Help! loads of eggs and I don't know what to do!

tumptyteapot · Jan 30, 2014

My Axies are about 3 years old so still quite young. Overnight this appeared. Apologies for the state of the tank, it's cleaning week! There are batches of white round balls all over the tank. I have 2, the pinky one you can see there and a brown one. I've assumed the brown one is the male.
I don't really want loads of baby axies, 2 is enough, and I've read that the babies are often mutated and have to be put down anyway.
So I need advice please
Just because there are eggs are they going to be fertilised? What do I do next?

mikeg · Jan 30, 2014

Is this the first set of eggs you are getting from these Axolotls? usually the first batch are all/mostly duds. No just because she layed doesn't mean they are fertile. The eggs are white indicate your female is Albino, Golden Albino or Copper. Wait about a week the eggs,if fertile, will enter a "comma" stage which is when they look like mice poop. If you don't want all the eggs sell them. post a ad here, ebay, gumtree or any other site that you can sell thing on in the UK saying you would like to sell the eggs and have no intentions of raising them.

tumptyteapot · Jan 30, 2014

Thank you, that is really helpful - shall I just leave the eggs in the tank then? They won't rot and contaminate the water? It is the first batch from them.

usafaux2004 · Jan 30, 2014

mikeg said:
Is this the first set of eggs you are getting from these Axolotls? usually the first batch are all/mostly duds. No just because she layed doesn't mean they are fertile. The eggs are white indicate your female is Albino, Golden Albino or Copper. Wait about a week the eggs,if fertile, will enter a "comma" stage which is when they look like mice poop. If you don't want all the eggs sell them. post a ad here, ebay, gumtree or any other site that you can sell thing on in the UK saying you would like to sell the eggs and have no intentions of raising them.

So far I've not come across anyone with an all/most duds first batch. My Hatch rate was about 90% (660 eggs ~70 duds). Of my hatchlings that I kept, only 2 died in 6 weeks thus far. My axies are just about a year old.

tumptyteapot · Jan 30, 2014

so should I wait a week and see what happens, then do I just flush the ones that haven't hatched? and try to get rid of the ones that have to people that have time to raise babies?
How often do they lay eggs?

Dipsy66 · Jan 30, 2014

tumptyteapot said:
so should I wait a week and see what happens, then do I just flush the ones that haven't hatched? and try to get rid of the ones that have to people that have time to raise babies?
How often do they lay eggs?

Like you, I had a first at Christmas....I did keep some eggs just to see how successful I could be...I have two survivors from 32 eggs!!!

The rest I removed from the adult tank and froze to ensure they wouldn't hatch, then disposed of them. I hated the idea of flushing them and them continuing to develop in water in some smelly old drain......this might be the route you would like to take. It seemed the kindest way to ensure euthanasia before the eggs became little beings.

Hope this helps?

auntiejude · Jan 30, 2014

Please don't flush them, they will hatch in the sewers and die in a less than nice way. If you really don't want them take them out and freeze them within the first few days - it will kill the eggs before they have a chance to develop. Dont rely on on the first batch being duds, I had a 95% hatch rate with my first batch. If you have a strong stomach you can leave the eggs in there to hatch - the tadpoles make a decent snack for the parents (I couldn't do this but some breeders do).

They can lay every 3 weeks - but that doesn't mean they will. If you've had them 3 years and not had eggs I wouldn't guarantee any more this season. But then I can't say it won't happen either. So you have to decide whether to separate them or deal with the eggs when they happen.

Dipsy66 · Jan 30, 2014

auntiejude said:
Please don't flush them, they will hatch in the sewers and die in a less than nice way. If you really don't want them take them out and freeze them within the first few days - it will kill the eggs before they have a chance to develop.

100% with Auntiejude......think this is the nicest way.

tumptyteapot · Jan 31, 2014

you wonderful people, thank you so much, I'll give it a couple of weeks to see what happens then freeze any that I think are duds and give the others away, I wouldn't be happy flushing viable eggs.
Are they easy to get out of the tank? Any tips?

auntiejude · Jan 31, 2014

tumptyteapot said:
you wonderful people, thank you so much, I'll give it a couple of weeks to see what happens then freeze any that I think are duds and give the others away, I wouldn't be happy flushing viable eggs.
Are they easy to get out of the tank? Any tips?

Scrape them off with your thumbnail. Or just remove the plants they are attached to.

But you don't have a couple of weeks, they will have hatched by then. Hatching time is 12-21 days.
If you are going to freeze them you need to do it by day 5 or 6, after that they have developed enough of a nervous system to feel pain. You will know by then whether they are developing as they will be bean shaped - ones still round are not developing.

I recommend you decide now what you are going to do - advertise if you want to sell/give away the eggs, freeze them now, keep some and raise babies - you don't have very long.

tumptyteapot · Jan 31, 2014

Thanks, I think there are about 50 or so of them, they are in small batches around the tank. On day 2 they all look like hard white balls. I know I don't want to raise babies but I can't advertise until I know if they are viable - I guess I could take them out of the tank and put them in a smaller tank so I can see what's going on?

auntiejude · Jan 31, 2014

Yes, take them out and put them in a plastic tub with tank water. And you'll probably find there are hundreds, axies usually lay 400+

Kaysie · Jan 31, 2014

Please don't freeze eggs that have already started to develop. This is inhumane, as they've already developed nerve endings. Freezing eggs is only an option within the first couple of days after they've been laid.

Never flush live animals (eggs or otherwise) into the sewer. This is one way invasive species happen. It can also spread pathogens to native animals.

If you don't want to raise eggs, you need to get rid of them now. Give them to people, ship them out, etc. Once they get close to hatching, you'll be stuck with them until they're big enough to get rid of (a couple of weeks).

auntiejude · Jan 31, 2014

I asked the question about freezing eggs back in October: Link

The best answer came from a guy who studied developmental biology in axies, and gave us a good answer for the point where you can freeze eggs - he said that neurons start to from about day 5, depending on tempertaure. So freezing is acceptable up to the point you can just see shape change, but not after that.

But I completely agree that sooner is better.

mikeg · Jan 31, 2014

usafaux2004 said:
So far I've not come across anyone with an all/most duds first batch. My Hatch rate was about 90% (660 eggs ~70 duds). Of my hatchlings that I kept, only 2 died in 6 weeks thus far. My axies are just about a year old.

Happens quiet often to the people i know. My first batch of Golden Albino last year only 50/400 hatched, my wilds first batch only 100/800 hatched. my friends leucistic axolotls only 30/150 hatched first batch, a caudata member who lives not to far me from me 73/350. Second batches of these axies had a much higher success rate with almost all hatched and survived. Seeing as this happen to quite a few people i thought it was a natural thing, now im wondering if its just the quality of the Axolotls here in the GTA.

tumptyteapot · Feb 7, 2014

Eggs now have little tiny comma shaped axies in them - does anyone want any eggs? Free for postage but I'd prefer collection - I live in Bristol.
If I am posting them, how should they be packaged?

auntiejude · Feb 7, 2014

You can package them several ways, the key is to avoid too much jolting around (you know how rough the Royal Mail can be!).
One method is to sandwich them in a CD or DVD case with some damp kitchen towel.
Another is to put them in a small watertight pot (I use urine specimen pots!) and fill them right up to avoid sloshing.
I always ship for next day delivery.

How many did you keep?

tumptyteapot · Feb 7, 2014

thank you! I've got about 30 at a guess, looks like they all hatched!

auntiejude · Feb 7, 2014

tumptyteapot said:
thank you! I've got about 30 at a guess, looks like they all hatched!

Hatched? It's only been a week, do you mean developed?

tumptyteapot · Feb 7, 2014

I mean developed! Clearly I do not know what I am doing here!

Help! loads of eggs and I don't know what to do!

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