Two Tailed C. Orientalis

One of my C. Orientalis possesses a second tail, one directly above the other. It does not have scarration or seem to be caused by any sort of wound. I am currently working under the hypothesis that it is either a birth defect, or genetic mutation. The second tail does not seem to hinder him/her (haven't checked yet), because it's a very active adult. I am tempted to breed it to find out if it is a genetic mutation, but I was curious if any of you have heard about this before.

alove said:

One of my C. Orientalis possesses a second tail, one directly above the other. It does not have scarration or seem to be caused by any sort of wound. I am currently working under the hypothesis that it is either a birth defect, or genetic mutation. The second tail does not seem to hinder him/her (haven't checked yet), because it's a very active adult. I am tempted to breed it to find out if it is a genetic mutation, but I was curious if any of you have heard about this before.

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If the tail is not bothering the animal it should be fine. I'd leave it as is. I've seen pictures of newts with 2 tails before. "Kaysie" has a picture of a wild Eastern Newt with 2 tails. Maybe it can be found in her albums. I've seen some bad deformities in my time like 6 legs and 2 hands on 1 limb. I don't favor such deformities, hope your newt lives a long happy life.

In all likelihood it´s the result of an abnormal regeneration. This kind of thing happens in animals that have the ability to regenerate parts of their body. I have/used to have a wall lizard near my house with two regenerated tails.

I saw a 5 legged one in a petshop, it still did well just like yours with the double tail.

Thank you for the responses. I think I've decided to breed this individual, partially because my background in genetics makes me extremely curious if it is a passable trait, and if it is, I'd love to see how it affects their viability at a larval stage. Secondly, because I am extremely fond of this individual and love the look of the variation. In truth, my only real problem is that he's a finicky eater.

A picture sure would be great....

Willlis said:

A picture sure would be great....

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I second this. I would absolutely LOVE to see this newt!

alove said:

Thank you for the responses. I think I've decided to breed this individual, partially because my background in genetics makes me extremely curious if it is a passable trait, and if it is, I'd love to see how it affects their viability at a larval stage. Secondly, because I am extremely fond of this individual and love the look of the variation. In truth, my only real problem is that he's a finicky eater.

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I'm doubtful that it's a heritable trait. If it's a result of a odd regeneration due to some sort of injury, then it's definitely not heritable. These animals have amazing regenerative abilities. Axolotls are even able to regenerate portions of their brains (just think, a renewable food source for zombies). Other mutations involving multiple or too few legs or other organs are sometimes the result of exposure of either the parent, embryos, or larvae to some sort of contaminant. If there is a issue with inbreeding in the population, you could have mutated individuals, but the mutations aren't always consistent. Usually survivorship is affected with inbreeding and the younguns' don't make it. Not to put a damper on your enthusiasm, though.