Raising (& Breeding) Ommatotriton

[Mark]

Re: Raising Ommatotriton

I spotted what looked like an egg today only to discover she'd laid hundreds of tiny Lissotriton style eggs wrapped up carefully in duckweed near the surface. There's plenty of elodea and other leafy plants in the tank but her choice is duckweed. Nice to know it's got a use.

If I hadn't of put so little effort into keeping these guys I think I'd be proud of the achievement. Just shows that if you leave newts to their own devices outdoors they will just get on with it.

There are 3 eggs in this shot. Only 1 is in focus. That duckweed is really tiny so you get the idea.

 

[Mark]

Found a few more photos...

 

[Azhael]

Must...contain...need...to curse.......raaaarghhh......

 

[daedae]

Gosh, those crests are just ridiculous! As if an enormous mohawk is the sexiest thing to a female newt! Good luck with the eggs!

 

[Mark]

Look who started hatching today. At a guess I'd say there are between 100 and 200 eggs, which isn't bad for a lone female. I thinks she's still laying.

And the males are still with full crests.

 

[morg]

excellent thread, I cant believe I have just found it although over a year old lol.

I have had bad results raising this species from eggs-juveniles in the past as well, and had given up on them, but decided to try again and got 6 last year I think mine were also from billy, but cant remember[im old and stupid] lol
I have kept them since getting them in a 2 foot tank, with a substrate of composted bark soil improver.
moss sprayed daily at one end going to a completely dry end with the substrate there covered in dry, dead oak leaves.
All are still surviving, and doing well. 2 stay in the dry area, while 4 hide under the damp moss.
I feed them on small crickets, springtails, whiteworm, and their favourite food live bloodworm offered on damp kitchen paper.
I very rarely see them, just the occassional glimps with a torch at night.
I have kept them without disturbing them except a fortnightly check to see if all are still surviving.
Next year I will probably set them up in a semi aquatic set up, and hope for the best.
Congratulations on your raisings and this thread mark

 

[Mark]

It's sounds like they are doing well, Morg. Once past the tricky juvenile stage I think they become more robust. As aquatic adults they are no different to other large Triturus in character; bold, snapping at the glass, inquisitive etc. If you think yours might be ready next spring you should consider getting them outdoors during the summer to allow them to cool naturally into the winter. I think this is what got mine in condition so well.

I'm going to raise the larvae in a naturalistic setup outdoors. They look very much like Lissotriton in size and I think they'll benefit from being in a tub with plenty of micro fauna rather than a sterile raising setup - plus I can't be bothered with BBS.

Out of interest where do you buy live bloodworm? The only ones I ever see are overpriced small bags in aquatic shops and usually they're 50% dead already.

 

[morg]

I did keep an adult male for about 4 years, he was very bold, ate well, and chose to be 100% aquatic year round ,although he had a large land shelf to use if he wanted

Do you remember a thread-article somewhere many years ago about constructing outdoor raisng tubs from upturned plastic boxes partialy buried,?
dont remember where it was but it seemed a great method, and required no supplimentary feeding.


My live bloodworm come from a local pet shop that sells tropical fish, 30p a bag, but two bags are enough to feed 3 or 4 average sized newts for a week.
I buy 20 bags a week, and collect them on day they get delivered so almost all are alive

 

[Mark]

Made a short video today.

Ommatotriton ophryticus - YouTube

 

[Azhael]

Most gorgeous creature on the planet. Period.

Thank you so much for sharing those beautiful images, Mark. Decent videos of this species are scarce to put it mildly, this is by far the best video i´ve ever seen, and not just because of the quality.

 

[Mark]

The larvae are all growing well although slowly. I can't believe how tiny these guys are when they hatch, almost microscopic. The largest are now eating small daphnia and have their front limbs.

The adult male crests are starting to reduce and a there's a very noticeable reduction in territorial aggression. Quite Jekyll and Hyde in comparison.

 

[Azhael]

Are these even smaller than apuanus hatchlings? Those are the smallest larvae i´ve ever seen, if these are smaller then yes, almost microscopic is a fair statement xD

 

[Mark]

They are comparable to Mesotriton and Lissotriton larvae in size but having raised both from egg I'd say these might be a touch smaller. Perhaps it's simply because the female that laid them is very young. I've had few losses so far which would indicate all is normal.

 

[Mark]

Some nice dark pigmentation developing on the larvae and a few are looking close to morphing. The males have completely lost their crests but the female is still laying fertile eggs which is pretty incredible.

 

[Mark]

They've been crawling out of the water for a couple of days now. A whopping 1.5cm in length. So incredibly small. I've resorted to using a net to avoid squishing them with fingers. The morphs are going into a tub outdoors where they can fend for themselves. I saw one next to a woodlouse yesterday and the woodlouse was bigger...

Not the best shots but they're all I have at the moment of these micro newtlets.

 

[mr cyclone]

Great Job Mark I am really jealous.

 

[caleb]

A whopping 1.5cm in length. So incredibly small.

You should be able to get them bigger than that, 3-4 cm is more usual. The last two batches I raised* had some metamorphs well over 4cm. What temperature are you keeping the larvae at? Mine were in an unheated room in NE England, so never went over 20C.

*None of which made it to adulthood, though they did reasonably well terrestrially for about a year.

 

[Mark]

4 cm sounds incredible! When I received my group originally from Billy they were only 2cm and the largest morphs in this batch are around the same so I don't think the small size is unusual.

They were raised at UK outdoor temperatures although the latter stages have been indoors at around 18C.

The morphs are doing well settling into terrestrial life. The ones I've seen have little pot bellies so they're feeding OK. The woodlice are just dropping tiny white offspring so it's good timing for the newts.

 

[caleb]

Maybe this strain metamorphoses small then?

Marc Stanizewski's care sheet suggests 30-38mm in captivity, and Kuzmin's book on the Russian amphibians says 30-44mm for wild individuals.

I was given some very small metamorphs the first time I tried to raise ophryticus in 1989- I think these were (indirectly) from the Open University's import from Turkey. These were too small to eat whiteworm, which was a bit of a challenge at the time.

Since then, I've raised from larvae once, and eggs twice, and all of these have given metamorphs of 3cm+. I think these were all from the strain that Charles Snell has.

I'd normally assume that large metamorphosis is desirable, but you've done better than me with your small ones...

 

[Azhael]

The ones that i received a few years ago (which died off like Caleb´s) were also tiny little things. If i remember correctly they were 2cm long or barely larger, with one of them being specially tiny somewhat under 2cm.
My friend Ferreron is also getting his first metamorphs (but he refuses to upload pictures once again because he is an evil, evil man that only lives to see me suffer), in fact the coordination between your animals and his, Mark, has been rather remarkable xD His are morphing rather large, at least so far. Somewhere over 3 cm long. I´ll try to get him to meassure them more accurately...but i wouldn´t hold my breath ¬¬.

Anyway, congratulations for those beautiful morphs! I´m sure they´ll do very well outdoors.