Xenopus

[John]

Kurt is giving you hard facts but it's a stretch to credit hormones in the water with causing this to happen (sorry, I'm a scientist - you can't say something like that without evidence Kurt). He may be right but I think there are other more likely reasons - most likely stress, or possibly an internal organ problem. It's impossible to say with certainty. However, the eggs will not be fertile. To the best of my knowledge, parthenogenicity is unknown in diploid amphibians. Parthenogenicity is basically the mother's ability to reproduce exact copies of her own genes to make new offspring, without the contribution of a male.

[kmhort]

Wow! I never even thought of her laying eggs, because I have called her a him all this time. Whew, I don't know what I would have done if they would have hatched. Thank you so much for helping me.

[Tom Highum]

Wow! Kurt that was alot. Whats a diploid amphibian?

[Kurt]

A diploid amphibian is an amphibian that has two sets of chromosomes, one set from it's mother and another set from it's father

[John]

Most animals are diploid (including humans).

[Tom Highum]

Haha i just keep thinking of Jurassic Park. Also aren't there some frogs that can?

[tgampper]

The genus Xenopus is an exception in the animal world. While it is true that most animals are diploid (having two sets of chromosomes), there are no extant (living) species within the Xenopus taxon that are diploid (unless you consider Silurana tropicalis to be a part of Xenopus). Xenopus laevis, which is the most common species in the pet trade is actually tetraploid (having 4 sets of chromosomes). The strangest species of all are Xenopus ruwenzoriensis and X. longipes, both are dodecaploid (having 12 sets of chromosomes). Really weird, you would expect to see these numbers in the plant kingdom.