Salamandra algira tingitana breeding

[Jari B]

Since a few days ago my female is giving birth to larva, sadly enough my male died about 6 months ago. I found the female about 5 days ago in my shed, she escaped out of a outside enclosure just before the winter. Probably by climbing over the net that arched down on a piece of wood when it snowed. 2 days after having her indoors she started giving birth. The larva were born on the paper towel, luckily enough I was able to safe 4 out of 8. While I picked her up and the took the larva away she gave birth to two larva in my hand. It was amazing to see it, but very sad that she wasn't/isn't able to give birth in the water. Immediately afterwards I placed a water bowl in the fauna box along with her. But one thing was clear, there is something wrong with her. She has a small cut at the base of her tail about 1 cm away from her cloaca. For about 4 days there are larva born, but almost all of them were born on land on the paper towel. Only 1 out of 19 larva is born in the water bowl. They are really small as you can see on the picture and the reserve food in their stomach was really big and I feared for their lives. 12 larva are now alive due to me checking frequently on the female and to put the larva as quick as possible in the water once I get there. I tread the aquarium water with anti fungus fluids on a low basis. The aquariums are each 60x30x40 cm, filled with 10 L water. I placed a few lava stones in the water, I placed a few more in it then on the pictures. In one corner of each aquarium I use air stones to make the water flow and to increase the oxygen in the water. Enjoy the pictures and I will keep you all posted. Let's hope for more healthy larva.

 

[michael]

I wish you success with your animals.

If you know the female is dropping larvae you can put her in very shallow water for a few days or in a slanted tank that is mostly shallow water.

Have you used that anti fungus treatment on salamanders before? It seems like acriflavine, copper sulfate, and copper chloride might not be good for salamanders.

 

[Jari B]

I wish you success with your animals.

If you know the female is dropping larvae you can put her in very shallow water for a few days or in a slanted tank that is mostly shallow water.

Have you used that anti fungus treatment on salamanders before? It seems like acriflavine, copper sulfate, and copper chloride might not be good for salamanders.

I used it when I raised N. kaiseri larva and they did really well on that. I use it in the lowest amount recommended.

I thought about putting her into a tank with shallow water too, but do to her health condition I am worried the wound will get infected. If it is all the time really wet the bacteria might get a chance to rapidly increase in numbers. The paper towel is damp and the larva survive on it for a few hours. That gives me and my dad enough time in a day to check for larva. Most larva are born from 6 in the morning until 10 in the morning. Around 7 o'clock the sun rises here, that gives you a good estimation.

Many thanks that you think with me for the best solution to raise these larva. In the Netherlands there are about 4 breeding pairs, my single female and about a maximum of 25 juveniles. That makes it really important for me to raise them well so I can make 2 big breeding groups of my own to ensure the existence of these animals in captivity in my country.

 

[Vern5384]

I have recently had a similar experience with my fire salamanders. My big female started giving birth a few days ago and was dropping some of the offspring on the soil near the water dish. I checked the tank regularly for stranded larvae and rescued them as soon as I saw them. So far I she has produced 17 larvae and all are still alive. I think as long as you get to them before they dry out they should be fine. Hopefully mine will produce some more over the next few days.

 

[Jari B]

Here are some pictures of the wounds that my female has. They look really nasty and I am not sure what caused the wounds. I treat the wounds with iodine to disinfect the wound. Does someone knows what could have caused these wounds, what the illness is and how I could treat it the best. I am not a fan of antibiotics for my animals, so that is out of the question for me.

 

[Jari B]

Update:

Today I saw mating behavior for the first time of the CB animals. Considering that they were born at the beginning of February 2013 this is very quick. They are about 18-19 cm long and doing very well. I still got 7 alive. Here are a few pictures of them in their set up:

The mother sadly enough died soon after giving birth, I euthanized her due to the severe wound that gave her a lot of pain.

 

[Sparviter]

Update:

Today I saw mating behavior for the first time of the CB animals. Considering that they were born at the beginning of February 2013 this is very quick. They are about 18-19 cm long and doing very well. I still got 7 alive. Here are a few pictures of them in their set up:

The mother sadly enough died soon after giving birth, I euthanized her due to the severe wound that gave her a lot of pain.

Congratulations. Unfortunately I cannot see the photos in the last post. Sorry to hear about your female.

 

[sde]

Well done, Jari! Sorry to hear about your female.

Congratulations. Unfortunately I cannot see the photos in the last post. Sorry to hear about your female.

If you right click on the picture and press "Open in new tab" it will show up in the new tab.