I was left with a single plump female Alpine Newt that was plump with eggs and I had just spent an hour looking for what turned out to be infertile eggs! Dumb-arse!
Anyway I picked up a male from someone I know, as the female still looked plump, and I plonked him in the tank.
Only immediately I noticed the female rushing across the tank towards him and at first I just assumed she saw the movement and thought he was potential food?
But I decided to watch and when she got up to him she nudged at his cloaca region continuously and I grabbed the camera. He immediately started tail fanning her, where he came out of a cage 3 minutes before with no tail fanning going on. Then to my surprise she started tail fanning him?!
I had not seen this behaviour in any female newt beforehand and I have been doing this a very long time.
I had figured that I had come across a unique event which was bought about by a very plump female wanting to lay the rest of her eggs who had spent a whole winter with no male and no scent of a male in her aquarium. I had emptied the water out twice so there would not have been any scents at all in the water.
Then with her fit to burst and had already laid half a dozen female eggs I drop in a male Alpine Newt still in condition, mostly, and she must have picked up his scent and rushed over to him.
He had come out of another tank that had several other Alpine Newts of both sexes and I had not seen any courting going on at all but yet after having his cloaca nudged and a little tail fanning from the female his immediately started tail fanning her!
They then spent a long time following each other around the small aquarium they live in.
I guess I will get fertile eggs from these two after all?
I have several pictures for viewers and I even have a video of that female tail dance ...
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