Captive Breeding of Tylototriton in the U.K

[jAfFa CaKe]

Are we restricting this to just caudates? Or amphibians in general?

 

[manderkeeper]

The first step would be making a commitment. I am sure once the system is in place it would be easy to expand beyond caudates or even amphibians, but I think step one would just be getting a few people to agree to start because without that it may never get off the ground. I do tech work for a living, as I think several others here do, so I don't think we will face a technical challenge we cannot overcome, but the biggest challenge is probably finding someone to take the reins in a leadership position and get people to commit?

 

[DartFrog180]

I agree with the bigger message here, which is how it is rather amazing that collective interests in some species wax and wane so quickly. However, this is not unique to caudata (there are plenty of examples in the turtle breeding community, and in the non-dart frog anuran community (a good example is waxy monkey frogs, a species commonly offered CB ten years ago, but now rarely offered).

I am still new to caudata.org, but kept a few Tylototriton shanjing in the 1990's. Despite best intentions to breed them, other priorities got in the way. Back then it was not necessarily easy to find this species right away in the US (compared at least to the 1980's when they were common in the US pet trade), but nor was it difficult if one had some patience.

I regret that I never tried breeding my T. shanjing. Even more, I regret passing on two opportunities since 2008 to acquire numbers of nice CB ones. In the past few months it has surprised me to see just how infrequently this species has been offered (at least based on archived ads) in recent years (seems that even T. kwaichowensis that were common in the US five years ago are also becoming rare).

The Bsal fungus is looming, as are possible regulation of imports. Also, as many on this site note, we need to embrace the ethical need to get away from reliance on imports (and pressuring wild populations) to keep the hobby going. Now would be a excellent time for those established folks in the hobby to try to organize/coordinate efforts to ensure that Tylototriton and some of the other iconic species are maintained through breeding for years to come.

 

[manderkeeper]

I agree we need to secure species in our hobby, but not because collecting damages wild populations. There's pretty much no evidence of that and even where someone has stated such a thing it's always based on gut instinct rather than on any actual proof. Collecting for food is a bit of a problem because they don't need to store for any length of time or keep anything in good health. I believe the Asian turtle crisis will soon prove to be a problem for all countries as the demand will make it tough to stop such collecting. I've read enormous quantities are leaving the states at this time, but the pet trade for the most part doesn't really collect enough to make any difference. Most of the hoopla about that comes from animal rights groups and well meaning nature center types. Every now and then something like this slips past peer review and makes it into a paper, but it's always rubbish and baseless and should be pointed out to any journals where we see it.

 

[mr cyclone]

This morning the 1.3 Yangi were all in the water dancing and laying sperm packets and circling the video is on Facebook as I sometimes have difficulty posting on here , I will try though.
So back to the original point of this thread, If the animals lay eggs now in the next few days there will hopefully be some captive bred offspring for sale , I will endeavour to raise some healthy offspring and offer some small groups .
I won't count my chickens before they hatch so to speak , I will update as soon as I can and post a load of information and pictures on here if I am successful , I really hope there are more people having a go at Captive breeding of other Tylos
Best of luck

 

[velasco13000]

How did you induce breeding ?

 

[mr cyclone]

Eggs have arrived I dug around 120-130 out of the moss on land , several look like dudds I have been away all weekend and had certain parameters on timers , I'm not sure which female laid them yet , but this is very exciting , If I manage to raise these I will be passing juveniles to experienced tylototriton keepers for free and will sell any surplus, ( will pay for livefood costs)
I believe My Mrs is going to do her nut , as the newt room is already tub city with larvae.
I need to eliminate my hydra problem too
Wish me luck with these eggs , will post a few pics and some info of them breeding when I'm not so busy.
Great news for UK I hope

 

[jamessamlev]

Good luck mate I would be interested in these I will let you know when I have completed my weeks of research on these as I haven't seen any of these anywhere! I will happily pay if it means I can get ahold of 1 or 2 as I'm not as experienced with this species! (I have kept aquatics and other amphibians and reptiles before)

 

[Chinadog]

Congrats mate, good things come to those who wait.
Btw, are those the feeding tweezers, mummy tylo looks kind of expectant?

 

[manderkeeper]

Very cool, I read some Tylos take 3-5 years for maturity though, not sure which species exactly, be sure to hold some back!

 

[mr cyclone]

Yes Chinadog I discovered a great way of feeding her. I come home too my tub of worms being all mushy so I fed her a tweezer full of whiteworms I twisted the tweezers round in my hand and she bit them allowing me to drop a load of whiteworms in her mouth. I am under the impression she is the mother of the batch as she is the most active in the water although she is slender almost like the male.
I have had some excellent advice from a friend in Russia and a friend in France about feeding and breeding, I was recommended large lobs for feeding but only one of my females would take them the others were too scared, all of them however take small dendrobena from tweezers ,they are very,very shy.
I've also been feeding them slugs from my garden and very rarely a waxworm,Also any tiny snails and woodlice I've found but I don't know if any of them have been eaten.The male newt is a very picky eater and takes around 20-30 minutes to accept a worm
The females especially the bigger two are greedy pigs.

 

[mr cyclone]

Larvae in the picture ,
Also I am expecting 27C heat outside tomorrow and rain to follow so hopefully a nice pressure drop hopefully more eggs ,

 

[dutch guy]

Hi you all,
My wife is breeding since 2010 Tylotoyriton shanjing, this is the fifth year in a row.
Its not in the UK.
But she is likr Niels said a Ambassador, its the onely newt, at the moment there are
33 juveniled and aprox 22 larvae

 

[mr cyclone]

As usual one large monster separated from the rest , they are being raised at high temperature of 26C and currently eating me out of house and home, I'm also keeping the water deep and trying to morph them as late as possible for extra size , if they morph bigger they will be harder and easier to raise.
On another note I am raising verrucosus which are 6-8C colder than the Yangi and are also eating half as much yet are growing at twice the speed .

 

[Chinadog]

I was amazed at how rapidly my T. verrucosus larvae grew, especially the first few weeks, they were seemingly doubling in size overnight! I've been keeping them around the 20-22c mark and hammering the daphnia and diced earthworms in, but they're always hungry. Sometimes I wonder if they can actually digest all they eat, or just pass some of it through their system as waste after a certain point. I suppose the higher temps these kinds of newts seem to like helps them get the most from their massive appetites.

 

[mr cyclone]

Here we go UK first
Seems they morph the same size as shanjing grow twice as slow as verrucosus even at 6C warmer and they are twice as aggressive as larvae . Hopeing for 15 morphs now instead of 40 I run out of food last week

 

[dutch guy]

Here we go UK first
Seems they morph the same size as shanjing grow twice as slow as verrucosus even at 6C warmer and they are twice as aggressive as larvae . Hopeing for 15 morphs now instead of 40 I run out of food last week

Congrat's mate great job

Verstuurd vanaf mijn OZZY met Tapatalk

 

[mr cyclone]

And more

 

[mr cyclone]

I ended up with 28 morphs , 6 I raised at 18-20C these morphed really small. I have given animals to 5 people who should do ok with these and have kept 8 for myself .I have been feeding these live bloodworm from kitchen roll , I've also dusted the bloodworms with calcium.Also after a month on land They get gut loaded crickets and white worms .
Breeding was induced at 26C with increased humidity. I had installed a rain chamber which was on a timer , one weekend there was a thunderstorm which helped with drops in pressure and the rain chamber provided perfect conditions for them . I have my adults being fed up ready to cool before spring.

 

[chaimdov]

I am willing to be an ambassador for Danube Crested Newts. I have about twenty breeders. Most come from descendants of those raised by Mike Shrom. I would be happy to work with and trade eggs with someone who has a different bloodline.