Triturus Marmoratus embryonic development

I was one of the fortunate ones to receive eggs from Dawn.

Dawn is truly a jewel.

I am really ready to get my feet wet so to speak.

This experience is truly amazing!!roud:

I am guessimating that the eggs are about 1 week old. The eggs are a off white with a tinge of pastel green color. They have a distinct comma shape. I have them in my guest bathroom where it is always cool, quiet and dark. I have noticed 1 or 2 eggs have a fuzzy growth. Is this fungus??? room temp 65 degrees F. Is this too warm???

I check on them several times a day.......as if they are able to to get legs and walk.

I will definitely keep you posted on their development.

I will try to get pics between now and my next post.

Remove the fuzzy ones, they are duds. All of the crested newts (including marmoratus) have a genetic defect that causes 50% of their eggs to die before they reach hatching. Some of them develop up to the "comma" stage before they die, so this doesn't necessarily mean that those are good ones. See:
Caudata Culture Species Entry - Triturus marmoratus
Caudata Culture Species Entry - Crested Triturus species

The weird thing is that until recently, none of my eggs fuzzed up. They've been laying for over a month and I have many larvae now, and only the other day I noticed some fuzzed ones.

I don't have many maybe 4-6 but definitely less than 10.

Overall the eggs look good.

oops I am suppose to be posting pics.

Oh well, I will take them later today.

It would cause too much of a disturbance to get the digital camera, do downstairs, turn on lights, then the dog wakes up......and it takes forever for him to settle down!!!

You get the point.

would love to see pics.

Does anyone know what a natural variation in development time would be? For example, are there conditions under which eggs might arrest development or start developing sometime after laying?

otterwoman said:

The weird thing is that until recently, none of my eggs fuzzed up. They've been laying for over a month and I have many larvae now, and only the other day I noticed some fuzzed ones.

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Actually, that makes some sense. The ones with the genetic defect develop up to a point. It takes them a couple of weeks before they truly die. So you wouldn't expect to see any fuzzy ones until 2-3 weeks after they started laying, and you might not see a significant number until a month or more into the laying season.

Molch said:

would love to see pics.

Does anyone know what a natural variation in development time would be? For example, are there conditions under which eggs might arrest development or start developing sometime after laying?

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It's possible to slow development by cooling, or accelerate it by warming (up to a point). I don't know of any way to completely stop development or restart it. Perhaps there is some sort of freezing method that would work (it can be done with human embryos, so I guess there is probably a way to do it with amphibian eggs, but I've never read anything about it ever being done).

Hey guys look!!!!


I am terribly nervous! I went to take pics of my eggs. One has come out of the shell. I am so nervous I can barely type. So as I look further like 2 or 3 more look like a really really teeny tiny salamander.


HELP!!!!!!!!

Next when I put the container up to the light to get a better pic more of my eggs have fungused but they are ones that have the comma shape as in they are ready to come out.


what should I do?? just leave them alone. they are not duds!!!

HELP!!!!!

The pictures I have attached are the ones that look like they are about to hatch.

Should I remove the babies and relocate them as they hatch???

OMG!!!! I AM SO NERVOUS!!!

I went ahead and removed 2 of the larvae into what I call my quarantine tank.

Before I removed them I had to set up their tank. I used old tank water from my 22 gallon tub that houses cycled media, freshwater plants, snails and feeder shrimp. Once all this was in place I waited for the thermometer to register. I then found a small freshwater plant that was healthy with good roots to add to the quarantine tank.

The 2 larvae seemed to be adjusting well. One of the larvae is resting on a leaf. :happy: The other is on the bottom of the tank. I will check on them at least 2 times a day.

As far the container with the remaining eggs. I can see that I should have 3-4 more larvae that are ready to emerge. I did do my first 75% water change. I replaced with the water from my 22 gallon tank. I feel pretty much safe with this water because it has aged and cycled for at least a month.

As far as feeding the larvae.... I will wait until they have consumed their yolk sac. I will then attempt to feed daphnia and baby brine shrimp. As they get older I will feed enriched brine shrimp. This brine shrimp will be loaded with vitamins and minerals. I think for safety sake I will have to move the larvae into a cycled tank with filtration so that I will not have to contend with spikes in ammonia and nitrites.

I guess I must have worked through my anxiety attack. :talker: :wacko:

I will keep you posted.

It sounds like you are on the right track!

Thanks for creating this thread! Glad to see I am not alone! Only one of mine has hatched so far...

Dawn and Jen are amazing - completely beyond words!
Jen - thank you for your links!

aah, mine aren't developing then....they're 10 days old and no sign of cell division; not even neural folds....still, they are not getting fuzzy either, except just a few.

Maybe there's still hope they will get their act together....my kind of luck Bwahaha

Molch said:

aah, mine aren't developing then....they're 10 days old and no sign of cell division; not even neural folds....still, they are not getting fuzzy either, except just a few.

Maybe there's still hope they will get their act together....my kind of luck Bwahaha

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Do you think is has anything to do with water temp or room temp? my room temp is at 65 degrees F..

I did not see the neural folds at first. I went through at least 2-3 members notes with the same exact species. It took about 13 to 16 days between when eggs were hatched and when they were laid.

I believe you still have the potential for hatching.

Initially I did not see fuzz. Then before I could knock on water......BAMMM!!!!!!! There was the fuzz on eggs showing cell division and then the tiny precious babies. I have had my eggs less than a week. Hang in there.:blob:

4 more larvae today.

I suspect I will have a large number between now and sunset.

In the eggs that are remaining I can see the larvae but it is still in the egg casing.

About 6 to 10.

I suspect a large hatch by midnight today.

I hope mine catch on...I still only have the one. I do see others that look like they are ready to pop out though...

awesome. Would love to see pix of the hatchlings.... are they yellow and stripey like other Triturus?

My eggs are toast...many are clouding up now, and no development. I wanna go to a corner and cry....I may not get another chance at marms

Molch said:

awesome. Would love to see pix of the hatchlings.... are they yellow and stripey like other Triturus?

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Yes, good description.

Molch said:

My eggs are toast...many are clouding up now, and no development. I wanna go to a corner and cry....I may not get another chance at marms

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Bummer! I'm sure you'll get another chance. If not this year, another year.

13 additional larva since last post. Total count so far = 19.

I can see maybe 4-6 more that need to escape the clear casing in the next few hours.

I am guessing I will slow down at 25.

After which I see more eggs are starting to develop into the comma shape.

just counted 2 more total 21.

i got pics of the larva this time.

Molch said:

awesome. Would love to see pix of the hatchlings.... are they yellow and stripey like other Triturus?

My eggs are toast...many are clouding up now, and no development. I wanna go to a corner and cry....I may not get another chance at marms

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If I am successful with this bunch, I will be more than happy to pay it forward if you could reimburse with shipping. There is no way it would be fair to keep all these babies to myself and Dawn was sweet enough to share with me.