Our California Tiger Salamanders have laid eggs!

[David Tobler]

Our group of 3.3 Ambystoma californiense have laid a number of eggs in their outdoor breeding tubs. I have an estimated count around 75 to 100 eggs, as I've tried not to disturb them at this point. Sorry, no pics just yet. I will be taking pictures nearly everyday for the next few weeks monitoring any development.

The eggs have created quite the buzz here at the zoo, we're all very excited that we've gotten to this point.

 

[Greatwtehunter]

Way to go! Looks like all that hard work has paid off.

 

[Mark]

Wow! I look forward to seeing the photos and breeding account.

 

[SludgeMunkey]

That is the best news I have read all day. I too look forward to a full report!

 

[Otterwoman]

That is so cool, and I'm looking forward to the pics too!

 

[fishkeeper]

Wow Great news Dave! Just curious would they be behind the scenes or is the public going to have a chance to look in on them? It has be absolutely pouring like I've never seen before so I bet that certainly helped your efforts out.

 

[supergrappler]

Wow!!! Your post has brightened up my day considerably :blob:. Where did you house them during the dry season?

 

[David Tobler]

These salamanders aren't in the public viewing areas. I'll be sure to get try and get some clear pics for everyone to see.

This rain has certainly helped... Though, I did have a back up plan with a full rain system already installed in case we didn't get enough early spring systems. I'm sure there's no substitue from some consistant rainy weather. I begin to wonder if that rain system would've even worked? Maybe we'll try some indoor breeding next year..

I think the trick was getting the salamanders out in the fall so they had time to adjust and cycle with the cooling weather. We had made an attempt last year to breed them in a similar manner, but they were placed outdoors in January (far too late into the season).

All of our males responded quite well to last year's attempt, with noticeable cloacal swelling. This year I noticed a few of the female's cloacas unusually swollen by mid December.

 

[Nathan050793]

Really fantastic news, I can hardly wait to hear more.

 

[Coastal Groovin]

With that many eggs do you beleive that more than one female has laid eggs?

 

[John]

Without a real seasonal change in the cooler months of the year, I don't fancy your chances with breeding them indoors. However, congratulations on the outdoor breeding. It would be nice if this could become a regular event and they were re-introduced.

 

[David Tobler]

We're sitting at day 11 now on the eggs. I'm noticing some eggs are starting to grow some mold, more than likely bad. The egg development is a little behind where I thought we'd be at this length of time. I'm thinking we could possibly see the 1 month mark for hatching.

Here's a quick picture I snapped of a few of the eggs.. You can see the mold growth on a few.

 

[SludgeMunkey]

Nuts! <expletive deleted> fungi ruin it for everyone. What really frustrates me personally about this entire situation is millions of dollars are spent on an evolutionary dead-end like giant pandas, but an endangered species like this will breed freely if given the proper environment receives little or no attention from he unwashed masses.
I hope and pray that this endeavor will produce viable offspring.

Is there any way to donate to this cause directly? I have no legal way to personally contribute to the conservation of this species, but I (and I am sure many others) would be more than willing to throw funding to the captive husbandry of this species. This small success is so important, I am unable to properly express my gratitude and respect for this effort.

 

[Jennewt]

Thank you for sharing, DT, all of this is great to see. In most cases, fungus only attacks infertile eggs. Have you inspected the molding eggs to see if there had been any sign of development prior to mold growth? If so, then you might want to think about methylene blue, or some other mold inhibitor, at least for some of them. Are the eggs being kept in pond-like conditions, or in a clean setup?

I'm a little surprised that they may take month to hatch. What's the temperature? Axolotl eggs, even at 48F, develop faster than that.

 

[BarTigerSal]

Wow ! That is awesome ! The zoo that I am going to be volunteering at brought some species of salamanders, I think one of them is a species that is threatened, they I think are planning to breed them. It is funny because I am going to be working in the building they are located in. lol.