How many eggs do Hyla Arborea lay?

[Stupot1610]

So, I'm a bit confused,
I've read lots of articles on this species and almost all of them say they lay 800-2,000 eggs. But then I spoke to someone who has bred them in the past and he says his only ever laid 2/300. Can anybody enlighten me? Does anyone keep these?
Thanks,
Stuart

 

[caleb]

The published numbers do seem to vary quite a bit. Boulenger's "Tailless Batrachians of Europe" says "Each female produces only 800-1000 eggs". Arnold & Burton's field guide says "Females lay 200-1400 eggs in clumps containing 3-60 or more". Kuzmin's "Amphibians of the Former Soviet Union" says "The clutch contains 692-1872 eggs that are deposited in 3-21 small clumps of 15-215 eggs each"

Some of these numbers will be based on counting mature eggs in the ovaries of dissected females. Not all of these eggs will actually be laid. As H. arborea can spawn several times in one season, it's likely that they won't use up all their eggs in the first spawning.

Even if they do lay all the eggs, it's unlikely that 100% will be fertilised.

Also, it's only the biggest and best-fed females that will produce the largest numbers of eggs.

 

[Stupot1610]

Thanks for that, it helped to clear it up a bit for me.

Stuart

 

[Alex M]

My arborea's have been laying steadily over the past few days now, and I've got multiple spawnings from a good number of amplexing males and females. Having collected it all so far I've got over 3/4's of a pint glass full already, which when you consider that each female lays a walnut sized clutch that contains eggs that each measure around 1mm, then it certainly puts into perspective their reproductive ability.

 

[Stupot1610]

I'm hoping my group will start laying within the next few weeks. I've been told that they lay about 400 eggs 2-3 times a year.

 

[ajr104]

Mine have not started yet, only have one female in my group.