2012 Ichthyosaura alpestris apuana Final Count Is In!

I shipped off the remainder of my Iaa offspring bred in 2012 and counted up the resulting numbers. Including both metamorphosed juveniles and gilled larvae the total comes to 150! I've never raised that many of any species before - not by a long shot- and that does not include eggs I gave away. My little apuanus group of 3.6.0 has done me proud. And though it was really fun to watch so many grow and develop it was also a little stressful making sure they all had new homes.

So how did 2012 turn out for every one else's European newts? I hope everyone else is just as pleased with their outcomes as I am with mine.

Heather

I just changed the title of the thread to include the full species name.

Nice work, rearing so many through! It must be quicker to list those enthusiasts that don't have your babies, now!

What sort of setups did you use to rear them? I reared about that number through from eggs last year and still found the best way of doing it was lots of pond-type tubs with sponge filters. I meant to take a picture of them all the morphs together, but never got round to it!

I don't think I will rear that number willingly again, though!

C

That is a ton of little Alpines! My 2.2 group churned out a ton of eggs but unfortunately pretty much all were laid in the middle of a cross country move. I sent maybe 100 eggs to members on the board and ended up raising one larvae that must have hitchhiked onto some plants and ended up in the Dobro tank. The males are already in full breeding mode and the females are enormous so I am expecting more eggs soon.

My 2.3 Dobrogicus group laid something like 500 eggs this season, I raised 20 to morphing and kept 1 oddly colored male. The rest of the eggs were sent to members. The males are cresting up and the females are getting fat and looking good.

My 1 mature Lissotriton v. ampelensis female laid a ton of duds, after a cooling period this summer though the 2 males are looking fantastic and are furiously courting the one mature female. Already saw her crawling after a male so I am hopeful for fertile eggs in the coming weeks.

Hoping for more success this winter/spring!

These newts are really neat I am getting 4 from Michael Shrom(hoping for 2.2 but they are not sexable so fingers crossed haha) Now that I have my own place, its nice being able to get back into newts .

Now that is a lot of babies! I'm hoping for similar results from my 2.3 this year as they are in their cooling period right now.

Make that 151 as a few weeks ago I found a little Morph hauled out on the island. The parents are at it again too and I'm debating on whether I want to raise so many again. If I do I'll use the same method as last year- dirty tank method separated from the parents. I also would like to find an alternative egg laying substrate other than live plants that the females find acceptable. They don't like plastic strips so this year I'm trying tulle fabric but no eggs in it thus far.
Heather

Forgive my ignorance, but what exactly do you mean by dirty tank method?