NVV breeding, need advice.

i have had some NVV and they are mixed genders. since it is too hard for me to seperate the genders(and it is a little hard to tell the gender). If you've bred them in the past, tell me everything you know about the subject. i wouldn't want any of them to get hurt. since i can not raise all the eggs, and won't ship them away(unless necessary), i am going to use the advice from someone else on this sitee by dryin out the eggs in their early stages. i would like to keep a few though, so how many larva would i need to keep for about 2-4 efts. the largest aquarium i have is a thirty gallon, and when the efts morph, and my turtles get moved to larger residents, i will move my already existing five and the morphed offspring into it. how many could a thirty gallon fit? my females look pretty full, but don't seem to want to accept getting them fertilized or laying them. what should i do, and how can i be sure it is not a fat male or a gravid female. i looked through the article, but if you have any other tips tell me please. thanks

#WYATT~

As the daylight hours lengthen, and temperatures rise your newts will come into breeding condition.
The simplest way of determining their sex when not in condition is that the male's back legs are far stouter that the female's.
Most efts are terrestrial for 2-3 years, so would do better in a different tank.

thanks. that answers a lot, but not all. could you try to answer some other questions, guys and gals.

anyone? please...

In captivity, there is no guarantee that they will breed. I had them for 20 years and they bred only a few times. I admit I wasn't taking the best care of them all of those years. If yours are mixed genders and in breeding condition, you will see the male(s) clasp the female(s). If you have not seen any clasping, then I'd say it's way too soon to worry about how many eggs to raise.

Photos of male/female, and photos of the black nuptial pads that the male gets in breeding condition are here:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/sexing.shtml

well, they are wild caught, and this is the first breeding season after. i have seen a little of them clasping eachother, but i think so are gravid. could anyone post a picture of a gravid notophalmus? and they might not be liking the plastic egg strips because they had been wild half their life. if i got them something real, would they lay? should i seperate the females? do you think it's worth the work, or should i wait till next year?

in the bloated newt section, there is a gravid C.O. and the way it looks is similar to some of mine. half of the belly is enlarged more than the other side. is this the same for noto. virdescens? anything...and i mean anything...that makes breeding easier, or tips on how to do it right, or any advice, please tell. would it be good to post this thread in the general discussion so it gets more views?

Breeding requires good care year round, proper conditions of light and temperature (which nobody really knows specifically), and some luck.

well, i don't want to raise any, but they sort have been amplexing each other, so i'm not sure. in the thread NVV EGG PROBLEM, somebody said taking them out as soon as they are laid will dispose of them.

put it this way. i shouldn't have said any, because i would like to raise a few, but i have six, and half are supposed to be females, and if i do the math...400x3=1200...i know i can not have that many. i am trying to keep getting them to breed so that i know they do lay them and i don't have to worry about one day coming and looking and see 1200 larvea in my tank. as i said somewhere else, they may already be gravid. i have only had them four months. i got them in september, and that is most of the year, and then when they came to me the water cooled down naturally, and it wasn't as warm, so that is why they are breeding. well, i think. they were in the wild the rest of their lives, so they were, as jen said, cared for all year by mother nature. it might sound like i have multiple personalitys, but don't worry about it. just don't take everything i said too seriously. most of the time i post i have just woke up.

i released the other six. i took twelve because 1) the guy who owned the pond didn't want such a large population, and didn't want his dogs to get to them and get hurt. i took so much because i was goin to see if they could thrive in a backyard pond. i have mixed intentions, and i sort of confuse myself sometimes. i sometimes want to, but sometimes i don't. read my post thoroughly, and you'll see i believe the notos have already mated early. sorry mike. i will make my posts better. and a little food for thought. in this pond, there is atleast 3 newts per one square foot of pond, maybe more. i was helping in a way, and i wanted to keep notos because they are interesting. thanx. if i didn't answer some questions, feel free to ask me.

okay, i exagerated. probably one newt to a square foot. any answers?

Wyatt, you e-mailed me today with the same questions you have been asking again and again. Look, the answers I gave above are the best I have.

I have bred them only "by accident" and - as I said before - nobody knows exactly what triggers them to breed or lay eggs.

How many to keep to get 2-4 efts just depends on skill and luck. If you know how to raise larvae and are lucky, you need only 2-4 eggs. If you let the water go bad, or have some other loss, then you could keep 1000 larvae and still lose them all. You will just have to make your best guess. If you do end up with too many efts, it's not difficult to find other people willing to take them.

well, i am sorry about it. i was looking through old posts and tim used to have some NVV he thought was gravid. he said to talk to you. sry. i got all the info i need. i will probably keep 4-5 larva because i have bad luck with keeping larva. um, there is only one question i have. HOW MANY NEWTS CAN I KEEP IN A 30 GALLON AQUARIUM? thnx.

For Nvv, I would say you can keep up to about 12 adults in a 30-gallon. But it depends on how the tank is set up and whether all of them are aquatic.