kapo

Livingart Your axolotl is probably classed as a "piebald" which unlike the leucistic (white with dark eyes - some have dark colouring spots on top of head and body) is quite rare. Check out the following link that will give you a better explanation of genetics/colouring. http://www.axolotl.org/genetics.htm You may be able to determine then what you can breed it with, but chances are you may not necessarily come off with another piebald but a mixture of parentage (dark/white/golden).

Yes you have to do daily waterchanges and use a turkey baster to clean up any (if seen) uneaten food. Are you keeping them in a filtered tank or small containers/tank or tub? I did daily waterchanges, sometimes twice daily if I overfed on the brineshrimp and micros, which were a bit harder to see. Don't forget they also poo! So if you see what look like orange spots, its poo and needs to be cleaned out. Turkey basters are excellent cleaning tools for axolotl poo, regurgitated food and other waste. Remember dirty water leads to death in young larvae! Don't know where you read that but obviously not the axolotl site! check out: www.axolotl.org/rearing.htm if you're unsure. You can try microworms, I just could never see mine eating them whereas at least with brineshrimp, daphnia, mozzie larvae, live bloodworm you can see it wriggling in their heads/bodies! Alan how big are the white worms? They could probably be fed when they get a little bit bigger. Pity I didn't have a source at the time.

Free you can have them on the weekend! Tried the jumping thing, sad to say my kids not me , and they looked at me in disgust after about half an hour of nothing! Checked later and still nothing, but hey kept them occupied for a brief while! Good to hear you'll have some soon tho!

Try lifting up rocks, pieces of wood/branches,, sometimes even leaf litter (if you have trees), garden furniture (tip them over), slabs of slate/stones, potplants and you'll usually find part of a tail/head sticking out, basically anything sitting on your grass in your garden, that's been lying there a while. Haven't tried the jumping up and down one, must try that on the kids, and see how long it keeps them occupied! They love wormhunting in the rain, and are pretty good at it too.

They look a big young to sex, but try this link it will give you an idea on axolotl sexing: http://www.axolotl.org/biology.htm

You could try microworms, but mine never really took to them, it was mainly the live bbs, mosquito larvae, daphnia and live bloodworm (which I found in one of my mozzie buckets, in the sludgey (decaying leaf) bit at the bottom. Do you have a compost heap, if you do might be able to use baby earthworms (look for little olive coloured eggs and you'll pretty much have a few baby worms round them, if you do). Also, I've hatched my brineshrimp in a small 10litre tank, and large glass coffee jars and they've hatched within 24-48 hours. I just siphoned them out using a turkey baster and squirted them into a mans white hanky (as I don't have a brineshrimp net) then rinsed and fed them. Axolotl larvae will not eat dead food until they start developing their back legs. Basically you have to have livefood, otherwise you'll notice your larvae dying from hunger and attempting to nibble on their siblings. So, if you can't find any you should order some online (ie TM), daphnia, bloodworm and the mozzie larvae (if they were alive) are great as they don't foul the tank/containers. Whereas, microworms and bbs, you have to clean up any uneaten food daily to avoid fouling their tank/s, which could result in deaths if you don't.

you can also use live baby bloodworm and baby mozzie larvae if you can get any. Usually newly hatched larvae for will take a couple of days before they start feeding.

cool! mozzy larvae, baby bloodworm and daphnia don't foul the containers/tanks like the brineshrimp do when they die, I love using them. I have mine in margarine and icecream containers (the big marg containers).

they don't all hatch at once, you will probably find they hatch over 14 days. My first lot hatched Friday, 2nd lot Saturday, some yesterday and today. For the first 2/3 days, they can remain in with the eggs, then you'll have to remove them, so they don't start eating some of the remaining/developing eggs. Do you have any daphnia or baby brineshrimp hatched? Mozzy larvae, and live baby bloodworm go down well! If you don't already have one, get a turkey baster, they are an axie owners best cleaning/feeding and also axie baby moving tool! Makes it easy to clean out the axie larvae containers as well as sucking out brineshrimp from the hatchery! I have several

I also have eggs, the different looking ones will either take longer to develop into axie larvae or may just die if they're too weak, as sharn says. Its entirely normal. If your same female axolotl happens to lay again within a couple of weeks or a month remove the male/s or her from the tank. Too much egglaying can be stressful. A friends female axie got stressed after several egglayings within 2 months, and is currently quite sick. Sharn -- you're missed over at Caudata

Hiya Sharn, any luck yet? I'd love to have a golden axie or two. Might have to extend the house a bit tho. If your axies do breed will you just sell in your local area or sell round the country as well?

hiya sharn, yeah I'd noticed you'd been a bit scarce there lately.

We have 10, (5 leucies, 5 wildtypes). Ours aren't as old as yours tho, 4 3yr olds and 6 11mth olds and we only got them round Nov last year, Jan & Mar this year. But what an achievement, 17 years, you obviously did something right for them to live as long as they have! Sorry, about the axie that died tho