N. strauchii egg laying

[Mark]

Here's something you don't see every day. One of my N.strauchii has taken to laying eggs on the glass sides of the tank. The sequence is missing one vital shot (egg emerging) which I still hope to get. The whole egg laying process is quite lengthy with lots of rubbing of cloaca on the glass before deposition. I haven't had the patience to stakeout the whole event but hopefully I'll capture the missing shot if I get lucky one day.

This shot is taken as she gets into position. The cloaca is un-pronounced and relaxed.

The cloaca swells outward and forms an upside down heart shape.

She sways from side-to-side rubbing her cloaca on the deposition site. This can take place over an extended period, 30 mins +. There are many pauses throughout the swaying. When she's happy she deposits an egg.

The egg straight after laying.

 

[Otterwoman]

Wow, those are great. I noticed one of my T. grans rubbing against the edge of a clay pot--I thought she was getting ready to lay, but I never see the eggs when I go back later.

 

[eljorgo]

Mt way to keep strauchii! Congrats on the breedings Mark!!
Awesome pics as ever.

 

[Jennewt]

Really nice series! Is that egg still in place on the glass? You might want to take a follow-up photo of it. It appears to me that the eggs are laid in a compact form, and the gel around the egg swells after it sits in water for a while. That might be an interesting comparison.

 

[John]

Unreal photos. Thanks for posting.

 

[uwe]

Congratulations on breeding and excellent pictures!!

Maybe could take a film sequence?

Uwe

 

[Bellabelloo]

Amazing shots Mark.

 

[KennyDB]

Nice Mark, tripod, your 5D on film-status and gooo no..seriously..stunning pics as usual! Good luck in raising these boys.

 

[damien]

Really awesome pictures! How old are your specimens? Weren't they quite young?

 

[callina]

awesome pictures, Mark - thanks for sharing!

Good luck for breeding them.

Tina

 

[yama]

Wow Outstanding pics!!!! How did you accomplish this??? Capturing the egg as it was being laid mean.

 

[Mark]

Thanks! It really wasn't that difficult to capture the images, the newt was laying eggs all day. Every time I removed one she would climb back up to lay another in the exact same spot. I don't know what was so special about that piece of glass but I wasn't going to waste the opportunity...