Triturus cristatus Breeding assistance

[steve]

Im currently trying to breed the Northern crested newt. I had a couple pairs hibernated differently in seperate containers at 39F. I wanted to "test" the times, so I pulled a pair out yesterday after 4 weeks. I put them into a 20L tank with a gravel land area, gravel bottom, filtered, with small plants and "garbage can liners" floating and anchored with a rock and taped to different spots (to give newt options) The water was about 40F in the tank when i put them in there (didnt want to shock) and it has slowly climbed to about 65F today.

Getting to the point, the male has a very little crest and a blue sheen on its tail. (it already had this prior to hibernating though) The male is swimming around and seems to be happy, the female is just sitting there and wraps/hangs from the small plants on the bottom and isnt very active (also doesnt move too much when moved around by me). (the lights are also on a timer)

1) How long before the male develops his full crest?
2) would i have seen some mating already?
3) is the female acting normal for this scenerio?
4) will i have kids with this pair?
5) any other HELP, suggestions would be appreciated.

steve

 

[caleb]

Hi Steve,

The male should develop his crest within a few weeks, but sometimes it's very quick, maybe a few days. I doubt you'd see any mating before the crest is fully developed.

Females don't initiate breeding behaviour, so you wouldn't expect her to behave any differently to any other time, until the male starts displaying to her.

65F/20C might be a little bit high- 55F/15C should be high enough.

Hope that helps!

 

[steve]

The temp today is around 64F, but still have water bottles from summer and will insert today. out of three males, ONE has a decent crest while the others have little ones. The female AND one male are hanging out on the land area and the female hasnt come into the water at all.

The "bigger crest" male is "sniffing" the others vent, hehe.

Will the female enter the water (and possibly breed) soon or should I place her in the water?

steve

here's a pic or two of the male

 

[aaron]

is it possible that those are carnifex? do you have a belly shot?

~Aaron

 

[steve]

well, for a guy in the USA to find out the exact origin is difficult, especially with the newts going thru many people.

I've ruled out:
Triturus alpestris
Triturus boscai
Triturus dobrogicus
Triturus helveticus
Triturus italicus
Triturus karelinii
Triturus marmoratus
Triturus montandoni
Triturus vittatus
Triturus vulgaris

basically (since you said that) I looked at many "web" photos of both species, and think it's still the cristatus.

here's an older photo of a belly.
Let me know, but this would suck if Im wrong again.

steve

 

[steve]

have a new question: I only have the one female, which seems to be happy and is swimming around. The males crest are somewhat larger and biggest ive seen. The only "dance" ive seen is from one male to another, are they gay? LOL Anyways, my question is with the female:

She's not that fat, she actually has the body of a slim male (right now) could this mean she's not gravid, or could she still lay being small like this?


steve

 

[caleb]

Hi again Steve,

I'd agree with you that these are most likely cristatus, carnifex usually have much less white speckling on the sides. If they're recent wild-caught they're almost certainly cristatus- these are exported from ex-Soviet states, but carnifex are strictly protected over their whole range.

Your slim female could still produce eggs, but not as many as a fatter one. Having said that, heavily gravid females can still be quite thin in the front part of the body if they've not eaten for a while, as the eggs are further back- they often look quite pear-shaped.

Hope that helps!

 

[steve]

thanks caleb. it seems not many people know this species or everybody is on vacation. LOL

im sure i'll have more questions coming.

steve