by size. Smallest larva are fed daphnia, and are transitioned to blackworms as they grow.
I keep them aquatic after they morph, although I add some cork bark for them to sit on if needed. New morphs like to climb, so a tight fitting lid is necessary.

 

[MidMichiganNewts]

I have bred Italian alpine newts (just a couple of juveniles left if someone is interested! -see my ad here) but I don't have any "experimental" data to provide anything about whether that is cold enough to trigger successful breeding. Over the last few days, I already have hatched crested newts but the alpines have not started laying eggs yet and I have only seen a little courtship behavior.

I do have more experience with the raising of the larvae and the eft stage. I started my larvae with live tubifex which I had an almost unlimited supply of last breeding season (will miss that this year!). I also fed them whiteworms and small pellets and chopped small earthworms when they were larger. I never provide an opportunity for them to leave the water and they just remain aquatic. All of my tanks have lots of live plants and I usually have one plastic plant that I don't bury in the substrate and instead just let float at the top (it blends right in with the live plants). So there are plenty of places for the little newts to rest near the surface of the water without actually being able to come out.

Well said Dave ,I will be contacting you in the future for some availability,the p.waltl I got back in October have produced for me and are thriving