C.pyrrhogaster courtship..YES!!!

[Azhael]

One day of colder temps is all these newts need apparently xDD
I´ve had my group of 6 C.pyrrhogaster for about 9 months. I received them as small juveniles, but 5 of them have since grown A LOT. The two biggest are male and female, and around 9-10cm long.
The key of the question is that cold weather has finally arrived here (i say finally because i hate heat..)...more exactly, it arrived two days ago. The tank sits just in front of a window which i´ve kept open since yesterday afternoon. The tank temperature has dropped from 24ºC to 18ºC and it seems it´s all that was necessary for the male to enter breeding condition. It´s tail sheen is obviously non-existent yet, but the characteristic spots are starting to show. His cloaca has doubled in size and the cloacal papillae are very visible. I just arrived home from class and found the male courting the female like crazy! And i do mean like crazy
However i doubt they´ll reproduce this year as i suspect the female is not ready. Perhaps in spring...i don´t know. My C.orientalis are breeding again, as expected, so who knows, maybe the pyrrhogaster female will behave like my orientalis female and breed regardless of conditioning...

Anyway i´m chuffed to see the male chasing the female around, and i can´t wait for him to develop his breeding dress fully. I love this species!!!

 

[eljorgo]

Do you think that they will breed? I am terrified if my C. e. popei couple do the same ..
they breed in january so if i do a water change with cool water right now they might enter in breeding mode and then dont breed correctly. If i wait for january i will have more sucessful options, i think.. Induce breeding in other time, that not the correct one may cause a first act of mating but no eggs... Hope yours dont do that and lay many eggs:happy:
cheers,

 

[Azhael]

As i said i doubt they´ll breed since the female is young and unconditioned (i doubt they need any conditioning though), but i sure wouldn´t mind being surprised with eggs
The male is young and unconditioned too...but it´s a male...we are much easier xD

In my experience with C.orientalis, they´ll breed whenever they feel like to. I´m purely extrapolating here, but if C.ensicauda are anything like orientalis, they don´t depend on you lowering the temps or doing anyting special....so there´s little you can do to prevent them from breeding at an "unnatural" time. Mind you, i don´t think you should even try...there´s no problem with breeding in autumn...many species do.

 

[eljorgo]

I see... Well I talked to some people that said me a simple cold water change was enough... So I am afraid when I do this... Thanks on that tip.. anyway I will wait till January because if I do this now the water temp will raise again and in January the water is colder for much more time..
cheers,

 

[Jennewt]

Nice to hear it, Rodrigo. It's always exciting when you see an animal come into breeding condition for the first time, especially when it's one you've raised from juvenile.

To Jorge... ensicauda are capable of breeding for as much as 9 months of the year, so I wouldn't worry that breeding in autumn will mess up breeding in winter/spring. However, if you are hoping to encourage breeding by dropping the temperature intentionally, I would wait a bit longer. What you can do right now to encourage breeding is to feed them like crazy, as much as they'll eat every day or two, especially with worms.

 

[eljorgo]

Yes jennifer,I will wait.
But look, I have feed a lot with Bloodworms these 2 weeks. Before of that i have just feeded with earthworms. A break with bloodworms maybe is positive...
thanks.

Oh. these were raised form juvies has well and actually have 8 to 10cm will they breed with this in January?
thanks.

 

[End]

i have pretty much the same condition with my C.Orientalis group , temperature has dropped finally , males are quite excited now and is so fun watching them during the courtship, i hope to see eggs in my cynops tank soon.
Anyway i hope you got many eggs from your C.pyrrhogaster
congrats

 

[Mark]

I love watching C.pyrrhogaster courtship. The males zip around like crazy, pouncing on females. You've got to feel sorry for the ladies though. Imagine being stuck with someone who wants to put their foot on your head and slap you in the face constantly.

If I remember rightly the different races have different courtship. Can anyone confirm what the differences are?