Question: 2 week old baby axolotls

[axolotlrhonda]

Hi! I'm new to the forum, but I have had 2 axolotls, Falkor (leucistic) and Toothless (melanoid), since January 30th of 2014. I adopted them when they were about 4-5 months old. On October 28th, we were surprised to discover Falkor laying eggs in the tank. I started researching axolotl husbandry and spoke with my children's school about taking a few to raise in the classrooms. Four teachers were interested, so I decided to hatch the eggs. I estimated that there were 250 of them, and the guy at the pet store estimated that only 1/20 would survive. Unfortunately, I underestimated, and on 11/8, the first axolotls hatched. Two weeks later, we have approximately 320 axolotls left. Twelve of the larvae are already at the school, being raised by a teacher.

I used the information on this forum and have been hatching bbs for the larvae to eat. The largest ones are around 15mm long and have no front arm buds. The pet store said they'd take 100 now and 100 when they are larger, but that still leaves 100 without homes. Also, I'm kind of sick of bbs. Should I be feeding cut up black worms at this point? Do I need to wait until they are a little bigger? All of the larvae are in the same container at this point. I do a full water change and switch containers every day. I think I read that around 2cm they need to be in groups of 25. Is that correct? When they start back legs I thought I read it was groups of 10 or less. I've read some conflicting information and would appreciate some clarification. Also, do you have any other ideas on finding homes around Denver for these lovely little guys? I am not raising them to earn money, I just want them to have happy, safe homes.

Also, I'm curious as to what the offspring will look like when they get bigger. Do you have any guesses?

 

[A1ecia]

Hi there! I believe it's too early for black worms but chopped up frozen blood worms would be a good choice right now. Unfortunatly I don't know anything about grouping. As far as finding homes I would post on FB or craigslist or even on here if you don't mind shipping them. I have 5 wild type axies that are maybe a week older than yours but are the same color as the ones in your pics, do they all look like that?

 

[Boomsloth]

It's hard to tell without clearer pics but I would say they seem like wild types. Melanoids will lack the eye ring and tend to be a bit more grey. Wild types have the reflective eye ring and will vary from light olive to more darker browns. Leucistics will have a thin band of color down their back and on their heads but it slowly disappears as they grow. Albinos are easy to tell from the eyes.