Axomorphs in Australia

[Sevy]

Hi guys,
So my local pet shop just posted this. So apologies if a similar topic has already been posted.
As far as I was aware tigers are illegal to keep here and the whole axomorph subject is still a bit shady. So I asked.

Here's the reply. What do you think?
Has this practice changed or is it still as cruel and horrible as before?
I personally disagree with it.
As someone that had a natural axomorph for years and seeing the amount of stress the little guy had to endure.

 

[auntiejude]

It's true the process has improved a huge amount in the last 20 years - the old method involved much higher doses of drugs, the more refined modern method often utilises bloodline that are known to rect well to forced morphing and lower doses.

Seeing as it's the only way you can legally own a 'salamander' in Australia I'm not surprised they have developed a better process, and that axies are living decent lives as terrestrial morphs.

So yes, the process is much better than it used to be. But it's entirely up to you if you agree with it or not.

 

[Otterwoman]

But the lifespan of a regular axie is much higher, right?

 

[auntiejude]

Axies in perfect living conditions are supposed to live 15+ years.

That number comes down as average ambient temps go up or conditions go down, so in Australia it might only be 10-12 years.

But genernally morphed axies don't live as long as neotenic ones.

 

[Sweetie]

Okay. This makes horrible sense to me. I posted a thread the other day on this subject, as 'morphed axolotls' being sold as 'salamanders' seem to be getting increasingly common in Oz, along with the idea that there is no cruelty involved in the process. Accordingly to the arithmetic above, it seems the best that can be said is that the morphed axolotls may live half the lifespan of a normal water-dwelling axie, so I find it hard to see how that can be considered to involve no cruelty. Also, I'm not sure that not being allowed to keep tiger salamanders is a good enough reason to 'create' a version through morphing axolotls. Instead, we Aussies could just suck it up, live without captive terrestrial salamanders and struggle on with some similar hobby. We'd probably survive that experience better than the forced-morph axies survive theirs.

I'm also wondering what the forced morphing process actually involves - the person who was recently advising me to do it gave instructions on providing terrestrial spaces and raising water temperatures - seemingly, the idea being to make the water so unbearable that the poor axie takes refuge on land. Is there any circumstance in which this is not cruel? With 'the drug', is it less cruel, or is the warmer water bit unnecessary? Are there in fact some axies who are genetically predisposed to handle metamorphosis without dropping dead? Are the people doing this in Australia using juveniles?

I think I'm with the OP here. It seems we would both really appreciate a clearer understanding of the process (minus info about 'the drug', in case of DIY types) and an objective assessment of its cruelty or otherwise. Personally, I don't want to be prejudiced on the basis of ignorance, but I would hate to condone a growing acceptance in this country of any process that is cruel to axies and halves their lifespans. Which is it? Or, as with most things in life, does the truth lie somewhere in between? I'm confused.

 

[auntiejude]

If you keep an axie in unfavourable conditions it will die rather than morph. Axies don't morph in response to drying up habitat the way tiger salamanders do. Warmer water will shorten the average lifespan of an axie anyway and they are likely to get fungus too. Basically it's cruelty and whoever advised you that it's the way to make them morph deserves locking in a sauna until they morph into something that likes the heat.

You can't make an axie morph unless you go down the drug route. About one in several thousand axies will morph naturally, but it's incredibly rare. There is supposed to be a bloodline in Australia that reacts well to the drug treatment to morph.

So in summary:
Making the environment nasty to try and make an axie morph = cruelty and death
Natural morphing = incredibly rare
Drug therapy to induce morphing = possible and the only way you can own a terrestrial salamander in Australia.