Why no eggs?

D

david

Guest
My P. Waltl are often doing the love thing but I never get any eggs. Any suggestion on how I can get them to start?
 
you must always provide your newts with an appropriate period at cold temperature for them to breed correctly (by now spring is always coming after winter, isn't it?
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), so if you can't keep them outside in winter you can always use your refregerator for a couple of months...

other reason may be they don't have any plants on their tank to lay their eggs on, or they are stressed in any way, or they are laying and then eating eggs...
 
I disagree with Francesco.

You shouldn't have to keep P. waltl cold over the winter to get them to breed. IN truth you shouldn't have to do much of anything. How old are they? If they're only 2 or 3 years old they may not be sexually mature enough. Mine didn't start laying eggs until 5 years of age...and then they laid 7 batches of eggs in 6 months.

I do agree you need a heavily planted tank, and also if you can set it up so that you have water splashing it helps simulate rain which is all P. waltl need to stimulate breeding (as where they live they breed anytime there is large rain).

Doesn't take much to get these guys going.
 
David, you are not the first person to report a lovin' pair of P. waltl that fail to produce eggs. In addition to immaturity, it could also simply be infertility. Also, mating and egg-laying do not seem to be obligatorily linked in this species. You can certainly try a larger or more heavily planted tank, and they may or may not reproduce.
 
Does it matter that I have others in the tank with them? I have six in a 30 long, I have splashing water, and the tank is so heavily planted You can hardly see through it.
 
6 full grown adults in 30? THat's pretty packed...waht do you have...nearly 72incehs of animal in there? That may be part of the problem. I keep two fully grown adults in a 20 long and I was debating putting them in a larger one.

I don't think competition for a mate would be the problem, but maybe lack of ability to find food as well as stress from being crammed together.
 
Well, a 30-long is the same size as a 55-gallon, just not as tall. It's a pretty big tank. Unless the newts are over 8 inches each (which is possible, but not likely) or accompanied by other animals, I think the tank size may be adequate. Getting rid of a couple of the extras might help with reproduction and general comfort though. Also, feeding with rich foods, such as earthworms or occasional waxworms, might help encourage reproduction.
 
Wait, 30 inches long, or 30 gallon long? Here in Canada any numbers we say are the gallons, then followed by if it's tall or long. So a 30 long would mean 30 gallons that is designed to be longer then it is high. a 20 high is a 20 gallon that is designed to be taller then it is long...etc.

If it's a 55 gallon then yeah, that's pretty big. As for the size of these animals..I have two fully grown almost 6 year old adults that are, easily, 12 inches each. I don't think it's unlikely these animals could reach that size...
 
Hmmm remember US gallons = 3.8 litres while Imperial (what I suspect they use in Canada?) are 4.5 litres. So an American's gallon is smaller than everyone else's ;).

"Why can't we all just get along" and use metric?? (For that matter why can't we all spell litre correctly?)
 
Hey John,

In Canada we use Metric only...so litres and such. Now that stated, unofficially all the older people here don't use it, and as such you learn both. I use US and Metric measurements for almost everything daily. To compound the problem, I live in a border city with the US, so as such we have both American and Canadian radio/tv stations that broadcast different things. You have to be fluent in both in my area in order to actually know what's going on.

Fish tanks are one of those things that we usually only refer to in US gallons, but on the boxes they're labeled metric.
 
Ok, this is going in a direction I never thought it would. I guess my newts are to young, they are no where near 12 inches. they are more like 6-8 inches. I'll be patient and feed alot and we'll see next year. Thanks for the info.
 
Well, I may have been incorrect. Mine could be excessivly large. From the reading I've done apparently 12 inches is normal int he wild, and 8 inches is average for adults in captivity...so...

Yours may be old enough..give them another year and see.
 
Pleurodeles is a very greedy salamander and can reach adult size in one year (body length 4-6 inches without tail). Males can breed when less than one year old and females when less than two years. They need to be stuffed with truly enormous amounts of food and they will then breed without any problem. However, their tanks need filtration under these circumstances, and the males appreciate some flat stones in the tank on which they deposit their spermatophores.
 
Have you noticed that half the world quotes this species as Europe's largest newt and the other half quotes the "Great Crested Newt" as Europe's largest?
 
I have two cristatus that are bigger than my Waltl's, I don't know which gets bigger though. Anyway the love continues and they all look like well stuffed sausages, and still no eggs. I guess the waiting will continue.
 
I have 6 newts of this kind. One is 2 years old, 1 is 1.5 years and the 4 others are about 1 year old. In this youngest group a female has grown up. She laid eggs (50) but didn't hide them all in the plants. In fact, most of them were attached to the grind on the ground.

Those eggs are now 10 days old. (and seperated) I'm waiting for them to hatch now :)

My tank is 144liter (accurate number for the water part, the tank is even bigger). I've recently planted it and as the plants grow it wil become heavely planted. Now it's not so dense yet. But they were used to even less. (shame on me)

Also, I don't let them hibernate or anything. I just give them fresh water from time to time and have only a small filter, salamanders don't like current do they?

I've also experimenten with a lind of very small shrimps to help keeping the tank clean, but they all ate them. So now I go catch them once in a while and give them a treath. And yes, the come from a safe aquaculture. It's from a by government protected waterresource.


PS wish me luck with the eggs.
 
Hi Joeri, congrats on your eggs. Pleuros are one of theose species that don't really need hibernation or colder temps for winter to breed...often just a water change, an abrupt increse in water level, or a couple weeks of heavy feeding can cause them to breed. Ribbed newts don't really like a current, you are correct.

Very cool to hear, and good luck with the eggs!
 
Thanks.

The eggs came after a change indeed. Suddenly more plants and an increase in water level. That probably triggered it. Funny to see them 'having sex' again allready. :)

It's a shame so far I haven't actually seen the male one deposing his seeds, but looking at the forplay is pretty amazing as well.
 
How long after they have performed amplexus do P.Waltl lay their eggs?

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