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Eddie & Elektra lay eggs!

Otterwoman

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Panic in the Otter household! I'm on the phone with Grumpet and feeding my newts. Suddenly I see eggs in E&E's tank! "Oh my God! They've finally laid eggs! I've got to go!" I said.
"Who laid eggs?" In my panic, I can't for the life of me remember the name of the species (Tylo. verr.).
"Eddie and Elektra! ... You know, the chinese ones..." After a bit I finally stammer, "The crocodile newts!" And what does Grumpet say? You will never believe this. (Remember, he's a marine biologist, and introduced me to newts.) "Newts lay EGGS??"
Either he feels my panic, or he NEVER LISTENS TO a thing I say. I mean, I never shut up about my newts. How many times have I mentioned getting eggs in the mail, raising eggs, waiting for eggs, laying eggs, and hatching eggs? I hope he was joking. He'll never live this one down.

Anyway on to the miracle. For those who don't know, I raised one from a larva, and the other I got very young (both from M. Shrom). Luckily they turned out to be a male and female. Eddie is a year younger than Elektra. Lately I've been thinking that Elektra looks as big as a house, and chalked it up to the extremely large slugs I've been feeding her lately.

I've raised other eggs, but never this species. The eggs look as big as A. maculatum eggs, which I've also raised. I'm sure they're fertile, and I've collected about 25 so far. I immediately (after the panic left and I could remember what to do) set up an egg tank and started collecting them and removing them from E&E's tank.

She laid on silk plants, some java moss I have growing in there, and on tank decorations. Some of the silk leaves she laid on were not actually in the water (maybe 1/2 -1 inch above the water), which I found interesting. Since I've cut many of the silk leaves to shreds removing the eggs just now, I put some egg laying strips I'd make earlier for other species in the tank; I think she may still have many eggs left and she can use them.

I'm hoping that when they hatch they will be large enough to eat chopped blackworms. I don't want to use pond water, since I don't want to introduce any wild "stuff" into them, but I will use a sort of "dirty water" method (I'm hoping by the time they hatch, the water will be a bit cycled; I started with one gallon of water from the parents' tank, and two gallons of treated water.)

If anyone wants to offer any tips, since I've never raised this species, please do.

I've posted on these two favorites of mine before, and often. If anyone is interested, start here:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=52345
 

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Daniel

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Congratulations, Kaysie!

I am raising Tylototriton verrucosus for the first time, too (I had some eggs sent). The first bunch hatched and I can tell you that mine are tiny so you will have difficulties with chopped blackworm. I started to feed mine with Artemia.

edit: of course I meant Dawn, sorry...I have to slow down parallel reading in different tabs
 

Ralf

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AW: Eddie & Elektra lay eggs!

Congratulations on this breeding success, Dawn. ;) Raising them will be lots of fun. A good starter for the larvae (after yolk sac resorption) are Artemia nauplii, like Daniel already wrote. Small freshwater plancton like tiny Daphnia or Moina will also be okay initially. They're hogs and show cannibalistic tendencies later on, so be prepared to provide lots of food like bloodworms or white worms. You should also regularly sort them according to size or some will miraculously vanish. :D
 

John

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Heh, it's Dawn, Daniel, not Kaysie. Dawn, congratulations.
 

Abrahm

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That's awesome, Dawn! I have no useful information to add besides congratulations and don't let Grumpet get away with his mistake.
 

t_summ

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Wow! Congrats Dawn!

I have noticed that there are a few Tylotritons laying eggs this year.

Dawn, can you post any tips for those looking to breed this species? Food items, temps, total enclosure space, lighting, aproximate ages of Eddie & Elektra? I think this information will help others have a miracle of their own!
 

Jake

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Great job Dawn! The eggs look like they're already a few days old. If you have a large tub somewhere or a spare tank you can easily culture Daphnia for the babies.
 

petro

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Hoi,
Gongratulations,They are great looking when they are a few weeks and really when you see that
they are good eating you will be suprised.;)
Because they will eat tubifex(don't now in english:confused:)in a verry early stage also.:rofl:
You must be luky with them!:grin:
Petro
 

rigsby

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Hi Dawn and congrats, try not to hatch the eggs to warm as they will hatch early and be very small. I know you said you don't want to use pond water but its what i use in the early stages with all my larvae with great success. As they grow you may find a few with tail ends missing if you don't keep them provided with a constant supply of food, once you get them on to daphnia it should be plain sailing then you can move onto blood or black worm for the rest of their development.
Good luck....Ian
 

michael

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Congrats Dawn. Hopefully my adults will hear about Eddie and Elektra and get the idea.
 

Otterwoman

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Thanks everyone for the well-wishes. This is the most exciting thing to happen to me all summer!

I know you said you don't want to use pond water

When Daniel and Ralf said how small they hatch, I had to rethink my plan. (I've always used pond water before). I have that backyard pond right
now made out of a bathtub, so I took some of that water, added two algae tabs, two pieces of cat food, and a pinch of yeast. We'll see what comes up! I did that before and it seemed to work.
Also I will definitely try and sort them to size. This will be the most challenging eggs/larvae I've raised yet!

On another note, I can't believe how hungry Elektra is. I fed her two huge slugs yesterday, and she was begging for more food today, I gave her two worms. Eddie is not eating and hiding (smart man). I don't understand, when my sister was in labor, she didn't want to eat a thing.

Michael: If I'm a grandmother, you're a great-grandfather!

can you post any tips for those looking to breed this species?

I've fretted and posted about these two since I got them. I've altered their enclosure recently (they really only went aquatic in April). If anyone is interested in learning more about them, check out the link in the top post, which leads to more posts on these two. They are pretty well chronicled!
 

Otterwoman

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The Humble Kodak EZ share Z712

Just looking at eggs today and took these...
 

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Jennewt

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I just found this post - congratulations, Dawn! Finding unexpected eggs is really a thrill, and it's even a thrill to read about it happening to someone else:D

The eggs are looking good! It's quite likely they will be able to take chopped blackworms from the start.
 

Otterwoman

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Electrons already!

They're hatching already!!!! Break out the brine shrimp hatcheries!
 

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Ciddian

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Re: Electrons already!

Look at that!!! How cool! Congrats big time! :3
 
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