My trip to the zoo

J

jenny

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i went to chester zoo on sunday and saw their axolotls and wow theyre huuuge! like twice the size of mine! and they had about 16 of them in i think it was a 4ft tank! which cant be good?

also...i saw some axys in manchester museum and their melanoids have green spots and so does a couple of chester zoos. what does this mean?

it was also my chance to get a better idea on sexing them and i think all of my axys are girls hehe...which i suppose is good.

ive got pictures on my phone of my axys which i have sent a couple to my email but then it doesnt show me the pictures on my email.
 
Melanoids with green spots...without seeing can't really say but would guess they are wildtypes with a predominance of black. Were there gold rings around the eyes?
 
not sure about the gold rings....i wanna email them and ask them if i can have one of their axys, seeing as they have so many in a not big enough tank!

what would it mean if they had gold rings arounf their eyes?
 
Jenny, you are a headcase. You've just had to let yours go. Your Mother will murder you.

Just keep what you have and enjoy them.
 
I agree Mik.

Jenny, why encourage your mother to go mad if you get another?

I know you are going to uni soon.. so just wait and settle in.. then think about having a little friend!
 
Oops missed your question Jenny, the presence of gold rings would mean they weren't melanoids.
 
no im not going uni til year after next year out and finishing a levels etc.

my mum is moving to london in the next 8 weeks so is lettin me keep the house and payin ma rent and ma m8s are moving in and she said i can have my axys back.
 
omg i just had a proper mooch on the indiana axolotl site and omg! i was reading about the mutant ones and they make it so that an axolotl is born without a heart and die soon after. and then they sell the eggs to these kinds of axolotls. why do people actually want to buy them so they die?

although actually i suppose is it for say school teachers?

but still..its well cruel!
 
Jenny, the university has discovered many different mutations. It would appear that most of these mutations are not good. But by studying them they can learn the causes and reach a better understanding of genetics and genetic disorders.

It might seem cruel but from what I have read axies are a very good lab animal. There a number of reasons (not forgetting the remarkable healing capacity) that make them better study in contrast to another species...say Xenopus.

In the course of my work I have surveyed animal labs on a couple of occaisions. The technicians and scientists I met were extremely fond of their charges and were very keen to ensure no unnecessary suffering was encountered.

Hard to believe for some poeple but that's what I have witnessed.
 
dunno guess there must be a few labs and uni that keep some. Anyone else know?
 
Jenny, they dont sell the eggs of these animals to just general people. That would be dumb. Occasionally if IUAC has surplus animals they will sell them to educational institutions, but no one buys animals with the defects. If you read, most of the defects state that there are no animals in IUAC's colony with that gene.
 
It said you can buy the eggs with cardiac and eyeless problems etc. But I dunno. ok.

I well want to go and do an axolotl degree at indiana uni!
 
They're sold to researchers, sure. And eyeless isnt necessarily a problem.

Here's a snippit from my trip to the zoo
24029.jpg
 
Yes, universities in the UK research them, and use them for research (these don't necessarily have the same objectives). For example, at Kent:

http://www.kent.ac.uk/anthropology/dice/research/azaxs/english/axolotl/axolotl.htm

and at least at the Uni I was last at, axolotls were used in the zoology degree.

I wouldn't like to suggest that the 'learning Word' example at City and Islington college is the usual academic approach to axolotls in the UK:

http://www.candi.ac.uk/areas/AboutUs/Elearning/documents/learningword2.pdf

it's probably only IT departments that think that way...
 
with the eyeless ones it said they die after a short while but i cannot remember how long.
 
how to cook an axolotl? hmmm lol


just a quick Q..it may sound like a stupid and 'wel duh' question. but in Ikea they have blue sand and gravel. it says on the bag though 'colour may come off' on both sand and gravel. does this mean i cannot use it in an aquarium? its just i have never seen coloured sand before to see if it says this on it or not. and there were people there saying 'ooo we can buy this for the fish tank' so im not sure.
 
jenny you can buy coloured sand from the tropical fish shops,red black blue yellow white.
tony.
 
Jenny,

Think about it... if the colour came off would that mean there were dangerous toxins etc going into the water??

YES

Please dont get it... you could kill the axies..

There is coloured sand but you will have to look very hard.. just like me looking for a male albino.. i cant find one anywhere at the mo!
 
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    with axolotls would I basically have to keep buying and buying new axolotls to prevent inbred breeding which costs a lot of money??
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    @Thorninmyside, I Lauren chen
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