Tailed amphibians - newts have long settled in living corners. You can watch for hours the life of these beautiful animals - their amazing metamorphoses, spectacular mating games. Among lovers of domestic amphibians, the smooth and comb species are very popular. With proper care, these relatives of salamanders can live in the house for more than a dozen years. If you decide to have an entire brood of newts, learn to distinguish male from female.
It is necessary
- - two or more individuals of the same age;
- - an aquarium with algae.
Instructions
Step 1
Wait until the amphibian reaches puberty. It usually comes after the third wintering. Spring is the time of mating games, during which it is easiest to determine the sex of a newt. In nature, for reproduction, amphibians descend into water bodies when they heat up to +8 degrees. Pets should be released into the aquarium in April and their actions can be observed.
Step 2
Try to distinguish a male newt from a female by some external features. Among amphibians of the same age, there may be a difference in the size of individuals. As a rule, females of the common (smooth) newt are noticeably smaller, they have shorter limbs and a tail. The head of the “men” is massive, and the head of the “women” is smaller. In a comb-like species, sex determination by individual size may not work - adult females and males are often very similar.
Step 3
An important distinguishing feature of the male of any newt is an orange-blue ridge on the back, covered with a network of blood vessels. It stretches from the back of the head to the tail. In normal times, this decoration is little noticeable, but during the mating season it grows strongly. It attracts individuals of the opposite sex and helps skin respiration during water weddings. In common newts, the scallop is solid, wavy; in crested ones, it is intermittent, with pronounced teeth.
Step 4
In male crested newts, you can see a blue and white stripe running along the tail. In the spring, it appears more clearly. In male amphibians of both species, other metamorphoses also occur before reproduction - lobed membranes appear between the toes.
Step 5
The "man" -triton shimmers with colorful bright colors in the spring, sometimes a mother-of-pearl shine appears on the scallops of the ridge. The "women" do not have such decoration, there are no noticeable changes in the body, but their spring color still becomes a little more elegant.
Step 6
Take a sexually mature newt in your hand and flip it upside down. Differences in the genitals of amphibians are especially striking precisely during the mating season - in males, the cloaca swells in the form of a noticeable tubercle. This is the main sign of determining the sex of newts, which will not allow you to be mistaken.
Step 7
Observe the behavior of amphibians in the aquarium. During long mating games it is easy to guess what gender the "players" are. Place the container in a cool place so that the temperature is optimal for spawning - 10 degrees. When swimming individuals get close, the male begins to behave very actively. It vibrates with its tail, sniffs the female's face, rubs its nostrils against its throat and even dances, doing a stand on its front paws.
Step 8
When a friend shows interest, the newt throws out spermatophores and drives the water towards the female. She picks up the seed material with the edges of the cloaca. During spawning, a caring mother will carefully wrap each egg in algae leaves, hide future cubs in moss and snags.
