I have been waiting for this feeling for a long time!

[t_summ]

I arrived home tonight and entered my cave to do my routine work with the various aquatic critters I have and I was shocked to find little newt "taco's" in my tank. I did not think that the female I had was actually going to start laying even though she began to get very plump in late December. What a feeling this is! I know for a fact that I am hooked for life. I hope everyone experiences the same feeling at some point in their life. Just wanted to share.

 

[DosJax 12XU]

Congrats! What kind of newts are they?

 

[t_summ]

Sorry about that. I was so excited and tired that I just forgot about that. These are my T. karelinii. Hopefully I will see decent numbers of surviving larvae.

 

[radtad]

congrats that is so AWESOME!!!!!!

 

[t_summ]

I shot this video with my camera last night. I think it is amazing how the male is positioned and continues to try and "woo" his lady. By the way, the voice you hear is my goofball little brother's.

 

[lilsoul]

It is a great feeling good luck.

 

[shantsdude]

Hey! Congrats! I am not Familiar with that type? How many eggs do you suspect will live?

 

[t_summ]

That is mostly depends on how many she lays minus fifty percent (genetic mortality rate). I would not be surprised if she layed 300 eggs!

That would actually be pretty neat.

 

[shantsdude]

What do you think you're going to do with the extra eggs? If you decide to give some away, I am looking for three or four babies

 

[eldaldo]

I am glad to hear that Travis. I hope things go well with your first batch of eggs. My larvae are currently in metamorphosis, how are yours doing?

 

[t_summ]

Hi Patrick. I ended up only having about 5 that made it. A lot of the others perished about 2 weeks after the hatch. They got all crooked and died, it was really weird. The surviving five are about to morph as well.

On another note, has anyone else noticed that there are certain plants that the females prefer to lay eggs on? I have elodea and bacopa in my tank and she only want to lay on the bacopa. I just find it interesting.

 

[ButtercupSaiyan]

The surviving five are about to morph as well.

Pictures, please.

5 out of 300 ... it seems a little sad!

 

[Kaysie]

With this genus, 50% of the eggs die fairly quickly after fertilization anyway (due to some genetic issues). Which means out of 300 eggs, only 150 would have survived anyway. This is probably more than what would have survived in the wild.

 

[Jennewt]

Congrats, Travis. Yeah, you're hooked!