Question: Is George Michael getting 1) Fat, 2) Constipated, or 3) He is actually a girl and has eggs in his tummy?

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georgemichael

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Hi all, I recently noticed my axie is getting a little bit more rounded in the belly than usual. Here are some stats to help you:

Age and size: approx 2 years old (had him since he was approx 5 months old), 24cm long from head to tail.

Tank and conditions: No substrate, has his own hidey barrel + plants. 60 litre tank with filter (filter carbon replaced monthly, sponge cleaned with chlorinated water. The outlet spout was too fast flowing and so I've wrapped up some sponge around it to lessen the flow.). I change 15 litres of water (~25% total tank volume) 3 times a week, siphoning up poop as well. I test the water once a week and levels are always safe. Tank temperature varies from 15-18 degrees. Currently it is coming up to Winter in New Zealand so the temperature is just nice. :)

Current state: Extremely active, normal behaviour. Always begging for food, no signs of floating, has no trouble moving normally.

Food: frozen blood worms, earth worms, and axolotl pellets (interchangeably)

Feeding times: Monday, Wednesday, Friday (always handfed. If it is bloodworm day, I will slightly melt the cube and try to roll the worms up into a tight ball and feed him. If it is earth worm day (usually 3-4 inch long live earth worms), i will drop it in front of him and he will snap it up no problem. If it is axolotl pellets day, I will handfeed 4 at a time, and he will usually eat about 25 of these little pellets before walking away.

My concern? He hasn't made a poo for 5 days now. And he normally poos every other day or every 3 days.

If he is constipated, will it show with an enlarged cloaca?

If he is not actually constipated and he does a massive poo in the next day or so, is the big belly a result of me overfeeding him?

If he poos and he still has a round belly, is he actually a girl and the roundness is because of the presence of eggs in the tummy?
 

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Looks like a female. I am genuinely surprised at the number of people who monitor axolotl turds.....
 
There's a minimal buldge on the clocea, males are quite pronounced. Axolotls are generally sexable by 12 months of age.
 
xxianxx said:
Looks like a female. I am genuinely surprised at the number of people who monitor axolotl turds.....
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I agree, its a female.

It really is crazy how many people monitor their axolotls poop schedule. Some people even make sure its not too "soft" and stuff. To be honest, I don't know how anyone with sand or plants in a tank could EVER find all the poop! And yet, some people seem to be able to :eek: Crazy people......
 
The only thing I know about my axolotls poop schedule is that there's always one that goes 5 minutes after I cleaned their tank, put away everything, and washed my hands.
 
I think you should change her name to Georgina - She is a cutie with such a naughty face
 
Hi guys,

good news. She pooed over the weekend.
Semi bad news, she has developed a bit of white fluff on her top right gill feathers. I wasnt around when she pooed, so could it be hat her poop just soiled the water really fast??
 
sde said:
I agree, its a female.

It really is crazy how many people monitor their axolotls poop schedule. Some people even make sure its not too "soft" and stuff. To be honest, I don't know how anyone with sand or plants in a tank could EVER find all the poop! And yet, some people seem to be able to :eek: Crazy people......
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Ok. You guys, no joke. I came back home today and george michael had LAID EGGS. AND there was poo everywhere. Never seen this much poo ever. The eggs look like frog eggs. They cluster together and each is a spherical black dot like a peppercorn? But the underside is light coloured.
good news is, the white fluff has receeded. He let me siphon it off and didnt make a fuss and it hasnt grown back.
 

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georgemichael said:
Ok. You guys, no joke. I came back home today and george michael had LAID EGGS. AND there was poo everywhere. Never seen this much poo ever. The eggs look like frog eggs. They cluster together and each is a spherical black dot like a peppercorn? But the underside is light coloured.
good news is, the white fluff has receeded. He let me siphon it off and didnt make a fuss and it hasnt grown back.
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You might start having to get used to calling George Michael "her" now! Congrats on the eggs, is that all of them or has she laid more? 20 eggs seems remarkably low haha.
 
Sassafras said:
You might start having to get used to calling George Michael "her" now! Congrats on the eggs, is that all of them or has she laid more? 20 eggs seems remarkably low haha.
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I have no idea! :eek: I read that most people get 100+ eggs from their axies, so I thought maybe she was just laying them in stages?? does that happen? I've never experienced this before....

Also, the weird thing is, George Michael is by herself. She just randomly decided to lay eggs because of our coming winter season? The temperature's been getting colder recently in Wellington.... So all her eggs are unfertilised.
 
I am not sure what is normal for how many eggs but as she is on her own they will be unfertilised and I believe they do not lay as many when they are unfertilised.
 
Well, looks like George Michael answered your question for you, lol.....she's letting you know she's definitely a female :D

My females, when laying fertilised eggs laid over 600 each over the space of 12 hours. The tank was a right mess.

As for poo....I just clean up when I see a deposit....I have no idea about regularity, size or consistency and, to be honest, am quite happy about that.

You'll have to let us know if G M has a name change. ;)
 
georgemichael said:
Also, the weird thing is, George Michael is by herself. She just randomly decided to lay eggs because of our coming winter season? The temperature's been getting colder recently in Wellington.... So all her eggs are unfertilised.
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If females don't have anyone to mate with, they might "leak" a few unfertilized eggs, which explains why there are so few in the tank. She probably won't lay a full clutch unless she mates.

I think they reabsorb the eggs into their system eventually.
 
Dipsy66 said:
Well, looks like George Michael answered your question for you, lol.....she's letting you know she's definitely a female :D

My females, when laying fertilised eggs laid over 600 each over the space of 12 hours. The tank was a right mess.

As for poo....I just clean up when I see a deposit....I have no idea about regularity, size or consistency and, to be honest, am quite happy about that.

You'll have to let us know if G M has a name change. ;)
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:eek: ! 600+ eggs!! George Michael definitely did not lay that many. The first lay was about 30 eggs, along with poop EVERYWHERE. Like the force of laying eggs caused poop to explode all over :D:D I found a smaller clutch of eggs, about 15, two days later, no poop with the second clutch this time.
I'm still getting used to calling George Michael a "she"!
 
EmbryH said:
If females don't have anyone to mate with, they might "leak" a few unfertilized eggs, which explains why there are so few in the tank. She probably won't lay a full clutch unless she mates.

I think they reabsorb the eggs into their system eventually.
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She's laid two clutches now, the first one with 30 or so eggs, the second clutch two days later, about 15 eggs.
One thing I noticed about the second clutch is that about a handful of them were "cloudy", that is, the transparent jelly surrounding the embryo itself looks frosted. Unsure if this is fungus attacking the eggs or...???:confused:

Since she is by herself and they are unfertilised eggs, I had to remove them with my normal cleaning routine; George Michael didn't seem overly fussed though, she seemed to be her usual nosey self and just wanted to eat my fingers.
 
I monitor my 3Axies poop :) they are kinda like having kids ,I hate cleaning it up but ,you have to,to keep them healthy and happy .love my babies :p
 
Haha.. definitely a Georgette Michaela!
kinda sad that the eggs aren't fertile though.
 
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