The mother of all <i>Tylototriton verrucosus</i>

[john]

She was feeling a bit miffed that I hadn't posted a photo of her recently so here she is today, in all her egg-and-worm-filled glory. This is literally the mother of all newts - anyone on this forum in the UK who has this species, the chances are this newt is the mother, grandmother, or even great-grandmother of your verrucosus.

She lost her left front leg at the elbow two years ago and the toes are still slowly growing back. Doesn't bother her though. She's over 16 cm long and a very powerfully built newt. To the best of my calculations, she's 5 years old.

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[david]

Beautiful animal

 

[javier]

Amazing !!!

 

[benjamin]

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!! If I owned that newt I'ld be worried about it exploding!!!! How many eggs does she lay a day?

 

[john]

Well, when she mates she will lay all of her eggs in a 6-18 hour period (depending on how many she has), usually beginning within 48 hours of mating.

I actually counted all of the larvae that hatched in one spawning at the end of 2002. There's a thread about it in the photo gallery somewhere. I'll dig it up. *goes off to find it* Here we go:

http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/985/819.html?1030646095

This is the photo from that page:

This female laid the eggs those larvae came from. I don't know how many eggs she produced but I counted 285 hatched larvae. That probably means 300+ eggs, given that one or two are always infertile or don't develop.

 

[mike]

Wow she is plump like a blimp!

 

[TJ]

That's really awesome, John. If I didn't know of her breeding history, I might have worried she was bloated.

So tell me, does she develop stretch marks after laying all dem eggs?

 

[john]

No stretch marks that I'm aware of .

 

[chris]

Great animal! her grandchildren would say 'hi' if they weren't busy eating...like mother like grandchildren...
Chris

 

[chris]

Oh, also tell her she has a couple more great-grandchildren!
Chris

 

[john]

Go Chris

. As I type I think she's working on some grand uncles and grand aunts for those great-grandchildren.

 

[ira]

i will never think my tylos are fat again....

 

[chris]

Mine had incredibly bad timing for when they decided to breed - first time was the morning I left for a holiday...second time just after my daphnia culture died....hence only 'a couple more great-grandchildren'
Chris

 

[john]

Hi Chris.

I have had problems like that myself.

The first time this species bred for me was in the "depths" of winter, and not a Daphnia to be had. I ended up chopping frozen bloodworm very finely and having them subsist on that from a young age for several months. When I finally could provide adequate live food, they grew quite well but because of the inadequate nutrition from the start, over all they took longer to reach a size for metamorphosis.

And then there was the batch who died because a new aquarium heater (either it or its holder) leeched plasticizer into the water and killed half of my offspring...

 

[alan]

I usually start larvae on newly hatched brine shimp (available year round in any quantity you want, then move on to:
Sifted Daphnia
Grindalworms
Adult Daphnia
Chopped earthworms

BBS are great and ensure good red colouration in species which have any.

 

[john]

I'm a bit of a BBS nay-sayer when I have Daphnia.

BBS die within an hour or two of being introduced to fresh water. Daphnia live "forever" and reproduce. I never sift Daphnia: I find it to be totally unnecessary. Why? Daphnia can shed many youngsters every 3 days - if you introduce enough adult Daphnia to a larva tank they will produce enough food for the larvae for many days, until the larvae are big enough to eat the adults.

Nutritionally, Daphnia provide all of the same nutrients as BBS, albeit in a slightly more dilute state (weight for weight, Daphnia have a slightly higher water content than very newly hatched brine shrimp).

To anyone who says newly-shed Daphnia are too big for newly-hatched newt larvae, I can only guess that your Daphnia species is too big. I've never encountered this problem and I've raised a lot of different larvae from eggs, including Triturus (several species), Tylototriton (shanjing & verrucosus), Cynops ensicauda popei, Ambystoma (opacum & mexicanum). I've also raised Neurergus kaiseri from near hatching.

The great thing about Daphnia is that it's not just larvae that will eat them. Right now I am sitting next to a tank with 8 cm long Cynops ensicauda popei larvae that are hunting Daphnia with a lot of enthusiasm.

The only time I would consider BBS is when I can't get hold of Daphnia. I've never actually resorted to BBS for larvae. I have hatched BBS though.

So there's a counterpoint.

 

[jeffrey]

John
did you say you fed her worms? or double stuffed oreos? She looks awesome and at a guess her 4 descendants in my kitchen say "where`s the worms"

 

[john]

Heh, yes, definitely worms.

 

[john]

Guess who started laying eggs about two hours ago...

I opened the tank top to do a water change and I see her on her side in a bunch of java moss, in the middle of laying an egg. What does she do? She looks up at me _while laying the egg_ looking for food. To verify this, I let her get into lay position for another egg and while she was laying the next egg I hand fed her a worm, which she duly took.

Now, I think you can probably tell why I'm enamoured with this individual newt: she mates/lays on command and she's the tamest newt I've ever seen.

 

[jesse]

heh, that funny, kind of like a chicken in the sense that she is an egglaying machine. thats really cool that you can feed her while she lays. My mudpuppy will eat from myhands , but the problem is that she will try to eat my hands as well! good luck with the ofspring john.