Pyrrho pride parade.

[Azhael]

Weeeeeeee, twins!
And a crappy shot of a proud mama with her newly wrapped egg.

 

[Chinadog]

It's the same over here. It never ceases to amaze me just how prolific this species can be, mine have been laying eggs almost constantly since this time last year.

 

[Azhael]

Bloody hell, they've beaten my H.orientalis record of laying for over 9 months xD
By the way, we are going to have to arrange something but you need to take pictures of my beasts, they deserve to look as wonderful as yours and i'm no good for that :S

Zoe, congrats! Hopefully you'll be getting your own folded garden of eggy plants soon n_n

 

[slowfoot]

Sadly, I think my two old ladies are past their egg-laying days. Even their hot, young boyfriend can't entice them

Old chub newt says, "no pictures, please."

 

[Chinadog]

Bloody hell, they've beaten my H.orientalis record of laying for over 9 months xD
By the way, we are going to have to arrange something but you need to take pictures of my beasts, they deserve to look as wonderful as yours and i'm no good for that :S

Lol, I'm no photographer, the decent lighting seems to replace any skill in the equation and the newts like to be on camera, I'm sure!


Edit; Slowfoot, isn't your old lady the absolute spitting image if the female in my last pictures? spooky!

 

[Azhael]

Maybe they can't be bothered with a mere boy.

 

[Stupot1610]

This species has been on my wishlist for a while, but I've never had the space or time to get some. But, with all the new tank space I'm going to have soon, I may not be able to resist much longer...

Stuart

 

[jmailhot]

This lady looks ready to start laying eggs! She's been cooling in the basement and the two males with her have been courting non stop!

 

[Chinadog]

She's lovely,I'd love to see pictures of your males as well. I could be mistaken, but she looks like the Kanto race? It's quite rare to see anything other than sasayama in captivity these days.

 

[jmailhot]

Yes she is indeed 'kanto'
Thanks to Jennewts dedication to keeping newts like these for the long haul!
Here are some shots of the two males.

 

[evut]

No matter how many times I see this, I don't think I'll ever get used to the comical shapes my females acquire this time of year. The boys have been courting for months now but I haven't seen any eggs yet. For their own sake I hope the females start laying soon.

 

[Azhael]

xDD We laugh, but it is profoundly worrying
Mine have been laying for a while now and i already have a few larvae with hind legs. I'm quite excited since i didn't raise any last year but this time i'd like to end up with at least a couple dozen juvies. We'll see.

By the way, i love that you guys keep posting pictures of your pyrrhos, specially since they look just the same as mine but your photographic skills are way superior so i get to imagine your pictures are actually just really good pictures of mine

 

[Chinadog]

Mine seem to be having a break from laying at the moment, they were at it right round the calender last year and I seem to find morphs in the moss on the turtle dock most weeks. I do worry that constant egg laying year on year may lead to deficiency's down the line, though.
I always try to give my females the best diet possible, but would it be best to let them have a winter rest period in the fridge? The only reason I didn't this year is because they showed no interest in leaving the water and I would miss them if they weren't around, so pretty selfish really!
Does anybody hibernate their pyrrhos?

 

[Azhael]

While that is a very real concern generally speaking i'm not too worried about them breeding for months on end because this is a species that produces eggs in intervals of relatively few eggs. A species that either produced large eggs or produced them in vast numbers in a single laying event is very susceptible to problems that arise from breeding too frequently, even, in some cases, despite a rich diet. However, pyrrhos produce small eggs that are laid spaced in time, which means the physiological stress is significantly reduced and this allows them to sustain egg production for longer.
Another species that does the same is H.orientalis and my female typically lays eggs for up to 9 months of the year and has been doing so for 8 years in captivity. She seems extraordinarily healthy.

This is purely anecdotal and based on very limited observations but it seems to me that caudates that share this strategy, tend to lay their eggs more spaced in time and take longer rests in a captive situation, while the total number of eggs produced per year remains relatively similar.. In the wild it seems that the large numbers of eggs are produced in a shorter span of time. One might even speculate that this might be a contributing factor to the long lifespan that they can have in captivity.

 

[Chinadog]

Looks like I spoke too soon. Its been a couple of days since I last saw either of my females, but one broke cover today and started laying again!
I don't know what's so special about that leaf, looking back at other pictures is always her first choice. She'll be gutted when it finally dies off!

 

[CatSpit]

Thanks to Chinadog for sending me the link to this thread - awesome pictures! Here are a few of my old guy.

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[zoezakella]

Well here are some updated piccies of the male I received from Chinadog (thanks again Ben) and the lovely Garfield whom I got years ago from Evut. Have upgraded them into an even bigger tank now (so waiting for plants to grow again) with some amano shrimp. Am loving the blue tint to the males tail

 

[Chinadog]

He's looking good! Its really strange that his back and sides are faintly spotted when none of my adults are. Some of the other youngsters from that year were as well. I wonder if its random gene selection for spots from a distant relative, or maybe the spots are more visible on the captive bred offspring due to the lack of red pigment?

 

[zoezakella]

Thanks Ben he's settled in well with Garfield although still a little less bold than she is when it comes to taking worms from the tweezers lol. Thanks again for him

 

[Chinadog]

Yes, I noticed that with all those from his goup. The rest of them went to live in the same place and are still a bit skittish, even now. I don't know why, I thought it could be because they went fully aquatic at such a young age without being old enough to lose the shyness that we associate with their terrestrial juvenile phase, but who knows?!