Interesting...

[t_summ]

So, about 6 months ago i picked up a lone paddle-tail in a shop in Fairfield that kept him in a small, not-so-clean tank witha bunch of firebelly toads and firebelly newts. I felt bad for all parties involved and ended up purchasing him (for an amazing price of 4.99!!). He's been by himself and doing very well. Yesterday on my way home from San Francisco I decided to stop by there again and found the same scenario. I noticed that this one looked like a female and decided I would attempt to rescue her as she seemed well tempered and quite plump.

The interesting part of the story is that while I allowed her to get used to the water temp I wanted to observe the other to make sure I had a male (the cloaca was a little larger than the other). I introduced the two and walked out of the room for about 10 minutes, after I was sure the two were not fighting. Upon my return I was shocked to see the male fanning the female. With closer inspection I observed that the male had developed a white spot on his tail and had papillae protruding from the cloaca.

Has anyone else noticed such a rapid change in this (or any other) species before? I mean I understand attraction between caudates, but this just seemed like a very fast response. If all goes well, perhaps i'll be one of the lucky ones to captive breed them.

 

[gar4016]

Well, I do not own paddletails, but I picked up a male Japanese fire belly newt last year with a similar situation. A month or two later I found a female from another source and their first contact was in a temporary small plastic tub while I changed the water of their aquarium. Within a minute or two he went over, sniffed her, and started fanning more furiously than any other newt I've seen (I guess it'd been a while ). A week or two later there were eggs. The funny thing is, it hasn't really happened since. I've heard many times on this forum that newts don't get "lonely" or need "friends", but once I saw this, I decided I wouldn't keep him any other way

 

[Jennewt]

I don't own paddletails either, but from what I've heard, they often use tail-fanning as a territorial/aggressive gesture, not just as a courtship ritual.

 

[Jake]

I used to keep paddletails. Some of the males I had would fan at any other newt in sight, even the aquatic T.marms in the neighboring tank!

 

[t_summ]

Followup.

So, the newts have been together for quite some time now. The male is still very much in breeding dress and fanning his tail every chance he gets. Last night I happened to notice that my female was wedged between the feeding dish and the glass wall of the tank. Upon further inspection I noticed that she could get herself out just fine. While she was pressed against the wall though I saw more than a dozen circular impressions in her belly region. I just think it is so cool when one can see things like that and wanted to share.