C.pyrrhogaster season has commenced!

[Azhael]

I witnessed succesfull courtship last night in my group of C.pyrrhogaster, and today i found the first egg, so it´s offially pyrrhogaster season for me, hehe.
The males have been courting like mad for ages, but the females had been rejecting them. These guys really amaze me in just how incredibly persistent they are...they will court for hours on end, they persue the females every time one shows up her face.
Anyway, i was lucky anough to witness a succesfull mating, which actually consisted of three spermatophore depositions, one missed, one attached to the tail and one succesfull pick up. I also got to see male competition and interference, which was neat.

Here is a picture of the female with a barely visible spermatophore in the cloaca, and one attached to her tail.
Interestingly enough, i think two different males might have been trying to "smell" the one attched to the female´s tail, but since she was trying to flee all the time, i´m not quite sure if that´s what it was.

 

[Yahilles]

Cool news, congrats! I'm also pretty sure that my Cynops (ensicauda and orientalis) breeding season will start soon. One of the males is starting to develop the tail sheen for the first time, and i started to load the females with earthworms. Do you do any special preparations for your newts to breed, or just the temps go down?

 

[Tudor]

Hi Azhael!
My breeding group of Cynops oreientalis are in the breeding mood to
Second time this year. Actualy, the ovipozition start dwo days ago.
I try to put some pictures.
The temperature in the water is 19 degrees Celsius, and in the room is 18.
Best regards

 

[Joost]

Temperature drop

My sasayamae's are laying eggs also, although I'm not sure if they are fertile cause my animals are from 2008.
Cynops e. popei are also laying again, I have already around 50-6- larvae. C.e. ensicauda males are very busy with their courtship, so I expect to collect the eggs soon.

 

[Azhael]

Janusz, i really don´t do much. I find that my C.pyrrhogaster and my H.orientalis will breed just for the sake of it xD I don´t give them any special cooling, just room temperature year-round (although admitedly i like it cold...). They don´t seem to require any cooling, though, since they start breeding in late summer or autumn for me. The only thing i do is to feed them a bit more often when i start to see the males display in advance of the females being ready (the males are a good indicator because they always start first xD).
Best of lucks with your Cynops, i´m sure there will be eggs on the way!

Marian, those H.orientalis look great! My trio started breeding a while back, as they always do. They breed for a long time, too, so be prepared for loads of eggs xD

That´s brilliant, Joost, Cynops breeding all around!!

My computer sits between the pyrrhogaster tank and the orientalis tank, so right now i´m kind of surrounded by horny newts.

 

[evut]

Having spent the last couple of months raising tiny pyrrhos, the word that springs to mind when I see their parents courting again is RABBITS! Yes, the season has begun... :-D

 

[Molch]

well, send some pheromones over to Alaska. My pyrrhs are going to be hibernating starting after Xmas for about 2 months, and then I hope they'll be in da mood after that. They won't do it if I just lower temps for them...

 

[froggy]

Nice to see so many fire-bellies in breeding mode! One of my male orientalis has been fanning occasionally (although his cloaca has shrunk a bit recently) and by the size of the cloaca, I suspect the other one has been doing the same. I only have one female in with them at the moment, but she is huge, both length and girth! I hope to re-introduce at least one female soon, so hopefully she will breed, too.

C

 

[eljorgo]

Congrats Rodrigo. Its incredible as newts are busting *** so soon this year... Cynops, Lissos, Triturus... Amazing... What is usally done in January gets to be done this soon!!
Good luck raising the fellas. I got a pair of these in January and put them to breed in following months. Always cool to breed one more specie

 

[Azhael]

I just found twins! xD
At first i thought they were two eggs laid side by side because the females are laying like crazy and they are running out of ideal places to use, but i just realized the two eggs share one external membrane. I´m just excited because i had never seen it happen with my animals, it´s a nice curiosity.

 

[Joost]

I just found twins! xD
At first i thought they were two eggs laid side by side because the females are laying like crazy and they are running out of ideal places to use, but i just realized the two eggs share one external membrane. I´m just excited because i had never seen it happen with my animals, it´s a nice curiosity.

Are you planning to raise them from the others? Sounds interesting.

The eggs of my sasayamae's are fertile. The parents are just 2,5 years old!

 

[Tudor]

Hi,
Yesterday I receive a group of 3 prrhogaster sasayama females from Joost. They are very healthy and looks great (thank you Joost).
Because of the bad weather, I postpone my field work and today I was in my lab and I just realized that the females have swollen cloaca (yesterday was not like this). I presume my females are from the same group with the young females that already lay eggs. At least, Joost told me that I may have a little surprise with those females laying eggs.
So, I presume, if the cloaca became more swollen, the eggs are coming

 

[Azhael]

Nah, i don´t think i´ll raise them separately, Joost, twins are apparently not that uncommon and there´s nothing special about them except for the curious novelty. It´s made me smile despite having a fever and feeling like ****, though xD

My group produced fertile eggs in the spring of last year, which made them barely 1,5 years old. However, this time the females are clearly producing more eggs and lay more continuously...which i take as a sign of being more mature. I´m looking forward to see if this year´s offspring will be stronger and morph at a larger size (last year´s morphed tiny).
Tudor, in the pictures the cloacae seem normal. However, cloacal morphology can change very fast, so maybe they are ready. Also, were they kept with males until recently? Otherwise, you might get eggs but they will be duds. Anyway, they look fantastic (not surprisingly, having been bred by Joost ) so sooner or later you are going to have eggs, that´s for sure xD

 

[Joost]

The 3 females came out of my large breeding group, so there's a change they lay fertiled eggs. At least that's wahat I hope for you Tudor.

 

[Azhael]

Ah, in that case it is completely possible! They can store sperm, si hopefully there will be fertile eggs on the way

 

[Tudor]

Hi Rodrigo, hi Joost,
Thanks for the comments. I will keep an eye on those females :happy: just in case.
Best regards

 

[Yahilles]

Looks like i'm late with my Cynops, compared to you guys. This is all i see so far:

 

[Joost]

Looks like i'm late with my Cynops, compared to you guys. This is all i see so far:

Your newts aren't late at all. My C. e. ensicauda's are just as far as these.

 

[Azhael]

Janusz, i wouldn´t worry, if they are courting, breeding is just a matter of time! Best of lucks.

I just witnessed something quite curious xD A female in her egg-laying craze has grabbed a male by mistake. She grabbed him by the abdomen then moved towards his tail (he didn´t seem to mind at all) and tried to bend it to lay an egg for a couple of seconds only to realize it was not suitable and transfer her attentions to a nearby leaf. The male just stood there, resigned, it was quite funnyxD

 

[evut]

That's the funniest thing I've read in a long time! What we need is newt-cams to record moments like these