Day 7:

The gills are now becoming "fluffy" and the axolotls are turning clear in the tail area which is a good sign. They will turn a clear/transparent sort of look to them and then their colors will really start coming through in full vibrancy shortly after they hatch. In the photo below (taken at noon), I had to add a filter on it so that the wavy gills could be seen better. They are not picking up well on camera because they are so light but you can sort of see how they appear "wavy" if you look really close. This particular egg was the best example photo I could get on my phone camera. I just used an auto contrast feature to allow the natural features/depths to come forward a bit better. It was nothing drastic at all.

You may also notice that the embryos appear to move and change positions. They are slowly rotating as they grow and develop which is totally normal at this stage. Hopefully tomorrow, things will be much more distinct and easy to pick up on camera so I can share it with you all. Again, it was super difficult to pick up the changes with my camera.

image (c) me

This is so awesome to see all the progress these embryos have gone through. This is definitely the coolest thing I've been able to follow!

They are fantastic and super cool little critters. They are so versitile and diverse!

Thank you for your support and interest!

Me too! I will get photos of all of them after they hatch and begin to develop color (including the ones in the lab). Thank you for your support!

In such a short amount of time, it still amazes me to see them go through the process of development! Thank you for your support <3

In such a short amount of time, it still amazes me to see them go through the process of development! Thank you for your support <3

Day 8:

This morning (well... its still morning here), I went to go take photos of the axolotls because I can see their fluffy gills now. They are visible in real life but on photos they just aren't showing up because they are kind of transparent but the outline is still clear when you look at them. In the process of taking photos, I noticed they have begin moving in their eggs! It was crazy to see! I saw one wiggle and thrash around in its egg and then it froze. And I was thinking "Im just seeing stuff, they aren't supposed to do this for another day or two" but then it moved again (this particular axolotl is very spirited). So I started recording and of course it stopped moving right as I started recording. But after about 50 seconds, the axolotl above it just a little jerking movement so I have proof they were moving which made me feel like I am not crazy or seeing things XD. I also realized that I ahve two photos of the eggs, one with the spirited axolotl in a completely different position and then another one where it is all wavy and blurry because it was flipping around in its egg. SO I have posted those photos below since I can not figure out how or where I should upload videos to to put them here.

image (c) me

the little dude was flipping out lol

Hi folks! Yesterday I got super busy and didn't get the chance to post. It was a family member's birthday. So here goes a summary of yesterday's update:
DAY 9:

Colors were more visible with 3 dark golden albino axolotls and 4 mottled axolotls. The rest appear to be light or behind in their color development. There is not much news other than that. Colors were not really picking up on camera so a photo wouldn't have done much.

DAY 10:

Colors are very visible on a few of the axolotls, some are more faint but have some color present. I went and picked up their food today so I have that all ready to go for when they hatch. They will likely begin hatching in 1 to 4 days (I am posting this at the very end of day 10). Colors did pick up on camera this time so I have two of the most distinct colors posted below, the wild type mottling with what appears to be a gold face and a golden albino. They could hatch anyday now so I have been prepping as much as possible. Since there will be quite a few of them and the current tank/critter keeper I have them in is too small for the amount that are going to hatch, I will move them over into a larger critter keeper and separate them if possible between the two keepers just so they dont resort to canibalism (it does happen) but they shouldn't since I will be keeping them well fed. They have begun changing positions more and more - usually when I am not looking unfortunately - so it is a sign they are almost ready. I noticed that the two unfertilized eggs are beginning to combust which is concerning. I really want to remove them so they don't contaminate the others but they are just too stuck together for me to do that, I could puncture the other healthy eggs. I am holding off as long as possible though and fingers crossed they don't burst before the eggs hatch and I am able to move them around.

image (c) me

OH and eyes, i meant to add that for Day 10, eyes are now visible

Huh, this is super cool!

Thanks for sharing this with us, as someone looking to do biology in the future this is a super cool in sight to things that could come later on! Looking forward to seeing the babies once they hatch, axolotls are super cute!

Day 11:

Day 11 was yesterday but I had to go pick up their food and that was a whole mess... anyways, I will be keeping one axolotl and have been looking for homes for the others with students. It's proven to be a challenge.

I can now see their heart and liver. It's really cool because you can actually see their hearts beating and circulating (I have a video). Their liver is a light white just beneath their heart and it is more circular. The intestines are long and more oval shaped.

I also wanted to say that these eggs are very hardy. I was trying to remove an unfertilized egg because it was super cloudy which is concerning. In trying to remove it, I accidentally sucked up the egg that it was attached to which has a growing bright golden axolotl in it (as seen in Day 10's photos) and it has survived. There are no punctures or anything. Unfortunately, I can't remove the unfertilized egg. It's just too stuck. So they are now sitting at the bottom of the tank which is okay for now. I checked to make sure it's heart is still beating and also checked its movement. It still appears to be doing well. It is also a larger axolotl than some of the others. There is small fry and large fry. Most people separate them out by color until they are in their cannibalistic phase(around 2 weeks old) but I'm going to separate them out by size so they can't really eat eachother and there is less competition. Smaller axolotls will stay in the smaller tank, larger ones in the larger tank.

Day 12:

Today, I am just waiting for them to hatch. They haven't changed at all other than being more active in their eggs. I've noticed some appear to be at the very very edge of their eggs like they are trying to push outwards but they just can't. If by day 15 they have not hatched, I will likely have to induce hatching manually. Ones that don't hatch will end up dying in their eggs.