ITALIAN ALPINE NEWT EGGS - ICTHYOSAURA ALPESTRIS APUANUS

My friend Stave thought these would lay eggs this time of the year whereas I did not. All the previous times I have kept apuanus they have always spawned (laid eggs) in Spring the same time all other temperate species spawn. However I have always suspected that there will be little pockets of these types with small degrees of variability.

Also added to this was that years ago the old Euproctus found on Sardinia and Corsica were thought to be found at high elevations only and few in number. Until that is they discovered there were thousands of them in  a lake on a Trout farm at much lower elevations than expected!

Despite popular opinion I LIKE being surprised in this way and it is one of the many reasons I have been fascinated by the world of animals since I was about 4 years of age!

Well first I started spotting all these tiny balls I first thought were eggs which turned out not to be. Then a few days later I am looking in and the previously spotted dark eggs were now looking very pale and I though 'oh look now they look even more like eggs....oooh now ait a minute they ARE eggs!!'

LMAO!!

I should point out that as well as laying them during a completely unexpected time of year they have also not laid a great many, in fact I would not be surprised if there were no more than about 15 eggs?! Also these seem to me laid over a long period of time thus far so it could well be that more turn up. They are also quite small too and the jelly capsule very thin to what I have experienced in the past.

First up the balls that were NOT Newt eggs and I also have them in my outdoor pond on the weed that has no amphibians in it! Lol. That was how I realized ultimately they were NOT Newt Eggs!

Then no more than a week later I look into the small aquarium they live in and notice that the round balls now look very pale and think how weird it is these NON-NEWT EGGS are now confusing me even more! Until I look closer and spot a thin layer of clear jelly and then realise that these ARE INDEED Newt Eggs!