Pleurodeles waltl

[aimee]

Hi there!
I've recently bought 3 P.Waltl and was wondering if there is any specific information out there that will help me in sexing my newts. I've looked at a few care sheets but none really answer my questions:

1) What is their Sexual maturity age and lengths? Mine are about 1 1/2 years old now i think and there lengths range from 4 inches to just over 4 1/2 inches... CB in 2001. Not sure of the specific dates.

2) How can I tell which is which sex? I have other species of newts and I can tell if they are male as in the late winter time they get very swollen cloaca. I've also notcied a colour difference in the P.Waltl's, two have roughly the same coloured bellies, only slightly lighter than the rest of their bodies, whereas the other one (and prodominatly the largest and most aggressive) has a very light belly with the dark spots. They show up more due to his(?) much lighter colouring. I assumed that the more aggressive, larger and lighter bellied coloured one was male.

Thanks and I appreciate any info.

 

[rob]

My male and female P. waltl are very easy to sex. The female is almost twice as big as the mail, though they're both about the same length. They are both around the same lenght....I think it's a foot or so.

The female is more agressive of an eater, and steals food all the time from the male. The cloclia on my male gets very very very swollen when he's ready to breed. I believe they're both around 5 years old. I have another two that are around 3 years old and I think they're both male, although I'm not sure about that. They're just starting to show amplexing, so I'm sure at least one must be male. Those are about 6 inches long or so.

Hope that helps.

Rob

 

[yago]

Well, sexual maturity depends on the age and the size of the animals. P. waltl are extremely voracious and can reach maturity before their second year if they are properly fed. I got some CB01 and they are already breeding successfully (their size should be over 6 inches), though their first time, about 5 month ago their eggs were unfertilised. Once they reach maturity is very easy to identify their sex. I’ve seen some adults over 12 inches that were striking.
Best wishes