Newton and Darwin are pregnant

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suztor

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Further down is the short version :)


about a year and a half ago I purchased two very emaciated looking "male" FBN. Was told how to care for them completely wrong until I found my way here. I am proud to announce that my FBN are doing very well! Although I didn't think that was the case up until this morning.

I started noticing Darwin had started to get fatter and fatter, even though I feed them frozen bloodworms once a week and newt pellets for a second weekly meal (so fed twice a week) since both weren't becoming so large i started to worry about bloat 2 days ago.

This morning I woke up and did my usual routine which involves checking out all my pets. for some reason i felt the need to get into the newt tank and move the plants around, and find two leaves are stuck togeather! At first i thought i might have missed some pellets that they hadn't eaten until closer inspection leads me to believe they could be eggs!

Painstakingly, I have to go work a full day with frustrating and rude people while wanting to come home and investigate my tank some more! Finally 5:00 rolls around and i race out of work to a pet store to buy some sort of plant (in this case it turned out to be Java moss grown on a tile of sorts "turf") Come home to do a water change Now rather than later (figuring i better do one now before the whole tank is covered in eggs) and I find that there are 6 SIX! more eggs hidden in some soft Japanese moss balls!!!!! (not the fake ones)

So now I'm super excited especially since I have a big tank upgrade planned (think expanding foam vivarium ina 20 gal long) and I was going to have to purchase more little scientists for my tank.


SHORT VERSION / In conclusion
Darwin is now Darwina and I've got some eggs in my tank! (my first batch and theirs too) I've removed dad (Newton) and moved him to another tank to reduce chances of eggs getting eaten and I'm going to let mom lay more eggs for a week or so?(dunno really) I've found that some of the eggs move around on the inside!!!! So some are actually alive! (couldn't help my self had to inspect!)

now the real issue!

HOW DO I PREPARE!?!?!
Food
Enclosure?
How long to hatch?
I'm moving in about a month! How do I handle that?!
Water care for eggs?
any interesting websites that explain development?!

I'm a first time sally mom!:D
 
I just realized I posted this in the wrong section. Is there an eggs section for Newts and Salamanders?
 
Here is another question, is egg laying a day time or night time activity?
 
I think my newts lay eggs during the day and night.

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Click to expand...
 
Mine laid eggs round the clock. Mom will eat the eggs and larvae, too, so what I did was move the eggs to separate containers. I had 8 tanks going at once, but some were just shoebox sized "tupperware" type of containers. I would continually not allow the newly hatched with older siblings to avoid cannibalism. So, I was always resizing or when the larvae were of a decent size, I'd move the eggs out into a new container. I remember doing frequent water changes, too. No need to put lids on any containers for the eggs and new larvae, but once the gills begin to shrink, look out! They can climb out easily.

The larvae will live off their yolk sacs for a few days, but will need live Daphnia after that. I also used a frozen baby brine shrimp + Daphnia-type of mixture that they ate. You can tell the larvae are eating when they sort of jump in the water.

Gradually, you'll be moving them onto blackworms, white worms, chopped earthworms and sometimes frozen and thawed bloodworms. Legs appear, then gills shrink. About 3 months after hatching, they'll be ready to morph. Put a land space in there and one day they'll be on it. Then, move the morphs to a terrestrial set up for at least a year.

Good luck - it's an exciting time!
Dana
 
Eva,

My larvae all have been terrestrial for quite some time now. 1/2 are aquatic again - or I'm trying to get them to be aquatic, and 1/2 are still terrestrial.

I had little difficulty with the larvae - fed them, water changes, watched them grow. I shipped eggs around the country to a couple of board members and at least one set has done well.

If I recall correctly, there was the little yolk sac visible at first, then just the newtpole, then little limbs formed. When the "lion's mane" gills began to shrink, the morph was near and you must have land for them to emerge. Immediately remove them and place them in a terrestrial set up. I used damp paper towels, but coco fiber and other substrates used around here seem to do well. I sometimes used a tilted tank for those nearing morphogensis.

Getting the land juveniles eating was my biggest concern as I didn't see them eat for months, but fruit flies and springtails were gone, so I suppose they ate and they grew, the best sign of health.

You will know your eggs are about to hatch after a couple of weeks and actually seeing the little newtpole taking shape. First, it looks like a mustard seed, then darkens, then elongates, and you can actually see it moving inside the egg sac when it's very close to hatching. With us, we'd often find the remnants of the ripped gelatinous egg sac on the plant or just see the newtpole happily swimming around.

Good luck,
Dana
 
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Sorry, I meant Suztor.
I have recently raised some Cynos pyrrhogaster myself :happy:
The parents have since mated again and the girls keep laying eggs...they're like little water rabbits.
 
none of the eggs hatched :( Thanks for following up with me on that though!

But I'm going to be more prepared for this next year. I think my male might have been too young or something.

I'm building a big tank for them and I'm hoping to raise some newtlets to join there parents, but I may eventually just see if anyone on here is willing to sell me an additional pair. We'll see I've just begun tank construction, it'll be a while.
 
suztor said:
none of the eggs hatched :( Thanks for following up with me on that though!

.
Click to expand...

ah well, better luck next year. You should consider reducing their temperature for a couple months or so in winter (maybe by puttig their tank into a cooler room?) - that'll more likely get them into breeding mood.

With names like Newton and Darwin they must have good genes!
 
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