Caudata.org: Newts and Salamanders Portal

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
Did you know that registered users see fewer ads? Register today!

WHHHHEEEEE-HA!!!!!

P

paris

Guest
well they did it! and with out too much to get in their way..so here is a running photo documentary of the whole thing....so far....

2 days ago the other female(not lefty) allowed a male to grab her and didnt resist him. they stuck together for about 2 days and ant attempt to grab her by either myself or another male would result in the amplexing male flipping his back foot to push away or even attempting to BITE me!!(a funny site)
here is a pic of the females vent, it was more swollen than before so i knew with the combination of the males enthusiasm and this that something was soon to come. (they had been in amplexus for about a day at this time)

13600.jpg


here is a picture of the male trying to bite me. the mouth has soo many loose layers that the billowy interior could actually prolapse from the mouth! note that even though these frogs dont have tounges they do have a structure like it.

13601.jpg


after 2 days the females skin had changed also -its was smoother and puffy, as you can see in this pic.(but not sticky as i was lead to believe)

13602.jpg


they started rolling-having outsplayed feet together in sort of a barrel roll that ended up as a headstand with some hopping.

13603.jpg


i can say it is a myth that they need deep water to breed. they never used more than 1/2 of the tanks height to do all their acrobatics.



13604.jpg


once on her head the female would shake-hopper like- and eject 1-5 eggs. this picture is out of focus but is one of the action ones that shows the eggs comming out.

13605.jpg


i was able to finally get a shot of the egg deposition tube

13606.jpg


once the eggs were released and shaken down her flexed back and fertilised the male would press himself to the female to hold them to the swollen skin untill they stuck well. i was suprised that the semen wasnt visible during release-i expected it to be white and cloudy, but i saw no such evidence of it-i was worried they werent fertilised-but i can currently (8 hrs later) see cleaves in the eggs.



13607.jpg


the head stand hopping served to attach eggs down the curved back further and further from the origin. they were first stuck to the rear area and once that area was saturated with eggs the later ones would slide off the previous ones and settle further up the back. not only does pressing bodies together help to stick the eggs to the back the male also takes his back feet and presses the eggs to the females shoulder area which his body cannot press to her.


13608.jpg


this whole process took about 3 hours

13609.jpg


several times the female came up for air-but only once did the male take air

13610.jpg


after they were done the female tried to tell the male she was done buy doing the usual thumping to avoid amplexus. she lay on the bottom thumping, flattening out her body so that when he gave the signal he wanted air she resisted his bodily encouragement and he finally gave up and let go of her to get air.

13611.jpg


and then VOILA! this is what i got

13612.jpg


about 14 eggs were lost to the bottom during breeding and the male attempted to reamplex the female-i was worried she would loose more eggs off her back avoiding him. i took her and placed her in a bucket (where she is now and very calm) and also pressed the loose eggs to her-all but 1 apparently have attached to her. i am not sure how well they will do or if they are all fertilised (since a few were released after the male had sprayed and rolled) but i am told trying to raise them apart from the female doesnt produce good results. i will keep the 1 left under observation to see how far it goes.
 
A

alan

Guest
Nice Paris!
The trick now is to prevent the female eating the young as soon as they hatch.
 
E

edward

Guest
Hi Paris,
If you want to try rearing the loose eggs I would recommend making an artificial incubator. Basically put the eggs in a container with a rounded bottom and place an airstone at the bottom of the curve. The airflow should be high enough that the eggs are gently swirled and kept in motion but not too rough.
This method has been used to rear the eggs from mouth brooding fish on occasion.

I would recommend a false bottom so the female doesn't eat the offspring when they emerge. You might be able to use the plastic egg crating that is used as a light diffuser for flourescent light fixtures.

Good luck,
Ed
 
P

paris

Guest
yeah i think ill make her a set up once she gets about 3 months into it-i am told it will take 3-4....im guessing it will be easier to keep her in a set up with a false bottom that to fit the whole tank with frog muzzles...
biggrin.gif


ed-with the airstone method-will i get a tadpole or will the little froglet insist on staying in the egg till it is a frog? is it just the mother that retains the toadlets because of skin issues-or do the eggs actually stay intact under her skin?
 
E

edward

Guest
Hi Paris,
If I remember correctly this depends on the species. Some of the Pipas do not retain the babies until they have metamorphed but release tadpoles instead which then complete developement like other frogs and toads. I would suspect that if you have one of the species that has complete development of the eggs then they hatch as little toads and not tadpoles as other species of frogs that have direct development have specialized modifications to allow for respiration which would make it very difficult to survive out of the egg.
Good luck,
Ed
 
P

paris

Guest
well this is what she looks like after 2 days, the skin is growing most over the sparcer areas on the sides. i was able to get all but 3 of the ones that fell off to stick back to her. i kept her away from the others for a day so the eggs had a better chance.

13628.jpg


i have set up a fish breeding net set up in the upward flow from the filter system which produces alot of bubbles, this comes up from under the net set up and wiggles the eggs lightly-im hoping it will do about the same as the set up ed suggests.

13629.jpg
 
E

edward

Guest
Looks good Paris, I didn't even think about getting the loose eggs to stick to her back.
Good luck,
Ed
 
K

katie

Guest
Just out of curiosity...what ever happened? I've been looking all over for info on breeding pipa pipa and haven't found much. I'm curious as to how many of the babies hatched and how many lived.

~Katie
 
General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    There are no messages in the chat. Be the first one to say Hi!
    Top