Photo: Odd colour melanoid...

[philbaker76]

Yes. It is short. I don't know if there is a name for it, but compactalotl works for me

We have kept three Melanoid Albinos from the same batch (growing them on in hope for a female). I noticed yesterday that one of the three is "compact" ~ like this one (but no obvious kink in the spine).

I'm assuming it's lacking a neck or has some kind of genetic deformity. Can anyone tell me more or point me to a thread/site with more information about this condition?

Cheers, Phil

 

[Neil C]

Phil your axolotl still looks great even if it is losing some of it's yellow.

The following two links have interesting threads on some "shortened axolotls"

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...ral-discussion/58070-body-shape-genetics.html

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...7-dwarf-axolotl-looks-different-pictures.html

Regards Neil

 

[philbaker76]

Thank you Neil. I'll give those a read now

 

[AquaticJess]

Just stumbled across this thread. Beautiful axie!! Do you have any recent pics?? I'd love to see!!

 

[EmbryH]

Holy cow! What an incredible color! A shame that it's compact. I'd love to see recent pictures, though!

 

[philbaker76]

This photo was taken yesterday out of the water. He does look a bit more yellow in real life, but no where near as yellow as he was.

These are her parents.

Female:

Males:

 

[Lianne]

Love that female, she looks like a dalmatian! Really gorgeous You should breed her more and make speckled axolotls available to everyone

 

[philbaker76]

They have spawn twice a year, we sell most of the spawn and raise some (so should be a few in the UK now) and we always get a nice mix of grey, dark and albino.

But not had another yellow one yet to my knowledge

 

[philbaker76]

I think the last photo I posted of her looks a bit dark ~ this is how she looks now. Photos taken at the weekend.

 

[Azhael]

Poor thing...
Knowing that the parents carry the genes for these clearly pathologic phenotypes i don´t understand why anyone would keep breeding them, let alone sell them off to others....that´s terrible.

 

[xxianxx]

I have to agree with Azhael, I bought 60 eggs off Phil, kept ten till adulthood, three developed spinal problems, one was rehomed with cj1981 and I culled the other two. I can't ethically use the remaining adults as breeding stock so will be rehoming them to keepers who do not wish to breed them. Breeding and selling this bloodline would be considered bad practice by most , if not all, responsible breeders.

 

[philbaker76]

I've worked out it's the males (brothers) who produce the dwalfs ~ forgive my ignorance, but does this mean all the "normal" ones will produce dwarfs, as well as any potential syblings of the males?

 

[Azhael]

Not all of them, but some. Since skeletal problems have appeared repeteadly and dwarves have been shown to have a genetic basis in other lineages, the assumption is that both your male/males and your female are carriers of deleterious alleles that cause very undesirable phenotypes in those offspring which carry two copies. Their siblings will be a mixture of carriers and non-carriers. If two carriers are bred together, more seriously deformed animals will be produced.

Genes that cause such obvious deformities should be eliminated from the gene pool by stopping to reproduce any animal that is part of that bloodline which can´t be guaranteed to be a non-carrier. No reason to cull them or anything, but definitely plenty of excellent reasons not to use them as breeding stock.

 

[philbaker76]

Ahhh. OK. I'll look at rehoming these, make sure who ever takes one on - they could carry the gene. ...think I'll try the female with another male before I rehome her.

 

[xxianxx]

Good choice Phil, the seven adult melanoids I have from your eggs look OK but they are not suitable as breeders. At what stage in the development of your groups offspring did you notice spinal problems ? I had none before 6"+ , I sold forty at 3-5" which looked fine , kept ten, one melanoid albino developed a twisted back at approx 7" ( cj1981 has it), I culled two melanoids at 6" and 8" when they developed the same problem.

 

[philbaker76]

Not sure exactly, I've only grown a few on to a decent size - and they weren't twisted as such - they were just noticeably shorter. "Yellow" is the only one with a kink.

I've had the odd "twisted spine" before (from other peoples spawn), but it was obvious from an early age - before back legs. This seems a little different, they get to a certain point and stop growing, length wise.

Of the ones I'm growing on now, I'll let people know about the dwarfism gene. And I'll keep an eye out for any earlier signs.

 

[xxianxx]

The three dodgy ones I had didn't display a shortened body length, I will as Charis (cj1981) what hers looks like now , she has had it for a few months.

 

[CJ1981]

The three dodgy ones I had didn't display a shortened body length, I will as Charis (cj1981) what hers looks like now , she has had it for a few months.

Mine looks 'normal' until you get to the lower back region - where the body meets the tail. From there the tail grows upwards, it looks rather like a cat holding it's tail aloft. He has also proven to be exceptionally slow growing.

 

[AnimlEnthusiast]

That is quite a pretty coloration! What is the color morph for this one called?

Hi guys, thought I'd share this - an odd light Melanoid, from December 2012 batch.

Has a dark tail, light body with yellow markings. Got a feeling it will get darker as it gets older, but really nice at the mo...

From top...

From front...

 

[AnimlEnthusiast]

She's such a beauty, I love her coloration! If she didn't have the crooked spine, she would make an excellent breeder! Maybe, her parents will make some siblings similar to her in the future?

I think the last photo I posted of her looks a bit dark ~ this is how she looks now. Photos taken at the weekend.