larvae growth rate

[freddy73]

Hi, I would like to know roughly at how old do they get there back legs. I have looked on the axolotl site and it says about 3 weeks. Mine are 9 weeks old feeding well but only have front legs which are still tiny. They are kept at room temperature but its not too cold here atm and has been pretty warm some days, am I doing something wrong? I moved house recently and sadly lost quite a few as I got caught up with packing and stuff and couldn't keep up with the cleaning and everything (my fault I know) but I am really pampering the ones left (well I think I am.) :wacko: Any comments would be much appreciated.

 

[freddy73]

I forgot to mention they are only about an inch and a half long.

 

[Kaysie]

How much/how often are you feeding?

 

[freddy73]

Hi, They have a constant supply of daphnia in with them and I have been trying them with chopped up bloodworms and crushed pellets.

 

[Bellabelloo]

Hi there, my little hoard ( now down to 14 ) where produced approx 5th August, so these are also approx 9 weeks. I was wondering too why they hadn't developed back legs, until I put them into a clear sided tank, I can now see a couple are just developing them. They didn't appear where I expected them as I thought they would grow from the side , instead they seem to be growing from along the base of the tail towards the tail. The one with the most noticable legs has now gotten wider there as I presume the pelvis is forming to support the limbs, which in my lot are transparent...so you can barely see them!. I am currently feeding daphnia, wrigglers ( water born insect larva) and bloodworm. I have now purchased some small earth worm to keep more accesable as my compost bin gang are being very unreliable of late, and also some amphibian pellets to try on them.

 

[philbaker76]

Hi Freddy, my Axolotls seem to be developing slower than the batch I had earlier this year. It could be because I'm feeding them from the pond, and cooler weather means less water fleas etc.

But, they are health enough - so I'm not too worried.

Some eggs turned larvae I had from Bellabelloo - are as large as some I had from ColinB (and Colin's are couple of weeks older); they are all fed at the same at the same time, kept in the same room etc.

Some just seem to grow quicker than others!

 

[Bellabelloo]

My wild type larvae ( still suprised these turned up as they started out completly white or yellow) are by far the largest, followed by the black with no shiny bits, yellow and white. The yellow are a lot where consistently 1/2 the size of the darker ones ( my last golden one has just gone to university to study!!!!) .
I had kept mine in a tray approx 2 inches deep and they didn't seem to be developing at all, then one day I noticed the transparent front legs, it was only when they moved into a clear sided tank that you could see just how much they had progressed from being reasonably flat to little chubsters.

 

[freddy73]

Thanks for your replies, I feel alot better now. Their front legs are developing very well and you can see their feet without too much squinting now too. lol

 

[Bellabelloo]

Its weird that once you spot those ghost like legs , you sudenly see that they all have them. They are much easier once they develope some colour.