Wait... white?

A speckled hatchling

This past week while feeding the babies, we noticed something. Some of the hatchlings were white, or at least lighter than the others. We didn't expect it; both the parents are wild type, or brown, axolotls. This means they must be heterozygous, or, they carry the white gene, which is recessive. Since the wild type gene is dominant over the white gene, the white

A white (leucistic) full grown axolotl

axolotls must have gotten two white genes instead of a white and a wild, like their parents. Using our knowledge of genetics, about one fourth of the babies should be white and half able to have white children. We are excited about the variety! The hatchlings are also growing quickly. They may be able to eat larger brine shrimp soon - we have been feeding much and often. They are growing healthily and are much larger and more outgoing than when they hatched. We think that some may have front leg buds already. Hopefully we will be able to catch one with some and take a picture under the microscope soon. They are so fast, and the more developed ones are faster.