H.dunni arrived today :D

[Azhael]

I am now the proud keeper and humble worshiper of a group of 5 Hynobius dunni.
I´ve been fascinated by hynobiids and their reproductive strategy since i first heard of it, and i´m just thrilled i might get to witness it in the future.
They are much more plethodontid-like than i expected!
I tried to take a couple of pictures but it was a nightmare, the little buggers are quick and VERY shy. Anyway, i hardly managed to get a couple of shots when i turned off the light and they started to explore a bit, but still, the pictures are really bad....sorry. I hope to be able to get some decent ones soon.

Thanx Joost for the animals and for the great service, it´s been a pleassure dealing with you.
I´m off now to watch them a little bit more

 

[froggy]

Lovely animals! I hope they do well for you and you get some of those wonderful egg sacks.

 

[Azhael]

Cheers, Chris
And thanx for all the help setting the tank and for the tips!

 

[Viv]

Could you post pictures of the whole tank please. Those are beautifull newts by the way.
Thanks
Alex

 

[Joost]

It's great to see when I can place my animals to dedicated persons, like you Azhael.

Very much luck and breeding succes with them in future.

Here some clearer pics of them, for those who are interested

Joost

 

[tony]

I have a group here they are great to look after the males where marking there sticks but no breeding as yet maybe next year.How old are yours?

 

[Azhael]

Thanx for adding some clear photos xD They are skittish as hell...

They are CB09, Tony.

I´ve been able to tweezer feed one of them. There are isopods and springtails around for them to hunt anyway. Hopefully, as they become more accostumed to their new home and they shake off the stress of the journey, i´ll get to see more of them. I already love the buggers!!

 

[froggy]

I'm glad they are settling in. Tony - I'm not sure if you have a female in the group I gave you or not...there was one animal that might be, but I wasn't sure. Hopefully you will find out March time! Males tend to have Y-shaped cloacal openings (with the fork of the Y at the end closest to the head) while females have simple straight lines. These differences are there for more of the year than the breeding characteristics.

C

 

[tony]

Will have a look at them.

 

[froggy]

If you can hold them still!

 

[Azhael]

Pfff...i can barely see mine...trying to check their cloacas will have to wait xDDD

 

[froggy]

Your best option is to catch them and put the in something with a transparent bottom that you can look through. You will probably have to wait until you clean them out! Hopefully you have a mixed group. Will you fridge them for the winter?
Henk Wallays' information here:
http://www.webpak.net/~cynorita/28large.pdf
on page 12 about raising Hynobius might be of use to you.

C

 

[Azhael]

I´ll wait to check their sex, there´s no rush. I feel like i´ll give them a heartattack if i lift the bark, if i tried to catch them they´d explode.
I don´t think i´ll fridge them this winter. They are about 8cm ( i´m guessing here) so i´ll just give them a nice drop of temperatures to about 14-15ºC.

Cheers for the articles, Chris, you know i apreciate your help.

 

[Azhael]

A better picture and a shot of the whole set-up.

 

[Joost]

Very nice setup. They will do fine in there.

(It's very strange to see my former animals knowing they're in Spain now )

 

[Azhael]

I thought i´d make a little update since i managed to take some almost-decent pictures of these guys.
They are doing great, they have HUGE appetites and go berserk on each other if i leave them two days without food. Thank the gods they can regenerate pieces of tail like it wasn´t any trouble at all.
Some are already 10 cm or so, which supossedly is about the size they become mature, so they are doing very nicely.
I just bloody love them, i do. When there´s food around they are very bold and eat right from the tweezers, but otherwise you barely see a head poking out among the shadows if you move a bit (they are very curious).

 

[freves]

Beautiful animals and setup Azhael. I am sure they will receive meticulous care.
Chip

 

[slowfoot]

They look extremely robust and healthy - you're obviously doing something right

 

[eljorgo]

No he is not. He is doing something wrong He is putting me envious of his salamanders!!! hahaha. Great work Rodrigo, I wish I had your luck and owned some of those!

Please breed em!
Cheers,
Jorge

 

[Azhael]

Cheers everyone!
Erin, they are indeed robust, although i prefer the term FAT AS HELL. In the pictures they had already had time to digest their last meal, they are usually chunkier, they have such appetites! I´d consider feeding them a little less but then they´d try to eat each other....

Jorge, yes, breeding them is definitely the plan xD.