Spermatophore?

[frogman]

I gut loaded all of my animals with worms before a seven day vacation, my axolotls included. When I return I noticed something that looked like a spermatophore in the axolotls aquarium. It was small only about half an inch tall, had a white top and a clear jelly base, there was only one though although there were a lot of clear jelly like things floating around the aquarium. I was wondering if the female picked up only the top and left the jelly bottom.The female does not look gravid though. I was wondering how long is between the time she picks it up and when she starts to look gravid. Should I post pics? Any response would be nice. I would like to have a Little preparation time before any eggs arrive.

Thanks

Evan

 

[Neil C]

Firstly from your description it does sound like you have spermatophores present in your tank. Secondly females can often look quite thin and still lay loads of eggs. Females will usually start laying eggs about 24/48 hours after picking up a spermatophore. They will be gravid before picking up the spermatophore and just use it to fertilise the eggs. Males can also release spermatophores without the female taking any up. Hope all this makes sense and good luck with the breeding.


Regards Neil

 

[DeCypher]

Yep, definitely sounds like a spermatophore.
Expect eggs soon! :]

 

[frogman]

Thank u all. So when she picks it up she only picks up the white top?

 

[frogman]

And if my female is gold and my male is leucistic will the offspring be 100% gold?

 

[DeCypher]

Don't know for sure how they pick it up.
It takes 2 albinos to make more albinos, so I believe your babies should be wildtype and leucistic.
I have a breeding pair that is albino and leucistic. I always get 50% wildtype, 40% leucistic, and 10% melanoid.

 

[Kaysie]

It depends on the genes that they carry. For instance, if your gold carries the leucistic gene, expect 50% leucistic offspring. If your leucistic carries the albino gene, expect 50% albino offspring. If neither is a carrier for the others' traits, you'll get all wildtypes.

 

[frogman]

Thank you all, I will update if there are eggs.

 

[Kaysie]

In the future, you might want to think about not feeding your animals just before you leave for an extended period. Sometimes animals throw up undigested food, and everybody poops. Both things can foul your water pretty quickly.

 

[frogman]

i have a person who comes every other day to take check on things and feed my turtle hatchling. I have done many vacations and used this method on my adult animals and have never had a problem. Here is a picture of my female, I had not fed her since I got back because she still looked kinda fat, but then i thought she could be gravid so i went and fed her a worm. here are some pics! Does she look Gravid or just fat?

P.S. that's my new Stinkpot turtle hatchling Smelly and his mansion. Just got him.