Newts Mating

I've been keeping 3 adult Red-spotted (Eastern) newts in this tank since September 2022.

 

Here you can see two newts engaged in mating. 

Notice the reflection of the newts in the wall. 

It is a nice additional angle for observations.

My wild caught newts started mating the same week I brought them home - in September. 

The water room temperature and abundance of live food in the tank could be the triggers.

 Well anyway, here you can see the male already mounted the female. 

Notice how the male moves to block the female from seeing and sensing any other males. 

The male clings to the female with his rear legs around her neck. 

Interestingly, male newts use the same wrestling grip in fights I observed and shared with you previously.

Something is catching the attention of the male... 

Wow! The male newt moves away from the female...that is unusual.

 Aha! Another male interfered. 

This two males have been competing for the right to mate with the only female in this tank. 

I have to replay this part in slow motion. 

The female is moving away... 

Oh no! The dark-green male violently slammed her. 

Now back to normal speed. 

The bully male is chasing the female away from the light-green male.

The dark-green male is... very aggressive toward the female. 

The female moves behind the rock back closer to the first male. 

I call this female newt - SheShy. 

SheShy is the most friendly newt among all. 

And the first, the light-green male moves away... 

Red-spotted newts exabit a very complicated behavior as you can see. 

Here you can take a close look at the female newt. 

SheShy has a bit plumpy belly. 

And she is about a half of an inch shorter than my male newts.

 Oh, look! She comes around to watch the males fight! 

Males have slightly wider tails to sport with. 

And male newts fight.

 Red-spotted newts are toothless though they are very skillful wrestlers. 

Newts normally move slowly, but they attack lightning fast. 

The female observed the fight and... moved on looking for prey to hunt down. 

The competition between male newts never ends with one fight. 

You can see the dark-green male on the right is getting ready to launch at the female.

I wonder if she sees him sneaking behind on her.

This male newt has a gorgeous tail that's for sure. 

Look at that... 

This male looks very hot indeed!

Wait...where is he going?!

I see it! There was another newt hunting behind those rocks along the wall.

You could not see it from here...and the male already moved away.

And the female newt on the left moved away as well.

The dark-green male lost his interest in the female now.

He is more interested to check what the other male newt is hunting.

The light-green male is moving away as he swallows the prey...whatever he caught.

The dark-green male attacks!

Notice how the dark-green male stands above the light-green male showing off his dominance I suppose.

Interestingly, the light-green male is not really running away... 

He goes around and stands his ground. 

The males facing each other.

Look at them!

I've seen newts do face-to-face sniffing each other during hunting.

Well, I think the confrontation was some-how resolved for now.

Both males seem to go on hunting.

Aha, and the female newt has been watching the confrontation from the top all the time. 

I think it's interesting that the male newt chooses to fight and hunt over an opportunity to mate.

I've been feeding Grindal worms to my fish about 1-2 times a week. 

This time I am going to drop a lot of Grindal worms to give my newts a chance to try them. 

Fish like live Grindal worms and go frenzy after them. 

There should be enough worms in this drop for SheShy to catch some before fish pick them all. 

Oh yes! SheShy gets interested and she is about to get to the feeding spot.

 Ah! The dark-green male newt intercepted her! 

And the light-green male came too. 

The female newt resists, but... the male newt grabbed her very tight.

 The dark-green male is blocking her from seeing and sensing the presence of the other male.

 It seems that the male is in control now.

 And the fish is almost done with Grindal worms.

My feeding experiment got interrupted. 

No more feeding for today. 

Though, we get a clear view to watch how Red-spotted newts mate!

 The light-green male comes again hoping to get the female's attention. 

The dark-green male uses the same grip around the neck to hold the female. 

It's basically a dead lock wrestling grip from which it's near impossible to escape. 

And look at the other male! 

He has been going around the mating couple making his presence obvious to the female.

 He is the biggest distraction that may prevent the female from mating with the dark-green male.

 SheShy is still resisting. 

Though, it is just a matter of time for pheromones to take an effect on the female.

 The effect of those pheromones would make female newts willing to mate.

Notice how thoroughly the male is working to spread his pheromones around the female.

 The other male spreads his charm pheromones to distract the female from the first male. 

And the female keeps resisting. 

The dark-green male on the top of SheShy has also an amplexus for his advantage. 

Amplexus is a basically the mating embrace that even the male himself may find difficult to break. 

And you know what... 

I don't like the way this dark-green male newt has bullied my friendly female newt in the past.

 The male is already weaving his tail the way male newts do during mating. 

Well anyway, not to punish the male, but for sake of learning I will try to separate them now. 

I am using a toothbrush to push the male off of the female.

 Back-and-forth and yet the male is holding strong to the female. 

 

The other male came to check what was going on and ran away. 

Okay, let's try to make the dark-green male to feel uncomfortable. 

I rub the brush in his face - who would tolerate that?! 

Aha! He does not like it for sure.

 And yet, he is still holding on the female. 

The male seems to be scared already and yet unable to relax his hold.

Finally! The male released the hold and ran away leaving the female free. 

And SheShy... she just stays here.

 Perhaps she needs time to catch her breath so to speak. 

Alright, here she goes. 

And that is the dark-green male newt.

 And the female newt is coming right back to that male.

 Wow...his pheromones clearly took hold on her no matter how much she resisted him previously.

The male is not showing any interest in mating now. 

Well, it was not the first time my newts mate and it's sure not the last one. 

My newts have been mating everyday for about two months. 

Red-spotted newts mate usually in the first half of the day. 

Here you can see the male is already on the top in the mating position. 

Notice how gently the male waves his tail.

 This is the signature move of mating newts. 

Only mating male newts wave tails in such fashion. 

Fighting newts do not wave tails like that.

The male uses this move to fan or spread his charming pheromones around the female. 

And as we already have seen previously - those pheromones do the magic on female newts.

 I've been observing the male newts compete and mate daily. 

Red-spotted males take their time mating - it could last for up to an hour! 

And the other male still still has the chance to interfere. 

So, the mating male must be on the lookout all the time. 

Notice how gently the male newt waves his tail spreading his pheromones on each side. 

That is the beginning of the mating. 

The other male makes his presence noticeable to the mating female.

 Physical presence may help him to win her attention. 

Yeah, doping the female with pheromones gives the male newt a huge advantage over the competitor.

 But it is not the end of the mating game yet.

 And the mating male is very well aware of it.

 In this example the mating took about 50 minutes for this couple.

Here you can see the couple is already getting to the culmination point of the mating. 

The male noticeably intensifies his tail waving. 

The female is very agitated and wrestling out. 

And now to the finish line! 

The mating male is about to deposit his sperm. 

The female is at full attention. 

She is still doped with the pheromones of this male.

 But the effect of pheromones is wearing out and the other male may interfere at any time.

Ta-dam! 

The male deposited his sperm pocket. 

Now it is up to the female to take or leave the sperms... 

The other male may distract the female and even drop his own sperm instead for the female to pick up.

 Well, my friendly female newt SheShy left this sperm pocket untouched. 

That is the end game of this almost an hour long mating.

 But it is not the end of the mating season for my newts yet. 

Based on my observations I would have to make some adjustments in the tank and the care for my newts. 

More about it in future videos. 

Have fun and happy newts :)