Question: Papillae coming out of male paddletail newt's cloaca?

alpenglow

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alpenglw
I'm in the process of moving, and three days ago I moved my paddletail's 10-gallon tank from my old place to the new one. It was broken in the process (he wasn't inside, but I had to get a new tank and new substrate- substrate's always been fine sand, so there's no risk of impaction). I managed to save the filter and all the plants/decor inside and kept them wet until I got the new tank about 20 hours later, so I'm hoping the bacteria population wasn't too affected. But in any case, ever since I put him in the new tank his cloaca has been significantly swollen with many papillae sticking of out it. I've attached a photo of this as well as a fullbody photo of him. This condition hasn't been 24/7-- sometimes it goes away-- but for the most part, he's been excited in this way over the past few days. Nothing else about his behavior seems out of the ordinary. Is this a sign of some underlying stress or illness from moving tanks? Is he seeing his reflection in the clean new glass and mistaking it for another newt? Is it simply breeding season? I'm just a bit worried as I've never observed this happening to him before!
Here are the current tank stats:
Temp - 60 F / 15.5 C
pH - 7.8
Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 0 ppm
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The changes have triggered him to enter breeding condition. Male aquatic newts in breeding mode can show these openly some times. Not something to worry about.
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The changes have triggered him to enter breeding condition. Male aquatic newts in breeding mode can show these openly some times. Not something to worry about.
Posted via Mobile Device

Good to know, thanks. I figured it was something benign but I had never seen this happen before, and seeing a bunch of fleshy things sticking out of him gave me a bit of a shock at first. Thank you!
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I also see this with my male Paddletails, It seems like the males can be triggered into breeding condition almost any time, but the females are only receptive once a year when the water is very cold.
 
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