Plethodon glutinosus eggs

[taherman]

Definitely a first in Toledo, we have a female glut on exhibit tending a clutch of eggs. She is enthusiastically defending them from cagemates. This has probably been in captivity either 4 or 8 years (individuals are not uniquely identified in the exhibit).

Anyone else here have experience with Plethodon eggs? Obviously it is best to leave them with the female, though the enclosure may have to be torn out before they hatch (major renovations are coming to the amphibian facilities). Any advice, or tips if they have to be moved, would be much appreciated.

-Tim Herman

 

[rigsby]

i had a female red back lay eggs, all i did was move the eggs and mother to a smaller container and she stayed with them until they hatched.

 

[Jennewt]

Wonderful! I have seen only one other report of a captive breeding of P. glutinosus, that being in Jean Raffaelli's book (for P. chattahoochee, a species in the glut complex). If you would like, I can give you a rough translation of that report (it's just a few sentences).

May I use your photo on the glutinosus page of Caudata Culture?

 

[taherman]

Sure Jen, you can use it on CC. If you can, add a copyright Tim Herman watermark please.

I just got the Rafaelli account off of amphibiaweb, thanks for the suggestion. I didn't think reproducing them was common. She's still guarding them today. The funny thing is, the spot she chose is front and center in the exhibit, so I hope she doesnt mind a few thousand visitors ogling her. At least she chose the off-season to lay

-Tim

 

[jean]

Congratulations. This is great what you did.
I definitely think the best way is to live the brooding female and the eggs together in the setup and not to disturb them. There has been several informations about females eating the eggs after having been disturbed.

 

[taherman]

Unfortunately I think these eggs were not fertile, or did not develop for some other reason. She is still attending them, but about half are gone now and some have ruptured. From the photos I've seen I think they should have been hanging from the ceiling and more clumped if they had been laid properly.

 

[Jake]

That's too bad they were duds this time

Maybe next year with luck.

 

[Jennewt]

I was recently talking about your eggs/photo with another person who has bred glutinosus in captivity. He suggested that the female may have needed a drier place to lay the eggs. In captivity, they tend to use the underside of a clay pot or bark, and it's usually in the context of moist substrate, not a drippy-wet place.

Better luck next time!

 

[taherman]

Another update, there are still 7 eggs remaining and all appear to be fertile and developing. There are plenty of other dry crevices in the exhibit, I don't know why she chose to lay there. The water is the source of cooling for the enclosure, so perhaps it was temperature related...or due to territorial constraints, as there are many other salamanders in the exhibit.

 

[Jennewt]

I'm glad to hear that some are doing well. Is the female still guarding them in situ, or were they removed? Keep us posted

 

[Slimy2]

Hi

My glutinosus eggs were duds when I had some and I kept found a spermatophore on the moss in my container. My females must have not been in the mood to mate when I kept this species in Georgia. I only found hatchlings from under a rock. They were emerging from a hole under the rock. (probably where the egg were) I have a pic of two on part of my site.

http://www.freewebs.com/slimysalamanders/northernslimys.htm

Cool how you got yours to lay eggs.

Cameron

 

[Andy Avram]

Tim,

That is pretty cool. I have currently designed a 75 gallon Ohio native salamander tank but don't really like how it turned out. Do you have any full tank sots of that display? I have been meaning to get out to the Toledo Zoo but complications seem to confront me everytime.

Also, what species are kept together in the cage?

BTW, cool picture and hopefully the eggs that survived hatch.

Andy

 

[taherman]

It's a VERY large display for salamanders, probably 9ft long, 4 ft high, and maybe 3 ft wide. Though not a perfect rectangle, I'd estimate it to be equivalent to a 600+ gallon tank. I think the size is the primary reason for so many species doing well together. The size also allows for some substantial thermal and moisture gradients that provide microhabitat for each species. There is a sump of ~50 gallons and the water running through the exhibit is chilled to ~57 degrees.

It currently contains 3 P. ruber, 6 E. longicauda, 6 E. lucifuga, 7 P. glutinosus, 1 E. bislineata, and 1 Aneides aeneus. The reds, many of the gluts, the 2-line, and some of the caves have been in there for nearly 8 years. The other animals have been in there since 2003. Many are huge for their species, and the reds have predatory tendencies that would not go well in a smaller cage.

Eggs were isolated due to predation, then pulled, and only one remains...trying something non-traditional with the last one, if it works I'll post more details.

No photos of the exhibit handy right now, I'll dig them up or take some new ones later.
-Tim

 

[Andy Avram]

Tim,

After looking at your Slimy on eggs picture again I noticed all the plants growing on the walls. Do you kn ow what kinds they are? Looks like a liverwort, moss and maybe a fern?

Also, do you ever get out herping in Toledo? There are some great finds to be made out that way (although salamandering isn't great). I have been out with a few people that work at Toledo Zoo catching snakes and the like.

Andy

 

[taherman]

1 and 18...

An update on the eggs...

I am pretty sure now that most if not all eggs were fertile. The appearance of all of them was the same, and I saw development progressing in all eggs we had when it became visible.
Eggs were disappearing rapidly from the exhibit after a couple weeks, so I inverted a petri dish over them to prevent further predation. Then of course fungus started because the female was kept away from the eggs. After 28 days only 2 eggs remained in the exhibit, so I pulled them and set them up on perlite.

In an effort to stop the progression of fungus I tried something different. I added itraconazole at 100mg/L (1/10 of the normal treatment dosage) to the water I used in the perlite. For those not familiar, itraconazole is the most widely used anti-fungal medication for use in the treatment of chytrid fungal infections.

One of the two eggs still went bad almost immediately, but the last remaining egg developed perfectly. 85 days after laying (57 of them on perlite) we had our first successful captive breeding of Plethodon glutinosus.

It's still doing well after a week. I moved it into a deli cup on reptibark, some larger pieces of bark and oak leaves, and stocked the container with springtails. There is still quite a bit of yolk inside the little salamander, so I doubt it will start feeding until that is gone.

-Tim

 

[Daniel]

This little fellow is a great sight, congratulations! It's a pity that most of the larvae weren't able to hatch but nevertheless that's a success!

 

[rust]

Awesome job.

 

[Jennewt]

That little critter is a beautiful sight to see. Thanks for posting!

 

[VirgiChris]

Congratulation !

 

[John]

Superb, Tim!