Karelinii Eggs

Last night I started a thread in the eurasian newt board, but I decided to start one in the help section because now I have many more questions.

yesterday I noticed four eggs on a java fern. I was confused because it is fall, I haven't noticed any mating behavior, and these newts aren't really even a year old yet! (I believe the first egg hatched September 9th last year). But, the male is cresting and I have done a very thurough search of all my plants and have found three more eggs. I still haven't noticed actual egg laying, but I am pretty sure now that one of my girls is behind this. This is my first experience with newt breeding so I have tons of questions.

1. Is it possible these are fluke eggs that are infertile either because no mating has gone on or the newts are too young? (If I get lots of eggs I am going to want to give them away, but I don't want to give away infertile eggs)

2. I have heard that karelinii lay hundreds of eggs. over what time interval does this occur? about how many eggs/day should I expect?

3. I am going to make plastic bag plants, should I take all live plants out of the aquarium and put all plastic ones in or will they prefer the plastic plants to live ones? also, is it okay if I use wite plastic bags instead of clear ones?

1. Young females may lay infertile eggs. If fertile, the first larvae from young females are (sometimes) weaker than usual. Pay careful attention to the adults' diet.

2. I had 3 large adult females that produced over 1100 eggs over a span of about 5 months. But yours are likely to lay MUCH fewer eggs, maybe a tenth of that during their first season. (Also bear in mind at at least 50% of all eggs laid by this species are genetically defective, so those 1100 eggs produced ~500 larvae - compared to axolotls, this really isn't so bad!)

3. The newts will lay eggs anywhere. Even if they prefer plastic strips, they'll continue to use live plants if they are present. You can certainly use white plastic, but clear has a big advantage: you can see the eggs.

Congratulations, and good luck!

thanks so much as always.

When you say, "pay careful attention to the adults' diet." Does that mean if I feed them well the larvae will be stronger, or was it a subtle joke telling me make sure I raise the larvae seperately or they will supplement the adults' diet.

Hi Patrick,

Female newts will lay infertile eggs when little or no mating activity taked place. I got a few dozen duds from my marmoratus pair because the male never got fully "in the mood". As to feeding, I'll let Jenn explain what she meant, but I will tell you that laying females use up a lot of energy and laying activity will drop down when she's hungry. Karelini will eat their larvae, but I didn't see much egg predation from my pair. Crested males also use a lot of energy in both cresting and chasing, so keep them fat to minimize aggression and predation.

eldaldo said:

When you say, "pay careful attention to the adults' diet." Does that mean if I feed them well the larvae will be stronger, or was it a subtle joke telling me make sure I raise the larvae seperately or they will supplement the adults' diet.

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LOL! I suppose it's accurate either way. I meant that the female's diet will affect the quality and quantity of eggs she produces.