Baby axies pointy head

bmp1976

bmp1976

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Brian Pruitt
I have some newly hatched axolotl babys and some of them have pointy heads wlhile most have the normal round one. My question is... are these deformed or what? I have heard of eyeless axies and I cant really see eyes on the pointy ones. There are ony 3 out of 40 like this. I would appreciate any help on this matter.
 
Can you post pictures?

Do they look like they have their gills etc. In other words are they fully formed?

Mel
 
I will try and post pics if they are visible. They have gills and look normal aside from the head.
 
I saw this on the Ambystoma Genetic Stock Center website. If it is this defect then the small headed larvae will not thrive, and presumably both parents are carriers.

Pinhead (pi)
Pinhead is a craniofacial development mutant characterized at hatching by reduced interocular distances including instances of cyclopia. Primarily affected are the olfactory organs, eyes, forebrain, and oral cavity. The pharynx, otic vesicles, hindbrain, notochord, and gill are apparently normal. The gene appears to be a simple recessive, but penetrance is incomplete and variable. Rearing the embryos at 10 degrees C increases penetrance. Typically homozygotes exhibiting the phenotype are unable to eat and die soon after hatching. Mildly affected phenotypic pinheads may survive longer (Neff et al., 1987).
 
I read the same thing. Was also wondering if they are pinheads, although they seem to be able to eat. They are too small to tell if they have any eyes or cyclops...has anyone ever seen a cyclop axolotl? That would be crazy.
 
They are probably pinheads. If so they will eventually fail to thrive and waste away.
 
Well I decided to euthanize the 3 pointy ones. Dont know if they were pinheads or didnt develop right, either way the rest of them are growing really fast and look good!!!!
 
I'm not sure that I would have done that without posting pictures first.... if for no other reason than as a learning experience for the rest of us.
Hopefully that was the problem. :(
 
I'm not 100% sure they were pinheads.
Some of my babies have looked a lil pointy before.

Photos would have been good.

Mel
 
I am 100% sure there was something wrong with them. It is better to be sure then to let them grow up and suffer adding deformities to the gene pool. Im just glad it was only 3. My camera isnt good enough for pics they are too small. I will be posting pics of my babies soon though...they are so cute.
 
I know it may sound bad but I feel I did the right thing. Trust me they were not normal....the heads were very very pointy and shaped wierd kinda lumpy. Didnt want to watch them struggle growing up or starve. Its never fun to do these type of things.
 
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