Monday, February 23, 2015

Alpine newt pictures from 2/22/2015

The boy is so hard to take pictures of.  Here s a picture of a female and a larva

Mom

that tiny thing on my cuticle is the larva. 

Danube crested newt pictures from 2/22/15

I find these guys mesmerizing.  They are not bashful and put on such a fantastic show with their crests.
Mom and dad holding hands

feeding time

up close

lighting from above
my girls won't stop laying eggs

feeding time (again)

Axolotl pics from 2/22/2015

I am amazed by the variety of color and the changes that occur as they grow into adulthood. 

Ash- female Melanoid


Ash- female Melanoid

Hahn- Male light wild type
Wilma- Female darker wild type

Saturday, February 21, 2015

2015 Axolotl egg development

I put together a series of pictures of axolotl egg development.  My eggs last year always hatched at two weeks- they were warmer.  The room temperature in the basement vs the main floor in our house is about 5 degrees different.  The upstairs stays around 70 degrees vs basement 63-65 degrees.  My 2015 eggs had about a third hatch at 14 days with the majority still in eggs on day 19.

Day one

Day 3

Day four

Day five

Day six

Day seven

Day eight

Day nine

Day eleven

Day thirteen
Day fifteen

Day fifteen

Day eighteen- non albino

Day eighteen- albino
Day 21

Day 21

Day 21

Day 21














Axolotl eggs: albino vs nonalbino

It is always exciting to see what kind of axolotl is developing.  I find that at first you can only ID if they will be albino or non-albino.  They change so much in the first week or two that I don't get too wound up trying to figure out wild vs leucistic, wild vs melanoid, or albino vs gold albino.  I do think it is great that you get the type of axolotl in stages.  I know know that I will get some albino (albino or gold albino) and some non-albino (leucistic, melanoid, or wild).  The parents are a melanoid female and leucistic (not sure out of two).

Mom

Freckles- Maybe Daddy 1

Bifercated Buddy- Maybe Daddy 2

Non-albino: check out those peepers

Albino: check out the lack of peepers

Alpine newt egg developement

I wasn't anticipating eggs this year from the Alpine newts.  The basement does get super cold and they love it.  I was surprised to find eggs but have been very pleased to see them developing.  Here is the first few weeks of developement.

They love the tips of the hornwort.  I thought they would all be duds until I saw them getting bean shape.












New larvae in seperate tank from parents

larvae in parent tank

Larvae from parent tank developing

Larvae development in seperate larvae tank

Color is starting to develop


Fire Salamander

fire salamander- rarely touch this guy but wanted to snap a picture.

fire salamander up close

Spanish Ribbed Newt

Spanish ribbed newt

Blue Tailed Fire Belly Newts eating

Blue tailed fire belly newts.  Dinner time.

Blue tailed fire belly hanging out on some Riccia