Place your bets!

[mike]

I'm not a gambling man, but apparently the odds of getting a pair of amphibs from unsexable young is not that good.

You need 8 animals for a 99% certainty of at least one sexed pair.

 

[ralf]

Mike, that's just statistics. With a good share of bad luck one might still end up with 8 males respectively females. A 50 % chance for rain isn't half soaking wet either.

 

[kim]

i brought 3 different coloured axolotls from 3 different shops before they were sexable... I ended up with 3 females!

 

[TJ]

Mike, if it's any consolation, I ended up with 4 males and 4 females out of my 8 marbled young

 

[mike]

You're right of course Ralf - Statistics are like a lamppost to a drunken man, more for leaning on than illumination.

I won't be put off,

. They go on to say that the chances of getting at least one pair are increased so:

2 animals - 50%
3 - 75%
4 - 88%
5 - 94%
6 - 97%
7 - 98%

I personally try to house at least 6 animals in a group for the sake of genetic diversity.

 

[mike]

Kim - that just goes to prove my point,

I think.

Tim - we all know that you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth.

 

[jesper]

It's better to look on the odds of getting the same gender

2 - 50%
3 - 25%
4 - 12.5%
5 - 6.25%
6 - 3.125%
7 - 1.56025%
8 - 0,780125%

Btw note that the risc is halved(assuming 50% gender ratio!!!!) by every extra animal you buy. The gender ratio assumption is pretty shaky I'd say.

I always go for 5 - but then again I'm a risc-taker

 

[frank]

ok guys, not entirely true. There is a phenomenon called temperature dependent sex determination, mainly studied in reptiles but also examined eg in Pleurodeles.

 

[william]

that is if you are raising the young from eggs, i think that people here are talking about animals that have been bought from the wild for example

 

[pollywog]

Another factor not taken into account is that certain species populations tend to lean toward one sex, for example populations of Reed Frogs tend to lean toward having more males.

 

[paris]

well THAT would explain my predicament!!! i have 6 reed frogs-all male..and they are a hard species to identify since they have many patterns....your odds info is in a section of caudata culture-that is one of the main reasons i have for buying starter colonies when ever i can -ideal to me is 7-13 animals, that way i can hope ive got good odds of gender mix and also survival (esp with new imports) ..plus the issue of 'what is it'? (hopefully if i get a batch all at once then there is a high probability they are the same species) ...i want to avoid the 'slimy sal' issue -or even subspecies mixing.

 

[edward]

Hi Frank,
As I understand it, Pleurodeles do not have true TSD. The temps cause the animal to develop (express the phenotype) as the opposite sex and function as such but the genotype remains the same.
(I'm tired and forget if its females developing as males or vice versa). This is very different than TSD where there is no genetic determination of sex.

Paris,
This is a common problem with WC frogs as the males are often much more easily collected due to their calling.

Ed

 

[paris]

yeah but mine arent wc, i got them at iad a few years back from some dutch american guy, i had some females, at one point in time i had 2.1..all of the offspring that lived were male and the matriarch died....

...not sure how long they live but im guessing 7-10 years so i doubt i will have another chance of getting true H rubrovermiculatus before they all die of old age-but im keeping hopes up, i like them cause they call nightly and i can induce them to call., there was a guy who had some hybrids for sale on the net, but i didnt want to go that way

 

[caleb]

Samples of wild-caught amphibians may also be biased towards males because males are often easier to collect. Male aquatic urodeles may be in the water for longer, and male anurans often advertise themselves by calling.

 

[paris]

samples? these were cb off spring-some still had tail stumps when i got them, i had them since metamorphosis..but the natural gender bend towards males leaves me at a loss...