Looking to get eggs for disappointed students!

Hello!
This is the first post on this forum for me!
I was given four young axolotls for my classroom last year and we were surprised with eggs in mid November! As I am a high school biology teacher in a small school this was truly exciting although unexpected!

About 1/2 the eggs were developing and several had hatched when the water got very cloudy over-night and all the embryo's and new hatchlings died except 1.

Many of my students hoped to adopt one of the juveniles and were really disappointed.

I am looking to buy some eggs or juveniles but I can not yet post on the for sale section because I am a newbie!

Does anyone have advice on how best to locate eggs for purchase
1) How far away can they be shipped from?
2) what is the success rate for survival (should I buy many more than I need just in case?)
3) do they do better if you buy the least developed or should thay be almost at the hatching stage?

Any advice I could get would be appreciated!


Do eggs survive best or

Can you look at the for sale section? If so you cold private message the sellers. If they kids are looking to adopt them do they know how to care for them properly? Things like aquarium cycles, water parameter testing, proper foods and the like are very important for axolotl to survive especially young ones. My mom is a small school teacher so I know how busy you are, but would it be possible to have a pamphlet made for them with basic care info? If you are interested in this I should have quite a bit of free time in the coming months.


1) From my understanding It is pretty common to do overnight shipping from pretty much in the US with little problem regardless of age. (some ages might do better though)
2) This probably depends on how old/large the kind you get are. The sellers/breeders on this site will hopefully reply.
3)The newly hatched larva are so small that they can only eat very very specific things and require multiple feedings per day. If they don't get fed well enough there is a high possibility of cannibalism. I would certainly opt for juveniles (who can eat blood worms once per day) rather than eggs.

This sounds really cool!

Thanks so much for the information Charlotl!

I actually have never been on any type of a forum before so the tip about e-mailing the sellers is a great one!

You make an excellent point about educating them on conditions for the axolotls and a pamphlet would be an excellent resource. When you mention free time are you offering to edit it for me? That would be great!

I already got an offer of free eggs if I pay shipping but with the holidays coming up I may put it off.

You also make a great point about food! I got a daphnia culture which the one I have left is thriving on but I am not sure how I would feed many if I was raising a bunch!

I love being able to teach biology with actual living things! The one hatch-ling I have just started growing legs...when you look at it under the microscope it is fairly transparent so you can see lots of amazing things.....you can actually see the blood cells moving through the capillaries in the gills! it is awesome!

Sure thing! Whatever you think could help you out with it.

I got to see my albino's heart beating when he was a super small thing. It was awesome! I also really liked learning about the GPF gene and how the different colors of axolotls are determined genetically. They are really great critters!

Hello, Karen! Nice to see a fellow teacher on here! (I teach English).

The post below yours is offering some newly hatched juveniles - the owner is in Ohio, and I see you are in Albany, which according to Google Maps is 8 hours and 30 minutes away. I'm not sure how convenient this is for you. Here is the link to the board: http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...gs-larvae-breeding/104622-f-o-c-axolotls.html

If they really must be eggs, you will find lots available in this section.

I have raised eggs to juvies before, and I hope I can help to answer your questions.

1) Charlotl has a good answer here. The sellers should be able to give you more information should you need it about your specific purchase or donation.

2) My success rate was around 90% - around 7 didn't hatch and went cloudy. This will depend on the batch, the age of the mother and father and the conditions the eggs are kept in. It might also be pure luck - my girl's batch was her first and most of them survived. As Charlotl said, asking the breeder is a good idea.

3) This is up to you. Baby axolotls do require a lot of specific care, and it's worth thinking whether you can incorporate the feeding/water changes into your classes or have it as a 'prize' or a volunteer opportunity. My babies ate two servings of freshly-hatched baby brine shrimp every day and needed a water change after each meal. If you need to know more, check out the 'baby brine shrimp hatching tutorial' which has a Sticky at the top of the forum (it isn't expensive to hatch BBS, just a little time-consuming). As Charlotl pointed out, older babies can eat bloodworm (from about two inches onwards) and other foods, and are less delicate.

As for Care Sheets, these are a great idea! I have some examples I could email to you if you wanted, or you can make your own. Failing this, there are lots of 'beginner' guides available on this site and others.

Hope this helps! Good luck with your babies!

Oh My...How did it get to be January 26th?
Sorry about the long space between replies.....I just set up the forum to e-mail me on replies!

So my one survivor died :-( from fungus and I did not make a decision to order more eggs or babies! I am also unexpectedly fostering some hedgehogs in my classroom has distracted me as well as the holidays.

but my female just laid more eggs

Not a very convenient time for this but it will be nice to have more eggs to look at an perhaps raise! Planning to change the water everyday...problem now is the eggs are all attached to drift wood or the side of the tank the Axolotls are in so I need to move the probably will just move the drift wood and give the adults new furniture!

Any guide that you could e-mail to me petersgirl would be great!

Wish us Luck!
Karen