Tornadic activity triggers Pleurodeles waltl breeding

[michael]

This summer our first heat wave hit in June. By the 2nd week of July we had more hot weather than we have all summer in a "normal" year. July and August have been one heat wave after another in Pennsylvania. My ribbed newts in my tubs outside shut down and did not breed for most of the summer. Yesterday we had tornadic activity in Ephrata. The funnel weather patterns followed Main st. about 3 blocks from my house. After the storm the weather cooled down. I checked the ribbed newt tubs and both breeding colonies bred last night or this morning.

This reinforced what I already know. Storm systems and weather changes can trigger amphibians to breed.

 

[Jennewt]

It makes sense. Storm systems often bring a lot of rain, so this would be a good time for them to breed. Had there already been a bunch of rain before they laid? People have also reported that a large water change can bring on breeding in some species.

 

[michael]

It rained heavy during the big storm. Big water changes do trigger breeding. We had a few days when it rained slowly all day that triggered nothing. I think the combination of the rain and other changes the storm caused triggered the breeding. My Cynops cyanurus bred like crazy this week too.

My non scientific conclusion from watching newts and frogs is that a major rain storm can trigger amphibians to breed even if they are kept inside and are not directly in the storm.