Momcicle Mania: February 2015

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

Hahn- Male light wild type

Wilma- Female darker wild type

Saturday, February 21, 2015

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 eighteen- non albino

Day eighteen- albino

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.