LOL Who knows. maybe she's seen the snails do it and has gotten a bit broody :lol: usually however spawning is initiated by the male, who swims around, raising its tail and making vigorous writhing motions. The male nudges the female's vent occasionally and then leads her around the tank.
The spermatophore is a common "device" in the salamander and newt world (an old one, about 12 hours old, is pictured beside this paragraph). It is a packet of sperm attached to the top of a cone of jelly. The male deposits between 5 and 25 of these around the tank and attempts to lead the female over them. She picks up the sperm cap (from one or more spermatophores) in her cloaca - fertilisation takes place internally. She may also nudge the male's vent, and this can lead to a prolonged "dance" around the tank.
Between a few hours and two days later, she commences spawning, laying each egg individually. She will lay them on the leaves of plants, if available, but if not, she will place them about the tank, attaching them to rocks, pipes and any other object available. There may be between 100 and over a thousand eggs laid in one spawning, depending on the size of the female and if she is in optimal condition at spawning. After the female has finished laying, it's best to remove her and the male.
That and other bits of useful info on breeding these little critters can be found on
Axolotl.org
usually your first signs, if you are watching very closely, is the blobs of jelly that were the spermatiphores on the sand and rocks etc. The aren't very big and once she has picked up the white sperm they are clear and you will need to get down to substrate level to see them.
I caught my male nudging the female the other day and got all excited for a second until after a 20 minute search of the tank I couldn't see any spermatiphores anywhere
and she hasn't started laying so I guess he was just letting her know he loves her
There is a picture on a full spermatiphore on axolotl.org as well.
