divendres, 4 de maig del 2012

Spring

March has been a very warm month and April has been cool and rainy. Since March, mating has decreased. I don't think it is due to the lower temperatures, since the animals are very active. They feed normally, they sunbathe often... The male still looks for the female when she comes near, and from time to time they mate, but nowhere near as often as in March.
Last week I palpated the female inguinal, no eggs yet.
I have added a piece of  cork that I found in Alt Empordà. The bark from the cork oak trees is used for different purposes and taken out of the tree periodically. This piece was left on the floor, it was probably not good enough.



I have checked the water quality. I use aquarium tests and I look at the pH, ammonia, nitrates and nitrites. The values were correct. Maybe the pH is the one that differs more from the one that I  would expect for the type of ponds that the species lives in (I would expect it to be acidic, I will try to look for this information).I have a pH of 8. Perhaps the sand that I use as a substrate makes the water alkaline.