Green Bombina maxima

I've raised B. maxima for quite a while now. Metamorphs usually have four green spots on their back (that disappear as they get older). A few of this year's young have bright green over most of their back, as in the attached picture- I've never seen anything like this before.

I had noticed that maxima seem to do much better when they're given plenty of sunlight (artificial light is just not enough), so I went all out this year and raised them outside, against a south-facing wall, in an uncovered tank.

One breeder has told me he had similarly greenish B. variegata kolombatovici metamorphs when raised in a shallow algae-filled pond. Has anyone here had similar results in Bombina (apart from Korean orientalis, obviously)?

caleb said:

I've raised B. maxima for quite a while now. Metamorphs usually have four green spots on their back (that disappear as they get older). A few of this year's young have bright green over most of their back, as in the attached picture- I've never seen anything like this before.

I had noticed that maxima seem to do much better when they're given plenty of sunlight (artificial light is just not enough), so I went all out this year and raised them outside, against a south-facing wall, in an uncovered tank.

One breeder has told me he had similarly greenish B. variegata kolombatovici metamorphs when raised in a shallow algae-filled pond. Has anyone here had similar results in Bombina (apart from Korean orientalis, obviously)?

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This happens sometimes in B. maxima, as well in other Bombina species. But as far as I know it's only seen in juveniles.

Hi Caleb,
Such Bombina I've seen many times in the wild. Most of them are Bombina variegata, but also Bombina bombina.
Joost, the green color persist even in the adult stage, but I repeat, I saw only wild animals, not captive breed. Since now I don't know the reason for such a color, but I also know about specimens with big yellow spot (or spots) on the dorsum (in a Bombina variegata population from Trantoru, in Jiului Gorge National Park, Gorj County, Romania).

Hi Caleb

Raised quite a few Bombina maxima over the years myself, but apart from the
occasional 2 or 4 green dorsal spots i never came across green blotches that large.
Amazing!
You're definitely right about young Bombina maxima flourishing when they're exposed to direct sun-light, but i experienced (artificial) UV- light to be a good substitute, it
stimulates physical development and overall colouration.
The green spots usually disappear within the first year so i'm very curious about
the development of the green in your toadlets.
It would be nice to see a pic every now and then.

regards, Han

Thanks for the replies.

I will try to keep an eye on them, to see how the colour develops. I'll be surprised if there's any green left at all by the end of next summer...

Ha the joys of bombinas, Last year I had a colony of very green variegata, however this year I kept them differently using a large piece of foam as a land area and killed then all with the stuff in the foam , however they were very green even as adults, but all is not lost as I give a lot of my stuff away to friends , so as if I MAKE A COMPLETE HASH of it they send me some back, to start again. I have 6 already from one friend doing well. Plus 5 maxima doing well they are very green in spots and are coming along nicely. There is a lot of stuff about keeping maxima from tadpole to toadlet but I find treat them as you would bufo bufo and you raise them ok .:happy: Try to breed using the greenest ones and see if you can fix the green like they do with the snakes and lizards, at present I have a blue h arborea tree frog but it may change as it gets older. Hope you have luck with them.

Dear Caleb,

in the last (as far as I know) import from wild Bombina maxima in 1999 there were many green backed adults. I still have pictures (slides) of some of them that I saw at an english man his collection.

It is very normal in the eastern maxima species to have green backs (also in microdeladigitoria and fortinuptionalis). However, it is indeed not often seen in CB's. I think you have an interesting finding that could be checked next year breeding. Devide the group of larvae in four. Raise 50 % inside and 50 % outside and after metamorphosis split both groups and keep half of them inside and the others outside. I think that besides sunshine, changes in day- night temperature and also food could be part of the solution.

Cheers, Sergé

Sergé- thanks for that. My stock is from the 1999 import, but the adults I saw were all brown. I'd love to see photos of the green-backed WC individuals if you are able to digitise them. The 4-way split rearing is an excellent idea (though I think survival in the inside/inside group would be poor). I had wondered whether feeding was an issue as well, but it's difficult to separate food and sunlight, as there will always be lots of algae in sunlit tanks.

Vincent- I have heard about rearing maxima like Bufo, but I keep mine in the traditional Bombina way (half land, half water) and have had few problems with this as long as the tadpoles have been raised well. Do you keep the adults dry as well?

As I understand it, blue in tree frogs is caused by missing yellow pigments (blue+yellow=green), and this should persist into adulthood. One study on H. japonica found that it wasn't inherited- not sure if it's been studied in H. arborea.

Sorry for the length of time to reply to this. I kept my adults dry and only put them in water when I wanted them to breed, I got mine in1999 but like everyone else of that period loads of taddies no toadlets all died, so I gave them away to my mate in London who keeps his in a green-house.Thats when he noticed the babies moved well away from the water. He has raised loads and this year sent me 6 babies back up I keep them in a hatchling box on damp moss and feed on the usual stuff My mates adults keep well away from the water until they breed and hibernate in his greenhouse from October through to April .Hope this helps :happy:

Thanks for the details. I might try this with the toadlets at some point, though I think I'll stick with keeping the adults mostly aquatic.

Does your friend rear the tadpoles in the greenhouse as well? October to April seems a long hibernation- mine stay fairly active through the winter (down to about 5C), and they'll spawn till the end of September.

caleb said:

Thanks for the details. I might try this with the toadlets at some point, though I think I'll stick with keeping the adults mostly aquatic.

Does your friend rear the tadpoles in the greenhouse as well? October to April seems a long hibernation- mine stay fairly active through the winter (down to about 5C), and they'll spawn till the end of September.

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My mates spawn through the summer but not past August he fishes tads out to rear up and leaves the others to their own devices. He says the adults have disappeared in the green house now, I tried keeping my small ones aquatic but they died off. I raised 6 to a good size last year but went into hospital and the tank was missed unfortunately ,and I had a dried out tank,when I came out, but I had over 40 tanks of different things on the go and it just looked like a tank of moss , just one of those things. When you can't be there yourself. My new ones are doing okay on damp moss.:happy: