Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi there:

From all that I have read, Axolotls are neotonic their entire life. Duh... But in one of my old books, I just read that if you stop keeping the water cold, they will take to the land and become a regular salamander. Its obvious that waterdogs turn into tiger salamanders, but I don't have a waterdog. I have an axolotl. A weird one. he was in a tank with about 20 others, most measuring about 4 inches in length. His gills are very bushy. He is golden in color. Anyway, I have read that if you introduce the hormone thyroxin into their diet, or add iodine to the water that reacts with the thyroid gland, they will turn into Mexican Salamanders. Of course, I want it to live and let live as it would in its natural habitat; the Xochimilcho canal system. I keep the water cold, but I read that if you just leave it alone, it will transform. I have my own suspicions about this. The University of Indianas Axolotl colony contains terrestrial individuals, and I have even seen pictures of hulking, enormous Axolotls missing their gills. Trust me, they weren't tiger salamanders! So, is this true? Based on personal observations, I say no, but some have their own beliefs...

Hi
i have been keeping and breeding axolotls for 37 years, i have only every seen meramorphs as a result of thyroxin injections carried out over a period of 2-4 weeks, complete metamorphs occurs on these time scales. I may also be worth mentioning the hybrid origins of the strain(gold) you have in the USA, there is a second strain from Russia in the late 1960,s( let me know if you would like any more info on these)The metamorphs that i have attempted to breed with have done so after a drying & cooling period of 2/4 months,simalar to the tiger salamanders captive breeding stratergy. One very intresting point to note regarding the tadpoles from these spawnings are firstly a low hatch rate approx 20%, the surviving tadpoles do something quite odd,with the exception of a small number metamorph at approx 6-8 months of age,these animal seem to live very much as a terrestral animal,they are currently at 2nd generation, i should point out that the life span record for my animals is currently 10 years, i will be worth noting other examples.As to just adding thyroxin to the water i have tried this only to the detrement of the axolotls involved, injection seems the only reliable route. It is often reported that axolotls can metamorph naturaly, i have keept many thousands and have never seen this, however i do know of several people who have. If i can help you any further please let me know and i would be happy to.

Ian