Couple of N.v.d videos

[slowfoot]

Here are a couple videos I took of my newts (testing a new camera). It's mating time, so they're a little more exciting than usual. Apologies for the reflections and meowing cat...

Here's my male newt showing off his awesome cloaca and breeding dress (not as impressive as some species, but pretty):

male newt - YouTube

And a video of the male sneaking up on a poor, unsuspecting female: I'd just put him back in with his ladies so she didn't know he was there. Best to imagine this one with the theme from 'Jaws' playing:

newt attack - YouTube

 

[Azhael]

The tension was killing me!
It is quite a remarkable mating system, i wish i had had the joy of witnessing it myself (but my notos live somewhere better now).
Thank you for sharing, i never get tired of seeing your wonderful newts

 

[Italicus]

awesome video but...did he just kick the female?

 

[slowfoot]

awesome video but...did he just kick the female?

Haha! Yeah, it looks like that, but he's actually trying to grab her around the neck with his back feet. The females really try to avoid amplexus, so the males do their 'swooping' maneuver to try to grab them fast.

Thanks for the comments!

 

[slowfoot]

Here are the rest of the bunch. Again, apologies for the weird background noises

I finally got my older efts into the water. Actually, I had to throw them in, but they are doing very well:

2009 (?) efts - YouTube

These are my 2010-2011 larvae that chose not to morph. I gave the ones that did morph to a Caudata member. These guys are almost full sized already, but they still have some gill remnants and have not developed their red spots yet:

2011 larvae - YouTube

And here's the little morph that got lost and stayed in the water. I had a scare when he stopped eating for a while and got bloated, but he recovered. He is about 1/3 the size of his siblings:

little aquatic morph - YouTube

Thanks for looking!