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Breeding SALAMANDRA GIGLIOLII

F

francesco

Guest
Talking to a friend we agreed from our experiences that s. gigliolii is a very delicate subspecies, much more difficult to keep than s. salamandra, unless you keep it in an outdoor enclosure.
So I was wondering: has any of you bred gigliolii IN TERRARIUMS or heard of people that did it?

Francesco
 
M

matt

Guest
Yes, there is a very knowledgable bloke in the UK who does this regularly. Terrarium breeding (snake trays, actually)IS possible.
I hope mine - also kept inside - reproduce soon.
PS - Wonderful animals - stunning!
 
F

francesco

Guest
Matt
Are yours CB o WC? Could you tell me how you keep yours? I had adults and newly metamorphosed gigliolii; the adults ate only waxmoth larvae wich are too fat for them (they didn't die but I gave them away), the n m did well for 3-4 weeks after metamorphosis but then suddenly got bacterial infection and died. I keep other subspecies in the same condition and they are doing fine.
 
S

sergé

Guest
You are right that S. s. gigliolii (the southern ones) are more difficult. I have had adults for several years and only had a few larvae once in a while, whereas my S. s. gallaica reproduced every year.
Mine ate everything I fed hem (tenebrio, crickets, earthworms etc.). So that wasn't the problem. The aniamls did very well. I also could observe mating activities every year (autumn mostly). The female got thicker, but didn't produce larvae. I didn't provide them with running water, but just with a waterbowl (in which the gallaica reproduced without problems). I also kept my animals pretty dry, as a friend of mine had lost his animals keeping them too wet.

But....so I haven't got the solution for you, can only aggree that these are not very easy. But, that also is the case for several other Mediterranean subspecies/ species which tend to show calcium deficiencies if you don't take too much care on it (a problem the northern subspecies don't have show that clearly).

good luck, Sergé
 
M

matt

Guest
Two things Serge...

Calcium deficiencies (and therefore skeletal deformities)can be prevented with a supplement called limestone flour. This is actually a horse supplement. Lightly dust the occasional feed, say once a fortnight or once a month. I use it on algira, gigliolii and longirostris.

Re bowls. If you use papertowel as a substrate and snake boxes as a set-up you can avoid the bowls... make the whole container slope at an angle so water is at the bottom. You can take the larvae out, feed them, put them back on their own in a similar set-up to morph... but maybe you knew this already and have tried it... before this I used cleaned painters trays for water as they are so easy for animals to get out of, due to their ledge.)

Hope this is useful to some people... and I'm not the person to take credit for this!
 
S

sergé

Guest
Hi Matt,

I have this lime stone flour, and indeed, it seems to work. Better then previous calcium supplements I used to use. However, you can only see slight calcium dificiencies after a few years. I had one animal who looked completely correct in his movements and measurements, but was dead one day without any obvious reason. I had an X-ray made of it, and found out that in comparison with a wild caught animal it was diificult to see his skeleton.
Lime stone flour is easy to get in the UK, outside it is more difficult, but thorugh sales@equimins.com I found a dealer over here. There were pretty interested to hear results in using this horse supplement for other animals.
Paper towl is nice, but...it also needs cleaning at least once or twice wqeekly...and I have too many animals to do it like that. I only use this set up for my juveniles because I can control beter if they have eaten.

all the best, Sergé
 
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