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Slimbridge WWT Mudpuppies

I only saw two in the tank when i visited , how many do you have and are you planning to breed them?
 
I always love new necturus footage. They're rarely talked about, which is a shame. I know mine is by far the favorite salamander in my small collection.

They really do get excited at feeding time don't they? I've seen mine in almost a frenzy. I can't imagine having a group of them all going at it at once. Do you ever notice injuries? I know they can be very territorial, and even juveniles use a lot of space. Does keeping that many together ever leave you with territory issues?
 
xxianxx said:
I only saw two in the tank when i visited , how many do you have and are you planning to breed them?
Click to expand...

Hi Ian,

Yes the plan is to breed them, I have a group of 1:3 so not a bad ratio. However this could take a while as they are very tricky to breed, so fingers crossed.
 
JessKB said:
I always love new necturus footage. They're rarely talked about, which is a shame. I know mine is by far the favorite salamander in my small collection.

They really do get excited at feeding time don't they? I've seen mine in almost a frenzy. I can't imagine having a group of them all going at it at once. Do you ever notice injuries? I know they can be very territorial, and even juveniles use a lot of space. Does keeping that many together ever leave you with territory issues?
Click to expand...

Hi Jess,

As you can see from the video it's a fairly large tank with lots of hiding places for them. They all have there own spots and return to the same spots after hunting usually. I have had no problems with them so far they seem to get along.

Kind regards
 
Are these a relatively new addition to Slimbridge? I went last year and I'm not sure if I saw them or not
 
AngieD said:
Are these a relatively new addition to Slimbridge? I went last year and I'm not sure if I saw them or not
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Hi Angie,

They went on display at the end of the summer holidays if I remember correctly, but it was defiantly last year that they went on show.

Kind regards
Jay
 
Ah right, I'm not sure when we went exactly. I hope I'll see then next time then
 
Hello All,

So it is getting to that time of year and all of the animals are displaying nicely at Slimbridge with all the newts developing beautiful crests and colours.

My main focus for this year is to get the Mudpuppies to breed and there has been lots of activity, all the females have almost disappeared out of site. They have created nests by digging out gravel from under the large flat rocks that are in the tank. I have noticed two females upside-down in their nests for the first time, so fingers crossed eggs will come soon.

I will keep you all posted and put pictures up shortly.

Kind Regards

Jay
 
Thanks for sharing your animals with us Jay!

If you do end up with eggs, will you leave them with the females until they hatch or will you separate them? It sounds like Nectarus eggs need quite a bit of aeration to keep them from going bad.
 
gar4016 said:
Thanks for sharing your animals with us Jay!

If you do end up with eggs, will you leave them with the females until they hatch or will you separate them? It sounds like Nectarus eggs need quite a bit of aeration to keep them from going bad.
Click to expand...


I have three females all behaving very similar and making nests, so I could take some out if they all lay. However Jean told me he had better results when he left them with the adult female.

The tank has lots of water movement to create river flow so aeration shouldnot be a problem.

Let’s just hope they lay apparently that is the hard bit.

Kind Regards

Jay
 
Hello all,

Very strange or maybe normal behaviour, one of the mudpuppies with the biggest and best nest has been upside-down. Her posture is very strange and her Cloaca swollen, to tell the truth I thought she was dead. However her gills are moving and she is still with us, I wonder whether she is going into labour and just at the beginning of the egg laying process?

I don’t want to disturb her so have left her alone and will check on her later.

What are everyone’s thoughts?

Kind Regards

Jay
 
Hello All,

The female that is behaving very strange is still very active within her nest. I have decided to leave her for a week without shinning the torch in her nest so I don’t put her off laying.

I can just about see her through the entrance to her nest and there is a lot of movement she keeps flipping onto her back and pushing her cloaca towards the flat rock above her. I can’t make out any eggs yet but will leave her as I said for a week and then have a nose with the torch.

I will keep you all posted.

Fingers Crossed everyone.

Kind Regards
Jay

:happy:
 
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