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Best way to keep Eurycea guttolineata?

JMH

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I recently picked up two three lines, about 5-6 inches each. Not sure on their sex but I plan on picking up two more and attempting to breed them. I have them in my basement in a 10 gallon? Rubbermaid (with a tight lid) they have multiple rocks for hiding and coverage with water (60-65 F) about 5 inches deep. I am interested how other people keep them and if you have had any success in breeding them.
 

JMH

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I just took some photos of the salamanders and the current setup.
 

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JMH

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Here is a picture of the new setup
 

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Lamb

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E. guttolineata can often be found in the same streams as E. cirrigera, at least in Mississippi they can. So it may be worthwhile to look at breeding set ups for E. cirrigera and work from there. I've seen multiple E. cirrigera set ups on this site, and they tend to have running water with stacks of rocks and or slate. The E. cirrigera will oviposit on the lower surface of rocks that are submerged in the water. You may want to prop a few pieces up so that they can get under them to do that. Moss is always a good addition.

We don't have much rock in streams in my part of the state, so breeding habitat looks pretty different. Females will apparently oviposit beneath driftwood, or beneath low hanging moss or in leaf litter in the creek. E. guttolineata are also found in association with lentic water (swampy ponds).

Oh, and sexing Eurycea is relatively easy during the breeding season (which comes to a close in March or April in my region). Males will have cirri, which are fleshy projections that grow down from their nostrils and overhang their lower jaws. If you see those, you know it's male. However, sometimes these are not very long or prominent, depending on how much testosterone is going through the animal at the time. Fortunately, males also grow enlarged premaxillary teeth (teeth on the upper jaw at the very front), which you can usually feel if you gently rub your finger against the lower tip of their snout. It will feel like sandpaper. They'll also have a small mental gland (portion of slightly raised, slightly lighter skin at the apex of their lower jaw), which you can sometimes see. In the field, I generally rely on cirri and or premaxillary teeth. Below I've linked a diagram in which you can see the approximate position of the gland and their teeth. The drawing on top depicts the premaxillary teeth growing through the lower jaw.

http://people.oregonstate.edu/~arnoldst/eurycea.jpg
 
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erwin

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I had a small breeding succes with them in the past. The tank was 28 inches by 12 inches by 12 inches. I had much more land than water and the water depth was about 2 inches. I also had a pump with the outlet at the top of a pile of stones.

Succes with them, very nice animals!
 

JMH

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Sorry, I havent been on here in awhile. There arent any eggs in the picture its just the glare from the container. Anyhow, I have a new setup for my 3.4 collection. I have a pump constantly keeping the water moving and flowing down to a small pond area on one side. The setup is about 25% water. I am feeding crickets once a week and all the salamanders seem to be healthy. Breeding season is just about here and hopefully I will get some eggs out of my females. I am beginning to adjust the photoperiod to induce breeding. I will keep everyone updated and I will also post some pictures of the new setup soon.​
 

JMH

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Here are a few pictures of the current setup, I looked again but haven't seen any eggs. Sorry for the poor quality I took them with my phone.
 

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Coastal Groovin

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Jake I would add small shopped earthworm chunks to their diet to get them into breeding condition. A diet of just crickets probably won't do it. Do you ever see them hunting in the water or do they seem to stay on land more?
 
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