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Notophthalmus viridescens breeding

caudatadude28

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Is it easy to breed Notophthalmus viridescens? I caught a Notophthalmus viridescens louisianensis in my pond and I want to breed it.

Here are my questions:

How can i sex Notophthalmus viridescens?

Can i breed two different sub-species of Notophthalmus viridescens?
The two live in the same climate, they are Notophthalmus viridescens louisianensis & Notophthalmus viridescens viridescens

Is it easy to breed either species?

Do I have to drop the temperature to promote breeding or can the temperature remain the same and still breed?
 

lilsoul

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N.v.louisianesis are easy to breed females are larger then the males and males have biger back legs and a broad tail . I wouldn't cross breed them its just not a good idea.
 

onetwentysix

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Breeding Notos is pretty rare, but it has happened. I've gotten bad eggs from my louisianensis in the past, and one member of the forum has bred N.v.dorsalis recently, and there have been other breeding instances in the past.

Sexing notos is pretty easy; males have larger hind legs and have a number of identifying characteristics during the breeding season. There are some photos and information here: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/sexing.shtml

Breeding two different subspecies may be possible, but just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. It ruins the line, in a sense, since it's no longer representative of the wild population it came from. This means more with things like dart frogs, since many aren't imported back into the hobby, but I just don't feel that hybrid animals are a good idea. It would probably be a good deal more difficult to bred N.v.l. x N.v.v. in the first place, since if I remember right, N. v. v. are very rarely captive bred, even for N. viridescens.

Check out this caresheet if you haven't already noticed it, it might have some good information for you:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Notophthalmus/N_viridescens.shtml
 

Azhael

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I strongly beg you not to croos breed them. It´s very important to maintain the genetic purity, or else in a future we may end up with some disaster like has happened to axolotls...
 

caudatadude28

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I wont cross breed, I was just wondering if it was possible.

So Notophthalmus viridescens viridescens breed easier than Notophthalmus viridescens louisianensis?

The reason I chose Notophthalmus viridescens is because I want a caudate that I can see and observe. Most salamanders are nocturnal and tend to hide so I am looking into newts.
 
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rigsby

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Of coarse they will cross breed ,its just like crossing a sub species of crested newt, ie Cristatus/carnifex, genetically they are 99.9% the same. In the wild if their boarders crossed they would interbreed anyway like in the case of mamoratus and cristatus, it also helps if their breeding technique is the same. In the case of dartfrogs a lot of the techniques are completely different so they wouldn't cross breed ie males carry the eggs to water or the female will lay the eggs in a bromeliad and then lay dud eggs to feed the tadpoles. As long as you are going to keep the resulting offspring yourself and not distribute them as a pure bred line for someone else to unwittingly grow on and breed from or find you have too many and (god forebid) release them into the wild then i can't see too much wrong with crossing these two particular sub species. But i would hate it to go the same way as captive bred snakes where the breeders have taken it too far and have crossed different species together to produce "freaks" for financial gain.
 

onetwentysix

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I wont cross breed, I was just wondering if it was possible.

So Notophthalmus viridescens viridescens breed easier than Notophthalmus viridescens louisianensis?

The reason I chose Notophthalmus viridescens is because I want a caudate that I can see and observe. Most salamanders are nocturnal and tend to hide so I am looking into newts.

Other way around I think, unless someone corrects me. If I remember right, Nvv are harder than the other subspecies.
 
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