Is This Possibly a C. Orientalis Egg?

[Critter Mom]

I am sorry that I can not post a picture yet. I have taken some, but can not find the software to download the pictures to the computer due to my recent move. I will keep looking.

With that said, if I describe this, I was wondering if you could tell me if I might possibly have an egg from my C. Orientalis (Chinese firebelly newt) here. It is located in the darkness of a tunnel (on the bottom on a flat surface), and when the light is just right, I can see that it is there. I think it is about 1/4 to 1/3 the size of a dime, and is a roundish shape. It is easiest to see when I take a picture of it and look at it. It appears to be transparent, a little like looking through a murky smoky gray glass bubble with a fish shape or two in the bottom of the bubble shape. It is hard to distinguish if it is actually one or two shapes because they appear to overlap. It does not move around at all. It is darker gray. There are a couple of black dots. Is the shape supposed to be moving?

I know that the female certainly has had the appearance of being gravid for quite some time, and then recently got thin. I may have missed the other eggs and washed them away in cleanings. The newts have been really cuddly with each other lately, especially the female and the more aggressive of the males. They are ALWAYS together the last few days or so. Sometimes they are on top of each other, sometimes they take turns on the positions they are in. I have been feeding them a more varied diet lately, and they have just recently had their more aquatic set up. They seem to be doing well.

I just wondered, could this be an egg, and if so, is it supposed to be MOVING inside? What should I do? Do I need to do anything?

I was excited when I found it, but I know from having read other people's posts, that sometimes things don't work out.

 

[vistajpdf]

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/raising.shtml
http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Cynops/C_orientalis.shtml

Check out these pics. I'm not sure exactly what you're describing - seems a little large? My eggs were considerably smaller than peas. The pics on both links look all too familiar to me....we have still more eggs...There are some on strips, others between branchings on plants that look identical to ours, others on a leaf in the first link, I think, that looks like a more mature egg. It takes a couple of weeks for them to develop. There should be a picture of a fuzzy "dud" egg - we haven't had one of them. I guess they should be discarded if they do occur.

Our eggs started out like small gelatinous balls with a single tiny mustard seed thing inside that progressively got darker until it truly looked like a tiny tadpole inside a sphere of gel. I never saw movement of the little one inside. There were not multiple speckles or anything - just the main shape inside the gel.

You're hoping for babies, right? Shall I send you a few???? I have eggs, new hatchlings, those a few weeks old, those going on two months.....

What do you plan to do with them should you be as lucky as we are???

Good luck,
Dana

 

[Critter Mom]

I was wondering what I would do if we had eggs. It's a nice thing to wonder about though, and a very exciting one at that!:happy:

I have an aquarium that is about 5 gallons or maybe 5.5 gallons, but right now it is a hermit crab infirmary set up. We have it just in case we need to set it up for a sick crab or one that is molting and needs to be separated, but lately the ones we have are really healthy and just go underground to molt in the community tank. Meanwhile, we have all this calci-sand that I guess I could put in the other one. It is getting to be time for a change, but the others are still molting in there and I can not really disturb them. I have only one that has gotten done molting, which leaves the other two bigger ones. It's weird they all decided to start doing it at once. It was like I was feeding and watering a crabarium with empty shells laying around.:grin:

I really don't know if I have an egg or not. I will look at the pictures now. I will get back to you on your offer. Thank you, and I am really excited about it! I just don't know where they will go. When I come up with that, I will let you know. If I find out this IS an egg, I will have to come up with that anyway!

Edited to add: Whatever happened to your "spinner"? One of the articles you mentioned for me to look at (which I just did) talked about the "spinner" and that it should be culled.:sad:

I will have to think quickly about the eggs, as they are more difficult to ship again until after they morph! Thank you for your offer!:happy:

 

[vistajpdf]

Well, I'm wondering if I overreacted, looking for some abnormality and assuming "here we go...they're all going south..." The thing may have been disoriented in the current of a water change or maybe they do periodically hang more vertically? I separated him for observation and he never acted weird again, swam normally, etc. I can't remember exactly what it was but I remember thinking it was dead - the same w/ Newty, the original, as I could have sworn I was looking at his orange belly. I separated him, too, and he never acted oddly again. We will see what happens during the morphing and post-morphing stages, I guess. If there was truly something wrong and they should have been culled, there's the risk they will drown. I still don't understand why they drown. Do they think they have gills and take in water? Do they forget how to swim? I just don't quite get it.

Let me know if you think you have an egg. I'd love to go through this with someone else! I have 30 larva and probably another 10 eggs. Today the boys asked me what we would do if they all survived!

Dana

 

[KJ_29]

I was fairly unsure whether one of my Fire-bellies was laying eggs, when she started around a month ago. A little while later I noticed a few more of what I suspected were eggs, took one out, and indeed they were eggs.
Not the most epic of stories, but what I mean is that if you have what you think might be an egg, chances are there'll be A LOT more, then you'll know for sure!
I currently have around 45 eggs in tubs, 18 hatchlings, and god knows how many other eggs in the tank... haha.
Good luck though, I'm having a lot of fun raising the larvae, so far!

 

[Critter Mom]

Thank you! I think this all sounds very exciting. I hope that everything works out for both of you guys!! I found out that it was not an egg. It fell apart when I moved things around to plant more plants in there. If it had been an egg, it must not have been fertilized.

I am glad I don't have 100's of babies to take care of right now, because I have carpal tunnel surgery coming up. I don't know when yet, but the consultation is later this month. I have the consult Monday for my sinus surgery. I am taking care of things with the newts and hermit crabs, and the sugar glider too. Sometimes my fiance helps. I could not see having to take care of the babies too, but more importantly, having to ask someone else like my fiance to step in and do that in addition to all the other stuff during the times I am going to be laid up!:lol:

Maybe next year!

Good luck for yours!
Critter Mom