blind axolotl?

[jabogra]

I recently bought my daughter an axolotl, I know absolutly nothing about them so dont know if our herashios behaviour is normal when feeding her she appears to be able to sense the food but doesnt appear to be able to see it it takes her a while to get to it and when she does take a bite and then goes for another she doesnt seem to see it because she will move around and stand on it still trying to find it to eat she is in a tank on her own, thats why i thought she may be blind she just doesnt seem to know its still there even after taking a bite i have read that they have good sight so though this strange can any one help I would really appreciate some input thanks

[frances dansie]

axies in actual fact have very poor eyesight and rely on the sense of smell or movement in the water to locate food, that is why you will sometimes see them snap at plants (and tank mates) if it moves its food.lol

[Julia]

I generally hand feed the worms to my axolotl, especially if I am unsure of how hungry they might be. The advantage of that is you can bump the worm around their head until they snap hold, at that point I let go as it still startles me!!

[kapo]

Welcome to the forum!

Have you checked out www.axolotl.org yet? This should give you a bit more information as well as searching and reading threads in this part of the forum.

Earthworms are best and yes they do have poor eyesight but respond to a little movement, as Bellabelloo and Digger state.

How long has your tank been setup and how long have you had Herashio?

[jabogra]

thank you so much for all your responses we have had herashio for four days I dont know how old she is or the back ground in which she was brought up hahahaha sounds like im talking about a child, she is about 10 or 12 centremetres long has a bit of damage to her tail or maybe 15cm we got her from an aquarium

[kapo]

Did you cycle your tank prior to adding the axolotl, it can take 3.5 to 10.5 weeks to cycle the tank? See: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml

If you didn't you need to keep an eye on the water parameters through regular water testing (daily or every 2 days) of ammonia/nitrite and nitrates, using the test tube kind not the all in one strips. If you don't have freshwater testkits , take a sample of tankwater each time you need to test to the petshop, ask them to test for each one mentioned and write the figures/results next to the ammonia/nitrite/nitrates (keep a notebook handy by the tank). Then don't buy anything the petshop suggests, basically if ammonia or nitrite levels are above 0, then you need to do a partial waterchange, at least 20-30% no more than that, the same day as the test. If your tank hasn't been cycled you can't afford to leave it for a week and then do a weekly waterchange, as your axolotl will become stressed and can become ill.


Your tankwater temperature ideally needs to be kept below 20C. If you're having problems following are links to cooling methods: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cooling.shtml and www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=50748

Also, your axolotl may be too young to tell gender, but here's a link to give you an idea: www.axolotl.org/biology.htm
http://www.axolotl.org/biology.htm