Kaiseri breeding condition

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Davo

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Martin
After my kaiseri bred this year i kept them in a terrestrial set up, a fortnight ago you could not tell the sexes apart.I had a look at them tonight and you can see the male and females without even picking them up.Cloaca are enlarging, and the females have the trangular shape cloaca and the male has a more rounded dumpy cloaca.The females are filling up nicely.They laid in Feb earlier this year.
Do you think it is a bit to soon to reintroduce them to the aquarium?
I am thinking of leaving tnem a few more weeks, if they get ready to lay and are still in a terrrestrial set up can they hold onto the breeding condition or could they just lose the eggs? I think last time they were ready they started to stay in the water bowl.

Thanks Martin :happy:
 
I would start introducing them to water now! (My adults have actually been back in the water for a few weeks now.)

In my experience, the females start showing first. A bit later the males start to show. I then place the chosen breeding pair in a tank and gradually increase the water level over a week or so until I have it to the desired level.


Some folks have found a bit of movement in the water helps. I have some pairs that will not breed without movement provided by an airstone. I have other pairs that could care less, even trying to breed in two centimeters of water!
 
I too would introduce them to water now. They may not breed right away, but it shouldn´t take them long.
Also, if they eat better when they are aquatic, which is the usual thing, it will be better for the females.
 
Just curious! I am new to caudata and started with 4 kaiseri last year. They don't seem very demanding at all and are thriving on live blackworms, fruit flies and frozen bloodworms. (same foods the fish and dart frogs get) They are about 1 1/2 years old now and have never been terrestrial. They spend 100% of the daylight hours in the water but I have found a few of them occasionally on the floating raft when all the lights are out. The fellow I bought them from told me his breeders were also kept totally aquatic. Any views as to the necessity of a terrestrial stage prior to breeding.
 
Any views as to the necessity of a terrestrial stage prior to breeding.
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I think the jury's still out on that one.

Both aquatic and biphasic approaches have produced breeding results and it seems little is really known about how much access to water they have in caves they inhabit. The surface breeding pools (muddy puddles) do not really represent the aquarium habitat they take so well to in captivity. There are theories about metabolic rates being lowered during cool terrestrial phases which may increase longevity in the long term. Who knows - I have newts that have been kept 100% aquatic for nearly 20 years...no longevity issues there!

Given the choice my kaiseri become terrestrial outside of the breeding season - so that's what they get.
 
My kaiseri were returned to the aquarium today. They were placed on the cork bark island that has a cork bark cave on it. They went under the bark for about half an hour then straight into the water, the male thought christmas had come early and was tail fanning like his life depended on it! Within an hour of entering the water the 3 of them were eating live bloodworm and looking very settled.The water level is low at the moment (4 inches) and i will increase it as the week goes on.
The set up is the same as i used earlier this year but with a clear bottom( got some flatworms in the substrate last time).
1 adult male and 2 adult females. Cloaca is pronounced and enlarged.
Water temp is 62f

Cheers Martin :happy:
 
I am in process of repeating last years success with this species. I really feel that a summer terrestrial period is necessary. Truthfully though I need a few more years to prove it.

I focused on temperature and lighting this year in the attempt to clear up some of the muddled results myself and others have had in the past.
 
Good luck with the breeding, hope you get plenty of fertile eggs! :D
My adults are kept ontop of a wardrobe in a bedroom in a terrertrial set up, they do get natural light but no direct sunlight, so i think they are tuned in to the shortening daylight and the room cools slightly but would not class it as chilled. Sorry dont have any accurate temps but my thinking is the slight cooling and the shortening daylight hours combined with a terrestrial set up brings them into condition.
 
I found this year that lighting is less important than a temperature drop. Throughout the experimentation I found a sudden drop from 70F down to 48F works best, however I have some scant details from others that this is not always true. I can confirm the appearance of a trend involving barometric pressure drops, but will need a few more years to prove it.
 
I succumbed to peer pressure and moved my kaiseri into a 90 litre aquatic tub with stone island today. I noticed that the females despite being terrestrial had all developed long tube like cloacae during this recent cool spell. The air temperature in the newt room hit a record low of 1C (33F) so unsurprisingly the newts took to the warmer water (8C) straight away and the males were fanning within 15 minutes. Even at these low temperatures they continue to feed well.
 
I had mine down to similar temperatures last winter. These guys will feed in any climate it appears! Lots of tail fanning here, but other than one accidental batch of eggs due to a malfunctioning air conditioner over the summer, no eggs here yet.
 
SludgeMunkey said:
I found this year that lighting is less important than a temperature drop. Throughout the experimentation I found a sudden drop from 70F down to 48F works best, however I have some scant details from others that this is not always true. I can confirm the appearance of a trend involving barometric pressure drops, but will need a few more years to prove it.
Click to expand...


Don't they pretty much live in darkness in their natural habitat? Dark water holes, caves, underground water bodies? Mine seems quite sensitive to light....
Anyway that may explain why lighting (day duration) is not that important... ???
 
With Neurergus kaiseri, data is sketchy at best. While the general consensus id they are seasonal "cave" dwellers, I have yet to find substantiated data proving it. Three of the four known sites lack cave like features. They do like it dark, but then most terrestrial species do. At my old house I had little natural light to work with. At the new house I have lots. But, unrolled a successful seasonal breeding here, I too am "data deficient".
 
I really don't think they are "cave dwellers". While some of the images we've seen are of very starkly dry and barren regions where the streams have channelized quite deeply, other documents describe rocky streams and waterfalls, with some of the animals apparently washed downstream from higher altitude open oak forests. The cave-like habitats are breeding sites because they contain deeper slow-moving pools. Such pools likely exist in and adjacent to the surface flow of the streams as well. It could be that those sites also represent the downstream limits for the species, since the surrounding terrestrial habitat may not be the most suitable for the rest of the year.

This is one of the localities:
Panoramio - Photo of best photo from shevi
Panoramio - Photo of
 
My 2 females are filling up with eggs and the cloaca is getting more triangular shaped and longer.
The difference in size from Feb this year when they were spawning is quite dramatic. I suppose they are almost a year older but they do seem very full of eggs compared to the first spawning.I have watched one of the females doing dummy runs grabbing plants with her back feet.I also watched a female tail fanning back to the male, not seen this before, not as frantic as the male but definte tail fanning. The male is still looking his usual build but a bit bigger from Feb, cloaca looks fully developed.

Temp in tank is 60f

Martin :happy:
 
Wow Martin, those are for sure, very very good newts for sure!! Awesome! My congratulations!
 
I knew you were having those today. Thats why I congratulated you yesterday. I can anticipate events with some hours of interval. So i guess you would like. Soon I hope laoensis do the same!:p

Cheers Martin
 
Temps dropped here and the female stopped laying after the first egg. It was that cold i left the central heating on low all night, when i got up i found the 2 females had layed 20 eggs between them, temp was 60-62 farenheit. They are still laying, i am having a brew and sitting next to there tank, much better than the television! :happy:
 
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