To those who have succesfully bred T.Grans...

[Argus654]

I recently move my group of T.Grans from a 29 gal to a 40 gal breeder tank, and now that the substrate settled and everyone was starting to settle into their new home when things started heating up again.....I think.

I have 1 male T. gran, and it's finnally going into the breeding phase, I hope, and was woundering if you guys can confirm or deny a couple of things for me.

1. Do male newts shed before going into breeding dress, i.e. smooth skin and large tail fin?

2. does the skin slowly smooth out over the corse of a couple of days, or does it happen, seemingly, over night?

Thanks in Advance

 

[otolith]

The process will happen gradually over a couple of weeks. The skin will get smooth, the tail will get wide and flat and nuptial pads will develop on their feet. Best of luck breeding them!

 

[Argus654]

Thanks I hope to post pick if successful, if I can figure it how to do it.

 

[Jennewt]

Captive breedings of Taricha are fairly rare, even though they are common captives. Get them as cold as possible during the winter. Feed well with worms. One person I know who bred them used nice bright lighting during daytime, but I have no idea if that was a factor or not.

 

[Argus654]

well the one male's cloaca started to swell up to the point of breeding dress, and it's still prety large, and the back was starting to smooth out which is why I asked my original question.......with hignsight I should have put this in at the beginning....but anyway he also keeps following all the females around, except when I put worms and such in the tank, and I'm getting pretty excited and hopeful about the whole situation.

 

[Otterwoman]

I have some and they breed every year, but I never see their eggs. I just find larvae in the tank every spring. And they don't breed in the large numbers I was hoping for.

 

[Argus654]

I know it's been a long time, but I've followed everyone's advice and didn't think anything was going to happen. however, since this morning the one male has done nothing except go from one female to the next in their mating grab. The weird thing is that the male's skin hasn't smoothed out or anything. any ideas on this?

 

[fabian]

Hi,
I don't know the reason why you're male isn't changing his skin, you should describe your housing parameters to get an idea what could be the reason. Amplexing in granulosa doesn't mean anything (not even that you have a male an a female). In my expereince for succesfull breeding the male must change his skin and show his nuptial pads and this depends on the way you house your newts (and some luck).
Greets
Fabian

 

[Argus654]

I have 5 housed in a 40 gallon breeder tank. it's fully aquatic, but I put a turtle dock in there in case they wanted to get out of the water. It has a mix of wood rock hardscape with mostly java ferns as the soft scape. the substrate it play sand. I tried to get it as close to the habitat that they came from, but I still want to get some small hard water lilies for the tank, the trick is finding lilies small enough for the tank. I'm going to do more plant re-arranging to get the enviorment right though.

That's all the important stuff on the tank so far, but if you want anymore kind of info on the tank I'll try my best to fill you in.

 

[fabian]

Hi,
what temperature do you have in life cycle? What Lights are on your tank and how long do they shine? What Do you feed your newts? Are your newts wild caught or captive breed? How old are they? Are you sure about the sexes of your animals? For breeding success with granulosa everything should be perfect and even than there's no guarantee.
Greets
Fabian

 

[Kaysie]

I don't remember who told me, but someone told me she keeps them terrestrial for most of the year. She just puts them in water when she wants them to breed.

 

[MarioR]

Mine breed every year.
Whenever temperatures drop 18°C the males start to stalk the females, so they swim around in amplexus most time of the year.

I have CB animals from the US, CB from Germany and WC from Oregon and all behave the same.

I keep them in an 100x40x50cm tank, temperatures from 16-21°C. I feed them weekly with pellets or bloodworms. Daytime doesn't change during the year.

In my experience they are very easy to breed but tend to eat their own eggs faster, than you are able to seperate them from the adults.
BTW: They are spawning right now

Regards,
Mario

 

[tony]

I hope to breed mine this year.

 

[Argus654]

Hi,
what temperature do you have in life cycle? What Lights are on your tank and how long do they shine? What Do you feed your newts? Are your newts wild caught or captive breed? How old are they? Are you sure about the sexes of your animals? For breeding success with granulosa everything should be perfect and even than there's no guarantee.
Greets
Fabian

I honestly don't know the average temp of the water, but the tank is in my bedroom and kept at room temperature, I have a florescent light that's on when I'm awake, so it's about 15 hours a day. I feed the mix variety of worms, fresh and frozen, ghost shrimp on occasion, and they'll eat the fish food I put in for the fish. They are wild caught ltc, and I've had them for a few years. I don't know how old they are, but should be somewhere between 4-7 years old. in the lake they're from the individuals are almost exclusively aquatic, except when they come out of the larval stage. And finally I have 1 male and 4 females going off of cloaca size and shape. The male having a large round cloaca and the females having smaller and more cone shaped cloacas. if that's wrong feel free to correct me on that.

 

[fabian]

Hi,
ok, so you willl never breed your garnulosas like this. Perhaps you should read a little bit more about breeding newts in general and the Taricha granulosa caresheet in particular. First important point, the temperature should be much cooler, you'll need temperatures less than 12°C in Winter and do not mix garnulosa with fish. As said before, amplexus in T. granulosa doesn't mean they will breed.

Greetz Fabian

 

[Argus654]

Alright. well if that's the case would you know of anything that could reduce the temp of the water at all? I don't really feel comfortable putting them outside, but I could try and set up something for next year. Any ideas for that, or do you guys have a better suggestion?

 

[Jennewt]

Yes, plan for next year. A garage perhaps? A chiller?

Here is an article about cooling methods, but most of them only get the temp down by a few degrees.
Caudata Culture Articles - Cooling

 

[Argus654]

Just as an update. I went to the local pet store to get some more worms for my newts, and got an aquarium thermometer while I was there. the water temp is between 14C-15C and that's probably because my room is the coldest/warmest room in the house, depending on the time of year. The male newt has also started to show signs of change like his cloaca's swelling, tail crest is starting to get bigger, and, starting at the tail, the skin is starting to barely smooth out. there may be some hope yet.:happy:

 

[Argus654]

Ok over the past few days the male newt has developed all the symptoms of their mating dress, that I can think of at least. The tail has flattened out to about 2.5 times its normal size, The front and back legs have also swollen up to better grip the female newts, he has developed the black neptual pads, hope I spelled it right, and the skin has almost completely smoothed out. The Female newts are also looking quite plump now, and I'm hoping to see some eggs soon. Wish me luck in that please :happy:

 

[JReed]

Tips I have learned re: breeding T granulosas:

1. Moving T granulosas to a new tank and a different lighting scheme with colder water can help. This can suddenly bring them into breeding phase very quickly.. like within a week. It's like they think they have just entered new breeding pond!

2. It can take up to a month before any fertilization and egg laying happens. So be patient. A lot of the male clutching process is just the male hormonally "prepping" the female ( and himself!) ...and this hormonal metamorphosis can sometimes take weeks!

3. Have plants ready in the tank because T granolosas like to lay their eggs on leaves.

4. It can take 3-4 weeks for the eggs to hatch. Keep your eye out for 1/2 inch long larvae on the bottom of the tank... they are hard to find and first.

5. Have daphnia ready on hand to feed to larvae when the time comes.

I have 14 CB T. granulosa juveniles raised from eggs...They will be 2 years old this July! They are nearly adult sized now.

Good luck!