Photo: Mature already?!

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krazeestraw

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So I just got my axolotl very recently, and was told that it hatched between May 21-24 of this year (making it three months old). It is a wild type phenotype (mom was albino, dad was wild type), and about 6 inches long. I went into this knowing that it would take time before I could actually sex it, but I have been doing lots of reading on here and other sites so that I am up-to-date with all of my information. I have read in more than one place that white toes on a dark/wt axie can mean sexual maturity - but the youngest I've seen anyone mention this actually happening was around 4-5 months. Any opinions on the toes in the attached photo? Am I ready to choose a name for my baby??
 

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Coloured toes are not an indicator of maturity - contrary to poular belief!
And you really can't gauge the sex until it it about 7-8" long.

You can, however, name it - just choose a non gender specific name! It is a cutie though....:wink:
 
That's a cutie!

And I agree; gender-neutral names are really the easiest way to go. And there's plenty of choices.
 
The same thing happened with my melanoid at about 4 months....I was pretty confident that he was a she. Several months later, it became very apparent that "she" was definitely a he. So...like others are saying, I wouldn't count on toe/finger-tip color as an accurate indicator of sexual maturity.
 
Basically you can't be sure it's a female until it's full grown at 20cm or so (but they can still surprise you after that!) Boys are easy though, I've had obvious males from as small as 10cm.
 
Exactly i agree! I would say unless your axie is obviously a male, dont assume it is a female until it is full grown and know for sure. I thought i had two females and mine were 7months and 8" and two weeks later one female turned into a obvious male!
 
I think toes changing colour are more an indicator of their 'prepubescent' stage - my Wildie had white toes at around four months, and at around 8 months, I started to see a bit of action in the old cloaca, so I realised my baby girl was really a boy!

I agree with the others - you can't be sure it's a girl until it's well over a year old, I think, because it's quite common for, as one user put it, 'Betty' to become 'Bob' practically overnight!

Your Wild is gorgeous, though. I love the colour on the gills!
 
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