Breeding slimy salamanders

[c_gingles]

i would like all the info for me to breed slimy salamanders.
thank you
Colby Gingles

 

[jennifer]

I wonder if anyone has tried? Ed K. wrote the caresheet at Caudate Central, but it doesn't say whether they have been bred in captivity, or what conditions would work. Your best bet would be to mimic their natural temperature and environment as closely as possible. Let us know if you succeed!

 

[edward]

Hi Jen,
When I wrote the caresheet there were no records that I could find of captive breedings. In general there were very few cases recorded of egg deposition from gravid females (one of the better studies that had this happen was by putting the females into jars and then burying the jar most of the way in a suitable location and monitoring the females periodically for egg deposition.) In many terrestrial plethodontids (and many semi-aquatic ones); the females seem to be pretty fussy about location of egg deposition.
Some researchers will not even wait beyond a couple of weeks for egg deposition before resorting to hormonal stimulation as the females are more likly to lay during the normal oviposition season than at other times of the year.
Some frustrating examples in my experiences are as follows: I had D. quadromaculatus lay an egg cluster once (and the female abandoned it after another Keeper pulled all the animals from the cage and rearranged the the cover objects) in an almost totally terrestrial set-up. I have yet to get another clutch despite setting them up in a flowing stream tank with multiple cover objects like thier native streams (they have even set up territories and poke thier heads out of the water from under the rocks).
I had P. jordani lay an egg clutch (infertile) one time also but have not been able to figure out the key since.
There hasn't been too much success with many of these guys as of yet.
Ed

 

[erik]

Glutinosus have been bred before in Germany at least. I don't know all the details, but he got fertile clutches 2 years in a row if I remember correct. As far as husbandry-he had tanks set up in an unheated greenhouse. Don't know of any success in the US depsite how common the species is in the wild here.

 

[edward]

Hi Erik,
Thanks that is at least encouraging to know. I was going to try and breed cylindraeus but we lost the females before I got to try it. I do know that the males are very easy to cycle (as shown by thier mental gland developement) but this was before the females were sexually mature (and subsequently lost). A shortening of the photoperiod to ten hours a day and a drop into the low fifties (F) usually did it every year. (If I can get known locality juvies again I might try it). If I can figure out in which box my pictures are located I can try and upload a picture of the mental glands and a head shot.
Ed

 

[colby]

thank you for all your posts. right know i have them (3, dont know if they are male or female but think there is 1 male and three females since i found them all together)in a 3'by1.5'by1.5' screen cage in my room. it is unheated and rarely reaches above 70 or below 60. there is a water dish with about a half an inch of water and a moss ramp. it is prob 7"by4"by1". there substrate is a mixture of bed-a-beast and jugle mix. it is about 2-3 inches deep and there is an inch of green moss. i do have a couple of questions. when you talk about cycling them what do you mean. and how do you tell the sex.also do they need alot of foliage.
Thank You
Colby Gingles

 

[edward]

Hi Colby,
You can look up how to sex slimy salamanders at the link below. There is also information on how to cycle them in the article.

http://www.caudata.org/caudatecentral/caresheets/P_glutinosus.html

I would move them from a screened in cage and set them up in either an aquarium with a screen lid which is covered most of the way with a piece of glass or plastic or into a sweater box with a couple of holes drilled into the corners for air. They will need more humidity and moisture than you can provide in a screen cage. Wnen you move them into better cages get rid of the water bowl unless the cage is drying out too quickly and thenjust use it to increase the humidity.
The fact that they were all under the same piece of cover does not mean that you have one male and several females. If the area has been dry or the animals are moving from one area to another, oe are not sexually mature are all possible reasons for more than one under the cover object.
Ed