Green Salamander Succesfull Breeding

[sirus14]

Last year my pair of green salamanders bred for the first time. I collected them from a ky location as juveniles about three years ago and they have grown up and bred two years in a row now. Last year the mother ate all the eggs and it was highly disappointing but so far this year she is guarding them diligently and I'm hoping they all are fertile. Does anybody have any pointers regarding aneides eggs? Ive got the getting them to breed part mostly down but I need to get them to hatch.

 

[sirus14]

Here is another picture of the mom with the eggs, she is guarding them diligently.

 

[Neotenic_Jaymes]

Remove tank mates if possible. She will eat her eggs if she's extremely hungry or if the nest is threatened. Very likely she will not eat during this peroid of guarding the nest so hopefully she has been well fed previously to laying. Keep the stress levels down as much as possible. Intruding tank mates will be seen as threat even if they aren't trying to eat the eggs.

Best to give her some distance. Flashing cameras and such can be stressful also.

 

[sirus14]

Thank you for the advice, the salamanders are in a 20 long aquarium with sandstone stacked from the bottom to the top around the back and left side of the aquarium. The other tank mates stay in particular crevices on the other side from the mother with the eggs thankfully. Hopefully I will notice some more development and be able to post some more pictures soon.

 

[taherman]

I forgot to mention in the email, this is way out of season for Aneides aeneus to be laying obviously. Have you ever seen any signs of courting, sharing the same crevice, or spermatophores in the tank?

Do you know what date she laid the eggs?

 

[sirus14]

You mentioned in the email that the females may lay the eggs then guard and eat them later on, Sadly i'm not sure if they are fertile. I have a trio and the third one is a juvenile maybe a year from maturity. The two adults both have laid eggs and they are both guarding them. The eggs were laid by the first female on 3-25-14 and by the second on 3-30-14. This is the second year the second female has laid eggs around this time and this is the first year the other salamander has laid them.

 

[taherman]

Also, for what it's worth, I leave the male in with the female when she is tending eggs. Hasn't caused any problems for the last two successful breedings.

 

[TristanClark]

very nice. I'd love to see the whole tank.

 

[SalamanderAlan]

Sirus14, If your Green Salamander eggs hatch I hope you will take a cue from Tim Herman of the Toledo, Ohio Zoo. Tim was the first professional to rear Greens in captivity when his clutch hatched in August of 2012. He is selling his little ones or donating them to other zoos and educational institutions. He is not releasing them into the wild due to the possibility that while in his lab they have picked up some pathogen that might be harmful to wild stocks. If you do intend to release yours into the wild you should do so as soon as possible after birth, weather permitting of course, to minimize the changes that they have become infected.