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Breeding Alytes and Pelodytes

GeoNewt

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Hi all,
Today I was very excited to hear calling from both my Alytes muletensis and Pelodytes punctatus, and also to see both pairs of Pelodytes punctatus in amplexus. Does anyone have any advice on breeding either of these species? The punctatus are in a terrestrial set-up, but have a very wide 4" deep water dish filled with elodea, whereas the muletensis are in a smaller terrestrial set-up with a much smaller water dish - are these good tanks for breeding? Also, does anyone have any tips on sexing muletensis, as I have heard they are very difficult to distinguish.
Thanks, George.
 

Azhael

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The Pelodytes should be fine with that amount of water i guess. They pretty much breed like Rana or Pelophyllax, they shouldn´t give you any trouble (they are supossedly quite easy to breed).
The Alytes male will carry the eggs for a while until they are close to hatching, but i ignore if a small water dish will be enough (in theory i would guess so).
Can´t give you any help on sexing A.muletensis since i´m not that familiar with the species, but if they are calling you might be able to tell which one is the origin of the call.
 

GeoNewt

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Thanks for the reply.
Would you recommend putting in a larger water dish for when the muletensis eggs hatch, or will they just be offloaded into the little one (then I can move them to an aquarium)? Also, what would you recommend as food for young muletensis/punctatus, and what should their water temperature be?
Sorry for the number of questions.
Thanks, George
 

eljorgo

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I´ve seen iberian Alytes males letting their tads in quite big sized and clear water streams. Dont know if that helps.

All the best,
 

GeoNewt

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Thanks Jorge, that is helpful indeed, as I wasn't sure where the male would prefer to deposit the larvae.
 

eljorgo

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Anyway they were iberian Alytes so thing may change a little bit for islander Alytes from Mallorca. I dont know this island much well so I don't know either if there are streams or only vernal pools/ponds/lakes in there.

cheers,
 

Azhael

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They are oportunists that will also use small ponds or even puddles. I think it could go either way, wether you give them a lot of water or you just give them a water dish, they might find it sufficient.
 

caleb

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Have you seen Simon Hartley's BHS Bulletin pieces on breeding Pelodytes? I can scan these if you haven't. I think he had best results with somewhat deeper water (though I have seen them breeding in very shallow water in Portugal).

Jersey Zoo published details of their captive breeding of A. muletensis- abstract is here:
Breeding the Mallorcan midwife toad Alytes muletensis in captivity - TONGE - 2007 - International Zoo Yearbook - Wiley Online Library

I've heard that they're (perhaps surprisingly) much easier to breed and rear than A. obstetricans.
 

GeoNewt

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Thanks for the replies everyone. There is very little information available on the muletensis, so the information on where they deposit the larvae is much appreciated. I haven't seen the pelodytes article, so if you could send that to me Caleb that would be brilliant. Hopefully in the not too distant future I will be able to report breeding success, but as of now it's really just fingers crossed as to whether I have a pair of muletensis or not.
Thanks again for all the help.
 

GeoNewt

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Also here are some pictures, I don't know if these help at all in regard to sexing.
 

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colinmelsom

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Well I should look on here more often! I guess that these have either bred by now or not.
About twenty five years ago I bred Pelodytes without too many problems.At that time i kept them with European Treefrogs and found that they were amazingly arboreal.When I wanted tio breed them I put them in an aquarium with 3 or 4" of water heated to 70F and they mated within no time at all.The aquarium was very basic with a few branches and pieces of cork bark for them to climb out of the water.From memory the females laid a few clutches throughout the spring and summer.
 
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