My axy has metamorphosed, how can I...

set up hs tank, so far i have half water hald land, but i am finding all the moss etc goes in to the water how can i seperate it, should i put the water in some kind of bowl , or maybe a lumch box?.... with stepns up to it, or the land up to it? so he can get in... or... any ideaS? anyone had experience with them?

(To those interested, this is a genuine axolotl metamorph - I have corresponded with freekygeeky for a week or so about the animal)

I'd recommend a good potting or top soil (no fertilisers or artificial additives) in a large long container. Make it at least 4 inches deep and put some hides on the surface. A waterbowl is not essential but no harm. The substrate should not be very moist - better to keep one end moist and let the other end become ~dry. It'll take the salamander a week or two to get used to its new status in life but it should become quite tame within a month. Waxworms are a great initial way to quickly tame larger salamanders like these (feed the axolotl by hand).

You should share a photo with the people here - I think they'll be quite excited to see it.

John said:

(To those interested, this is a genuine axolotl metamorph - I have corresponded with freekygeeky for a week or so about the animal)

I'd recommend a good potting or top soil (no fertilisers or artificial additives) in a large long container. Make it at least 4 inches deep and put some hides on the surface. A waterbowl is not essential but no harm. The substrate should not be very moist - better to keep one end moist and let the other end become ~dry. It'll take the salamander a week or two to get used to its new status in life but it should become quite tame within a month. Waxworms are a great initial way to quickly tame larger salamanders like these (feed the axolotl by hand).

You should share a photo with the people here - I think they'll be quite excited to see it.

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hehe thank you very much, ok, ill be doing that soon then i have been offered money for him / her togo with somone elses who has one, to see if they breed, but im not going to like him now !! even if he did bite me today!

this was him when i got him/her


this is her/him a few days ago...
now he is on half way ground, slightly in water slightly not.





got some beautiful spotting coming through, but his face is becomming warty like a toads....ew... lol

Wow, looks great. I,ve had some one offer me money for my large golden male would not part with eather lol.

kclinton said:

Wow, looks great. I,ve had some one offer me money for my large golden male would not part with eather lol.

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hehe !!!!!

That's pretty awesome! It's not often you come across a genuine morph

Amazing,

Do natural morphs live a full life? I have heard that chemically induced ones don't and was wondering about natural morphs.

Good to see you here with your little axolotl, looking forward to seeing more of him!

Kaysie said:

That's pretty awesome! It's not often you come across a genuine morph

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hehe thank you!

ianclick said:

Amazing,

Do natural morphs live a full life? I have heard that chemically induced ones don't and was wondering about natural morphs.

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i have heard they dont live a full life which would bea shame, but who knows!?

bellabelloo said:

Good to see you here with your little axolotl, looking forward to seeing more of him!

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hehe thank you!!!

will keep u posted!

Incredible

Please keep sending pictures,also when it has changed 100 per cent then what do you do

That's a very cool looking salamander, freeky!

kassie, I don't understand your question "what do you do". Above, John described the kind of setup it will need - a terrarium, basically. It will need to be cared for like a salamander, not an axolotl.

When you first move it to a terrestrial setup, I'd recommend giving it a large shallow water dish, so it can choose to be in water if it still wants to initially.

Morphed axies CAN live for years, so I wish yours the best of luck

Just done a bit of homework on Salamanders.............now I know more.

no more silly questions

BRAINS ARE FOR THINKING

Jennewt said:

That's a very cool looking salamander, freeky!

kassie, I don't understand your question "what do you do". Above, John described the kind of setup it will need - a terrarium, basically. It will need to be cared for like a salamander, not an axolotl.

When you first move it to a terrestrial setup, I'd recommend giving it a large shallow water dish, so it can choose to be in water if it still wants to initially.

Morphed axies CAN live for years, so I wish yours the best of luck

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at the moe, i have half land half water, he seems to liek it in the middle at the moe, hehe will keep you posted though!!!

kassie said:

Just done a bit of homework on Salamanders.............now I know more.

no more silly questions

BRAINS ARE FOR THINKING

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hehe

HE HE, Hope it all works out

What exactly causes an axolotl to morph?

Axolotls are believed by some to be a form of Tiger Salamander which is frozen in the larval stage of its developement.

In Tiger Salamanders the gills receed into the body as the lungs and legs develop. Axolotls have both fully functioning gills and lungs, the lungs don't develop into the primary organ for acquiring oxygen. Axolotls don't lose their slime coat and don't devlop skin. but in many ways they are very similar to the Tiger Salamander at this stage of development.

Axolotls rarely morph naturally, They can be induced to morph with certain chemicals or hormones but that is a matter best left to the research scientists.

That is cool...ugly but cool lol.

I have followed freekygeeky's morphed axolotl for a while and in this instance it was triggered by a water quality problem, which was rectified by them..but a little too late for this little guy. If I remember correctly it happened in a very small period of time too. It is possible that he carries a higher proportion of the tiger salamander genes than the average axolotl.
Looking forward to seeing how he does.

Fantastical..
So if 2 axie-morphed sals could be paired, would their offspring be pre-disposed to morphing aswell? This is very interesting..

lims said:

So if 2 axie-morphed sals could be paired, would their offspring be pre-disposed to morphing aswell?

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That is an interesting question to me, too.
I do not think so but I have to admit that in this to me there is more guesswork than knowledge, so it's just thoughts and I may be completely wrong...

So here is my thoughts on it:
First, I got several juveniles right now resulting from a pair of spontaniously metamorphosed axolotls (about 7 months old now). They do not show any signs of metamorphosis up to now.

I remember a paper I read about metamorphosis and neoteny some time ago where it was said that there maybe (or is? I have to look it up sometime) a genetic disposition for metamorphosis and this morphing-gene should be dominant. But I do not know any statistical proof for it, although even in the experiments of Humphrey (the "creation" of the albino axolotls by artificially "cross-breeding" a morphed A. tigrinum with a neotene A. mexicanum) there was some metamorphing offspring as far as I recall it.

But in spontanious metamorphosis, induced by external factors such as water quality as mentioned by bellabelloo or feeding as well as in hormonically induced metamorphosis there is no genetical background or disposition and therefore the feature of metamorphosis will not be inherited.

But as I said - these are only some vague thoughts and therefore open to discussion - I may be completely wrong!