Woohoo! I've got popei babies!

[tmarmoratus]

Looked in my tank earlier tonight, only to discover a little larvae staring right back at me. I've counted 6 so far, plus a small batch of eggs. This comes at a huge surprise, because I thought my guys were nowhere close to sexual maturity (they're not even full grown). I'm setting up a 5-gallon tank right now, and will get a brime shrimp hatchery going ASAP. This is great!

 

[tmarmoratus]

5-gallon tank is set-up and the larvae transferred. I count 17 + or - 1. That number may change if I find anymore in the adult tank, though I'm fairly certain I got them all. Many of them are already growing their back legs. I'll get pictures up as soon as I can.

 

[krk11]

Good luck! Hope you successfully raise them all.

 

[tmarmoratus]

Yep, found the old thread where I posted the parents' "baby" pictures. I got them as recent morphs in late November '05, so they're just barely over 2 years old. I didn't expect they'd be ready to breed until next year.

http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=41113&highlight=popei

 

[jewett]

That's great! I think they are such a pretty newt. Please post pics when you can.

PS Jeff, do you mind if I send you a PM?

 

[t_summ]

That is great news Jeff! I'm glad to here that there is someone in Sacramento that is keeping and breeding newts. Please let me know if you are looking to sell as I would love to FINALLY not have to have them shipped.

I wish you the best of luck with them!

 

[Jennewt]

Congratulations, Jeff, that's an awesome surprise!

 

[tmarmoratus]

Feel free to PM me. I will say I plan on keeping them until metamorphosis, since I don't feel too comfortable shipping larvae and because it's just plain fun to raise 'em!

 

[tmarmoratus]

Here's an update with pictures as promised- I'm down to 12;a few of the smaller ones fell prey to their larger bretheren. The good news is that I haven't lost any within the last 10 days, so hopefully the rest of them will make it to metamorphosis. I've been keeping an eye on the adult's tank, but haven't spotted any new eggs or larvae, though one of the females definitely looks gravid. I'll keep my fingers crossed and let everyone know if/when more eggs are laid. Picture time:

 

[tmarmoratus]

Another update. All 12 are still alive and doing well. One is a quite a bit smaller than others, but otherwise appears to be doing fine. Quite a few of them are starting to develop a lateral stripe down their spine, and their tails and gills are beginning to shrink, which can only mean.....

MORPHING TIME!

I'll be reducing the water level tonight and provide a few rocks that will break the water surface for those that will lose their gills here in a few days. Pictures are forthcoming.

 

[tmarmoratus]

Pictures. Please excuse the terrible quality. I'm a bit rushed today.

 

[tmarmoratus]

Guess what I awoke to this morning? A smiling face!

 

[krk11]

Hey Jeff, that's great. I just got some popei and pyrrhogaster eggs that are starting to hatch. What a great experience this is for me and my kids. Hopefully I too will be posting pictures soon. Good luck with the rest of them.

 

[paris]

congrats jeff-now comes the hard part....

 

[tmarmoratus]

Another morphed today, and it looks like they'll be one more by the end of tomorrow.

 

[mtiller]

how are they doing so far?

 

[andrew_taricha]

How do you plan to keep them once they have all morphed? Will you keep them aquatic or set them up in a terrestrial setup?