Oh dear gosh! Please help me!

[FireStar]

The person I bought my lots from say them that she was told they were male.

From reading posts and pictures on caudata, I concluded they were female.

Long story short, we were both wrong (or at least both half wrong)


I have eggs everywhere! In the food bowl, in the sand, up the walls, on the pot! I don't have any plants cause they destroyed them last time.

Anyway what do I do? I would like to try and raise them
Can/Do I remove the eggs from the tank?
I don't even know if they are viable, the eggs are half black, half white (my axies are both black (Can't tell the difference between wildtype and melanoid))

The eggs are covered in sand and the axies have been walking over them


Yeah, I don't know what to do, so all help is appreciated

 

[iChris]

if the eggs have been laid, chances are they are indeed fertile. if you're not prepared to raise them, cull them now or re home them. you've got about 2 weeks until they hatch depending on temperature.

see this
Axolotls - Breeding Axolotls Successfully
and this
Axolotls - Rearing from Egg to Adult

to familiarize yourself with the breeding process what's required in raising them after they hatch.

 

[FireStar]

Thanks for the links.

The zoologist in me wants to have a go raising axies.

And what cuter than an axolotl than a baby axolotl! *fan girl screams*


So, would transferring the eggs into a goldfish bowl be alright? I know keeping axolotls in bowl is frowned upon, but is keeping the eggs in it ok?

 

[Quentari]

Thanks for the links.

The zoologist in me wants to have a go raising axies.

And what cuter than an axolotl than a baby axolotl! *fan girl screams*


So, would transferring the eggs into a goldfish bowl be alright? I know keeping axolotls in bowl is frowned upon, but is keeping the eggs in it ok?

Yeah just take them out when they hatch. Although honestly so long as they aren't overcrowded I don't see how the bowls are any worse than tuperware containers At least until they get bigger anyway...

You say half are white and half are black? I thought it was supposed to be that albino's lay white eggs and non-albino's lay black. I could be mistaken though, I've never had any axie eggs before. Good luck! I hope you get homes for them all!

 

[FireStar]

The eggs remind me of a yin yang.
Looking at axolotl eggs on google, they look normal?

If I don't use filtration in the bowl, how often should I change the water?

 

[FireStar]

Also, just another question, can I use a turkey baster to suck the eggs and move them? Or will that damage them?

 

[pondweed]

Axolotl genetics!

All the little letter combinations get muddled up in my head (and GCSE biology was years ago and my grasp of it was sketchy at best!) But I THINK your parents must have alleles for albinism. These are recessive alleles. Because alleles for pigment cells and iridiphores are dominant, the trait of albinsm doesn't show in the phenotype of your adults. However, when they breed, if two recessive alleles end up matched in the same genotype, then the phenotype will be albino.

That is so simplistic... Give the link a read. It's really good and explains it better than I can!

 

[FireStar]

Axolotl genetics!

All the little letter combinations get muddled up in my head (and GCSE biology was years ago and my grasp of it was sketchy at best!) But I THINK your parents must have alleles for albinism. These are recessive alleles. Because alleles for pigment cells and iridiphores are dominant, the trait of albinsm doesn't show in the phenotype of your adults. However, when they breed, if two recessive alleles end up matched in the same genotype, then the phenotype will be albino.

That is so simplistic... Give the link a read. It's really good and explains it better than I can!

Thanks, I know what you mean about the genetics.
I'm doing Biology at uni.

If this makes sense, a single egg is both black and white.
It would be cool if my axies were heterozygous. All the cool combinations

 

[pondweed]

Thanks, I know what you mean about the genetics.
I'm doing Biology at uni.

If this makes sense, a single egg is both black and white.
It would be cool if my axies were heterozygous. All the cool combinations

Then you must have a better understanding than me! It's cool that you're studying biology. I have a layman's interest in it (and like reading/listening to books about natural history, and will try to explain evolution in a garbled way to my family), but stumble over statistics and stuff. I try to appreciate it even if I don't always understand it, or take a long time to get it.

( ...Especially New Zealand natural history. Birds, birds, birds! )

I had to look up heterozygous again. But yes, that would be very cool! Lots of different babies.

 

[Quentari]

Someone correct me if i'm wrong... but you won't need to change the water till after they hatch. After that you will have to do it daily (plus cleaning their tubs every second day). You'll need to do that until they're big enough to go into a cycled tank with a filter.

 

[FireStar]

I understand that you must/should cull some of the eggs.

What do you look for in terms of 'bad eggs'? Also, how does one cull eggs?

I removed the eggs from the adult tank, but most have sand stuck to them, is that going to affect them hatching? I know that sand impacts in baby axolotls, but I plan to move them.

 

[Methodzki]

Hi.
It is normal to have eggs half-half. I do not know mich about the genetic side but they hatch alright.

As for the unwanted eggs... I temd to cook them or freeze them to stop them developing and a good old toilet flush...
I believe that is nothing cruel... Will see in comments...

 

[10fenny]

freezing eggs. omg that is so cruel... teehee jk. i had twins in an egg that i seperated and hatched in a shot glass. there doin great

 

[Kerry M]

My friend helped me cull a large portion of my eggs. I am very glad that I got his help as rearing 130 axies for a first attempt was a difficult task for me, although it was enjoyable. Any more and I think that there would have been problems.

I would advise that you consider the amount of time and effort required to raise axolotls. It took me about 4 hours each day to clean out and fill the 130 1L tubs of water that my axolotls were housed in individually. I put them in individual containers for a few months during the cannabilistic phase to prevent gill chomping episodes. My work colleagues thought that I was mad!

I am happy that I did it but personally will never do such a large scale breeding again. I will stick to around 20. Everyone has different views on how to do it. I'm sure there are lots of people on the forums who are very experienced and breed large numbers. I never really understood at the time why more experienced people were recommending that I cull the majority of eggs and start with a smaller scale as I learn. That advice makes a lot of sense to me now. We did freeze the eggs and I am sure that I read that this was OK. Regarding the links above, I followed those instructions and they were very very helpful.

Enjoy your experience, it is very rewarding

 

[10fenny]

i gave up on separating them. just make sure their full. i raised 300 in about 7 different bins. i cant imagine spending that much time on them. but it helped that i had a 75 gal i could get the water from and top off the big tank

 

[FireStar]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate this


Though, I would still like to know what 'bad eggs' look like so I can get rid of them

 

[10fenny]

i was sort of confused too. but once you see the others develope you will see... some will start to turn to kidney beans. and some stay as lil balls.then get cloudy and fuzzy. which are usualy best to remove

 

[10fenny]

um theres that other axol site that has the rearing and developement stages.. just google google google.. or yahoo or whatever is your choice. it has a day by day pic thing to go through

 

[FireStar]

Just, out of curiosity, since an egg is half black and half white, is one side the embryo and the other side the yolk? Or have I got that completely wrong.

Also, the white side seems denser as the black side are facing up.

 

[Kaysie]

The dark side is the 'animal pole', and the light side is the 'vegetable pole'. Don't quote me, but I think the vegetable pole turns into the yolk sac. It's completely normal.