A. tigrinum mavortium breeding

[TJ]

I read in Ed's caresheet for this species at Caudata Culture that "at this time, there are no substantiated reports of captive breeding for any terrestrial forms of A. tigrinum or A. mavortium."

Today I had a visit from Mr. Masai, of Japan, who has successfully bred A. tigrinum mavortium (WC to F1, F1 to F2). I received one of those larvae from him through a third party a couple of years ago (though I failed with it).

I've scanned the pics he showed me and will post them here in the coming days.

But please don't ask me for the details of how it was achieved as I simply don't have them (and I don't know much about Ambystoma to begin with!). This is something he's willing to document in greater detail (the next breeding round is in the spring) and share with us. But he'd prefer to present it as an article for Caudata.org magazine

That's quite a breakthrough, Tim! Tell Mr. Masai that MANY people are eagerly awaiting his article!

[TJ]

Here's an F1 female laying its eggs:

[TJ]

I'm sure he'll be happy to hear that Jen



By the way, should this be A. tigrinum mavortium or A. mavortium?

i like the use of the notebook binder spine to fan out the plastic strips.

[mike_g]

Wow, thats amazing.
~Mike

I think the care sheet will need to be updated....
(and that care sheet was the effort of three people so I do not deserve all the credit, Jen and Nate had a lot to do with it.).
I am very interested in the details also as the methodology should apply to other Ambystomids.


Ed

Yes!!

This makes my day...err...year.

wow

Nifty. Awesome, now all tiger keepers have hope.

[TJ]

Paris, it's not a notebook binder but a heater cover.

Since this seems to be his original idea, it seems only fair to virtually patent it here as the "Masai method" or "Masai breeding nest" or something like that

Tim, please tell Mr. Masai that I am greatly looking forward to it!

[TJ]

I shall pass that along

Here is a pic showing the 700-800 (F1, I think) larvae, all from the same female:

Wow, procreation at it's best. How many made it to morphing?

Simply amazing. To be able to bred tigers is a major breakthrough for the survival of this endangered species. Hopefully, Mr. Masai's method will be compatible with other species of caudates, especially those whose survival is contingent on captivity.

[TJ]

Ben, I don't recall. I think he said he has 40-50 F1. Or was it 40-50 F2?

Here is a pic of what I think is the F2 larvae:

[TJ]

A close-up of the same:

Tim, unless he's maturing tigers in a year, I am guessing those are from the same parents as before. If that's the case, the larvae aren't f2, they're also f1.

I'd give my right arm for some of them.

[TJ]

Ah, but of course. I didn't consider that rather obvious fact I think it's probably better if I just post the pics and hold off the detailed narrative until I can confirm facts with him. To some extent, the dates shown on the pics speak for themselves.

Speaking of right arms (and left ones), here is a pic of the larvae with their hind limbs having developed:

[TJ]