Gotta love tarichas

[mark]

I haven't posted in forever; I thought I would share some pictures of my tarichas that I have.
I have 4 adults, one of which is an obvious male (as you will see in some of the pictures). I assume they are all t. granulosa.

This male has 2 large bumps under his chin (you can clearly see the larger of the 2 in the picture). He has had this for months...I was concerned at first but I believe it has something to do with his mating behavior, since he always seems to rub his chin over the face of the newt he is "amplexing". I am not an expert on taricha breeding, so I am not sure. As of yet none of the other newts have accepted his advances, which is fine for me, since I do not quite have the capacity to raise taricha young right now.

 

[pin-pin]

Nice photos. =)

Chin rubbing by the male is a part of the courtship behaviour. Petranka describes T. granulosa courtship as "The pair engages in a prolonged courtship in which the male periodically rubs the female's snout with his chin using lateral head movements, and strokes the female's abdomen, shanks, and vent region with his hindlimbs."

If you inadvertently get eggs, do think about posting them in the ads. Many Taricha-less people are more than willing to compensate you for the shipping/handling to obtain eggs.

Share the wealth!

 

[pamela]

Nice photos, nice newts! That third pic down is a "poster pic"!

 

[paris]

beware-on some occasions chin rubbing can be so enthusiastic that the male will rub the females nose raw.

those all do look like granulosa

 

[mark]

The male also gets inspired to do the amplexus whenever food is introduced in the tank. They all get very excited with just the faintest smell of food, but as soon as I put it in, he instantly grabs the nearest newt like above and appears to smell them all over, sometimes biting at them (never does any damage though). He even grabs them backwards from time to time (that might be worth a picture). I usually break it up, because I don't want either of them to miss out on the meal. It is very difficult to do though, his grip is VERY strong, and he usually then latches to my fingers, in which case I have to detach him from them! I think this one just gets his feeding and breeding instincts mixed up.

Also, does anyone know, are the bumps under the chin on the male a normal breeding feature?

 

[jeff]

Awesome pic! I love the one at the very bottom where the male has his mouth way open. I am dieing to get eggs, and or females!!! My dude is so alone and horny!!! Let us/only me know about anything you are considering passing around...

by the way, they all look really healthy!
and the male looks quite happy

(Message edited by newtsrfun on January 17, 2005)