Notophthalmus--Eating their own eggs.

[katie]

{new}

My question is--is Notophthalmus viridescens louisianensis known for eating their eggs? If so, I need to be diligent about getting eggs out when I can find them.

I was wondering when my females were ever going to lay eggs. I noticed one female acting weird. Her behavior was peculiar enough for me to notice it from across the room and go investigate what was going on.

She was nuzzling and rubbing with her nose in a certain area of a plant. I thought maybe she was starting to shed. Then she started pulling on leaves with her mouth. I finally noticed it was an egg she was after! I shooed her away and rescued the egg. (It has since hatched.) The female promptly found another, which she ate before I could get to it. She seemed to be able to smell it from a distance and followed the scent, much like the females do when following a male after mating.

Now I know why I haven't found eggs, and I also know what they look like. I had been looking for folded leaves. These eggs were laid in the center of the growning tips of hornwort. They were dead-center, and looked like new leaf buds coming out the middle of the plant. The tiny leaves were pinched together around the sides of the eggs, and just the tip of the eggs peeked out--no folded leaves.

Anyone else experience their newts eating the eggs?

 

[fabian]

Hi Katie,
most newt species eat there eggs. I've seen one of my granulosa females laying an egg, than turning around and eating it. One has to learn to detect the eggs before the newts do. You'll get better in it if you better know how the eggs (or the leaves they are in) look.
Good luck
Fabian

 

[liz]

it is pretty common for newts (both adults and larvae) to eat eggs. there is a study indicating that N. viridescens females prefer to eat eggs from other females over their own eggs.

Gabor, C.R., 1996. Differential kin discrimination by red-spotted newts (Notophthalmus viridescens) and smooth newts (Triturus vulgaris). Ethology 102(8), 649-659.