Cooling period, How long?

[benjamin]

Last time I bred my newts I gave them a cooling period of 16 weeks. But this year my C. orientalis have been at 10º c for just one week and already my female has enormous fat reserves, and the male's cloaca is very swollen and "hairy". It's so tempting just to take them out now.

 

[kaysie]

you dont really have to cool C.o. to get them to breed.

 

[benjamin]

Well I attribute the changes they're showing right now to a cooling period, but it could just be the female responding to being moved from a crappy pet store environment, to good one, and the male responding to the presence of a potential mate and his return to the water after a year on land (he spontaniously went terrestrial and then, just as spontaneously, ironically when a I bought the other newt, he suddenly returned to the water).

 

[jennifer]

What do you mean by "take them out"? Take them out FROM where, and TO where?

 

[edward]

Hu Jenni,
I suspect he is referring to take them out of the cooler temps....

Ed

 

[joseph]

Mine are breeding right now, yours are already in cool temps? My temps are dropping as of now.

 

[benjamin]

Yeah I mean take them out of cool temps. They seem to have all the required breeding "apparatus" (Male: swollen cloaca, Female: Large fat reserves, triangular shaped cloaca.) I'm thingking of keeping them cool until the solstice but artificial lighting can fix that. I suppose it wouldn't make sense to breed them now because I'm going on vacation in a week, then have lots of evening activities until mid november, and after that exams so I guess I might be best keeping them cold until then, but after losing four last winter, I'm a bit worried about long cooling periods, especially if they're not necessary (which my observations seem to say it isn't.)