yellowpebble
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- May 29, 2011
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- Sydney, NSW
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- Display Name
- Rachel
I know it's a bit funny to call it retarded... but he is. He's physically retarded 
The larvae are about a month old now and are forming their front legs. There is one baby who just hatched wrong... It looks like he had a stroke. He is bent into a complete U shape, like a little horseshoe. Its not like he's stressed and curled up, it’s just how he is, he came out that way. He swims around in a little circle and can't go anywhere. If he turns upside down, he swims really fast in little loops but can’t get up the right way without help. The problem is he is perfectly healthy in every other way. He eats fine and he is growing like the others, but is not straightening out. He waits till the brine shrimp swim in front of his face then zooms around in a circle with his mouth open and manages to eat quite a bit. It doesn't look like he is going to grow out of his deformity, but is growing healthily none the less. I don't know what to do? No one is going to want to keep a retarded adult axolotl, and even then is it cruel to do so? He can’t see or swim properly. I didn't dispose of him because I though natural selection would take its tole and he would have died naturally... but this is not the case, he is healthy! So what now? I can’t kill him, I might be stuck with him. I have grown quite attached, we have named him "Tardo". I love him but I am not sure if I want the extra strain of looking after a gimpy axolotl, or know if he is in any pain? It could even be extra fun but i'm not sure.
i drew this picture of him... i attatched it.
Its weird, one side is a lot smaller than the other and is a different colour. His inside smaller part is white, his gills and leg are smaller on that side, and that side has a tiny, different coloured eye. The eye is pale grey while the other side is dark black. The stronger side of the baby (the outside of the U) is a darker colour all over too. The dark bit doesn't stretch down to his tail though. Its like he has a gimpy right side and it has caused him to grow into a U and not develop properly.
What do you guys think?
The larvae are about a month old now and are forming their front legs. There is one baby who just hatched wrong... It looks like he had a stroke. He is bent into a complete U shape, like a little horseshoe. Its not like he's stressed and curled up, it’s just how he is, he came out that way. He swims around in a little circle and can't go anywhere. If he turns upside down, he swims really fast in little loops but can’t get up the right way without help. The problem is he is perfectly healthy in every other way. He eats fine and he is growing like the others, but is not straightening out. He waits till the brine shrimp swim in front of his face then zooms around in a circle with his mouth open and manages to eat quite a bit. It doesn't look like he is going to grow out of his deformity, but is growing healthily none the less. I don't know what to do? No one is going to want to keep a retarded adult axolotl, and even then is it cruel to do so? He can’t see or swim properly. I didn't dispose of him because I though natural selection would take its tole and he would have died naturally... but this is not the case, he is healthy! So what now? I can’t kill him, I might be stuck with him. I have grown quite attached, we have named him "Tardo". I love him but I am not sure if I want the extra strain of looking after a gimpy axolotl, or know if he is in any pain? It could even be extra fun but i'm not sure.
i drew this picture of him... i attatched it.
Its weird, one side is a lot smaller than the other and is a different colour. His inside smaller part is white, his gills and leg are smaller on that side, and that side has a tiny, different coloured eye. The eye is pale grey while the other side is dark black. The stronger side of the baby (the outside of the U) is a darker colour all over too. The dark bit doesn't stretch down to his tail though. Its like he has a gimpy right side and it has caused him to grow into a U and not develop properly.
What do you guys think?
