Breeding Notophthalamus v. viridescens

[Sean Brady]

I have kept many Red Spotted Newts throughout my life, but I have never bred them. How would I set up the tank to plan for this? What else should I do? I currently have four aquatic adults (the ones to breed) and three red efts in, I would say, a 30 gallon aquarium. I have on of those large aquarium structures with a few tunnels and holes that they crawl through. It is large enough for the red efts to stay out of the water and still have lots of space to move around on (The efts seem to follow each other all over). I have about 5 inches of water in it.
Thanks

 

[Greatwtehunter]

You'll want to set up a tank with lots of plants like Elodea, they use plants like these to lay their eggs in. The biggest thing to trigger breeding is temperature. If you can get it down to about 55F for a month or so and then warm it back up to about 60ish then you should start seeing some breeding behaviour. After that it's just up to the newts to decide on whether or not they want to co-operate.

 

[swede]

You said temperature is key to triggering breeding...... is there a good way to do this consistently without spending a ton of money on it? Sorry if I am stepping on the original poster's question. just trying to further understand this process:wacko:

 

[Greatwtehunter]

Other than running the heck out of the air condtioner the only other option would be to open the windows during the winter and let mother nature dictate the temperature. Maybe someone else has a better option.