Axolotl hatchlings morality?

[Guardianangel69]

I recently had some eggs show up in my tank, they hatch and now I have 100+ hatchlings. I couldn't cull the eggs because I just couldn't and I wanted the experience of raising the babies. I put some of the hatchlings on Kijiji thinking there may be other who wanted to experience it too, and someone replied telling me that I'm a horrible person for not culling the eggs and raising the babies. Is this normal? Is it really wrong not to kill animals? Ps.... it was an accidental breeding, I don't plan on doing this repeatedly and I'm trying to find a decent tank to separate my males and females (I though they were all males (oops)).

 

[Bellabelloo]

I will try to answer this for you

As you know, axolotl produce a lot of eggs. If you are successful, you could potentially be in the situation of having 100's of larvae, that all need feeding. It's not always easy to provide enough micro food at the start. This could lead to many dying from starvation. As they get older and onto slightly larger food, you may find that they eat the smaller ones..which to be honest is quite natural. Raising 100's of larvae can be expensive and time consuming. Having many larvae at a time also needs regular water changes, small larvae in small tubs grow into big larvae needing bigger tubs...space may become an issue.
Re-homing lots of bigger larvae , as in with all their arms and legs can also at times be difficult. Selling them just hatched is tricky as they can be more sensitive to changes and movement and the buyer must have a food source available, many can die.

If you get to the stage where you have maybe 50 small axolotl, that you have successfully fed and raised and most still have their limbs. Then you will need to find them new homes. This is the bit I hate most Who do you give/ sell them too? Can you trust them to look after them as well as you have? Do you resort to sending them to a pet shop, unless its a good one, they may be doomed.

Now, you may well be in the position that you can easily provide them with all they need to reach a time to go to a new home. But many people don't realise the implications of raising lots of larvae and it can be a grim time. I would personally cull eggs when they re laid. They can be left in the adults tank, where they will most likely be eaten..all perfectly natural. Any larvae that are then seen could be rescued and raised...as long as you can provide food ( I'll say at least twice a day).. this is a method I use. Eggs can also be easily re-homed. You can advertise them here in the 'For Sale' section....selling them gives you the chance to maybe get the adults a treat I personally would hate to cull lots of larvae, in fact I loathe culling any larvae that are deformed or sick, but it is necessary.

The person who responded to you on Kijiji was insensitive and arrogant to feel the need to respond in such a way. Wanting to raise the eggs is understandable, I did when I first had axolotl eggs However I was advised through the forum not to. Here is one of my earliest posts :- http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...axolotl-eggs-larvae-breeding/49543-oh-no.html

 

[Guardianangel69]

Thanks you .

I have the time to care for all the babies, I've already purchased hundreds of containers, tons of brine shrimp eggs and I've been doing daily water changes. I have the time to keep up with the larvae and I think I've solved the space issue thankfully . A bonus for me finding them Homes is that they're pretty hard to find here. One or two pet stores carry them (in rough conditions) and there aren't any on kijiji within an hours drive. I've been feeding them once a day, leaving the Shrimp in there for 6 hours (I check to make sure they're still alive) then change the water. This gives them lots of time to eat, should I be doing this twice a day? This is my first time and that person on Kijiji really worried me. I suffer from anxiety and the though of killing the eggs just made my chest hurt so much. I couldn't do it. In the future, if they do this again before I get them separated, I'll just leave the eggs and let them get eaten, I was just worried it would be bad for the adults.

 

[GalLuvsAxolotls]

IMHO the person who contacted you on kijiji was completely out of line. I completely understand wanting to give raising axolotls a go!

bellabelloo gave you excellent information! I agree that working to re-home them is the worst... I kept what I thought was a reasonable amount of eggs late last year, and this is the highest success rate I have ever had from egg to juvenile. I have re-homed over half of them, but I still have lots to find homes for!!! This year I finally set up a second tank to separate the males from the females... I don't want to raise axolotls anymore! It is so much work... and stressful...