Fuzhongensis

[chris]

After a long period of courting from late October through to December, my female has finally laid 1 egg! Anyone else who has bred fuzhongensis, how long do they take to get going?
Chris

 

[vincent]

Hi Chris, I also have a lot of fuzhongensis eggs too.

 

[chris]

Vincent
did they mate in captivity or were the females just gravid? If you bred them, how long did they take to start laying after mating?
Chris

 

[vincent]

Hi Chris, I keep them for 3 years, they lay the eggs every year.
I don't know when did they mate, i just found the eggs last month. I haven't do anythings for the eggs, i follow the local climate and they usually hatch in 2-3 weeks.

 

[alan]

Woo hoo Chris! Congrats!

 

[chris]

Cheers Alan
its only one egg. Funny thing with paramesotriton is that as soon as the water needs changing the males cloaca will shrink over night. The female will seem less gravid and as soon as the water is refreshed, female big a gain, swollen cloaca again...
Chris

 

[alan]

Temperature effect?

 

[ralf]

Congrats Chris! Let's hope that this was just the beginning. Can't give you any clue as to how long it takes the female to lay eggs after the passing of spermatophores. It seems with this genus that females may deposit fertilized eggs even after months of encountering a male.
From what I've seen on pics and from my own animals the eggs are deposited over a certain period of time, so keep looking. The female also seems to prefer single strands of Egeria (or any other plant) to sometimes lay several eggs in a row. Egg deposition in my tanks usually took place at night. Like Alan already stated, temperature does play a role in getting the animals in breeding condition. I am still not sure as to how far down one should cool fuzhongensis in winter though.

Ralf

 

[chris]

I have had the male for 3 years now, and he comes into breeding condition every autumn with only the cooling effect inside the house - nothing special. I bought the female in October, so I was not expecting anything this year. Juraj cools his hongkongensis down to 15C and they breed, so I'll try that and if that doesn't work I'll go down to 10, but not much lower.
Chris

 

[ralf]

Some info on temperatures in Hongkong streams during winter (last post of the thread).

http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/7/1287.html#POST5530

Ralf