Adoped Axolotls that been poorly looked after

Someone emailed me and said they could not look after their two axolotls and did I know of anyone that would take them off them. I said I would take them and give them good homes.

They said they were 9 months old as they were born in March. They also sent me a pic of them but they looked extremely small like a 3 month old. I asked them about the pic and they said it was taken in June.

Anyway I was expecting large axolotls as that is what they should be at 9 months old but when they arrived they were tiny, they look the size of a 3 month old and one of them was in a bad state, it only had one real leg intact, the other 3 were growing back and one of its gills had also been damaged and is growing back. The other one looked fine it had all its gills and legs.

The person said they did not want them as it was too much effort for them and did not find them interesting. They also said they were in a heated aquarium with other fish as that is what they were told.

Now, my dilema is what should I do with the injured one, should I pop it in the fridge for a week or just let it be in fresh water?
I did try and feed it a chopped up worm which it ate but 2 hours later was sick and threw it up.
The other one also ate worms but thew it up later too.

My main question is:
Can an axolotls growth be stunted due to heat and not enough food that a 9 month one can look like a 3 month one?
or was the people lying and it is in fact only 3 month old?

I've learned to not really trust most excuses people say when it comes to poor animal care but it's very possible they are stunted due to poor conditions and not enough food. How big are they? The fridge may not be necessary but you may want to keep them in separate cool containers until they are fully healed.

Boomsloth said:

I've learned to not really trust most excuses people say when it comes to poor animal care but it's very possible they are stunted due to poor conditions and not enough food. How big are they? The fridge may not be necessary but you may want to keep them in separate cool containers until they are fully healed.

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I dont have a tape measure to measure it but its the size of a 3 month old
here are some pics i quickly took

this is the pic they sent me prior to me receiving them.
As you can see from the pic they look like 3 months old and the wild one has all its legs.
now compare it with the one I took the only difference is just a tiny bit bigger but less legs.

I've been wondering the same thing. I was given a golden albino under similar circumstances and conditions. Was told she was a year and a half old, was kept with fish in a tank that did not even have a thermometer. She was 5 inches long and bone thin. 3 months later she is 7 inches long and plump with flowing gills. I'd love to have another but I worry that she won't get any bigger bc I'm not positive of her actual age and I'll end up with too much of a size difference.

The nutrition and general care a lotl receives in its first six months will pretty much determine its final size. These axies look very malnourished, so although lots of love and worms will fatten them up and help them regrow any missing bits, it is unlikely that they will ever reach a large size. My lotl was small when I got him at six months of age, and although he then grew an inch a month for a few months, he stopped growing at eight inches and has not grown a millimetre more since.

Just persist with small, regular feedings and maintain good water quality. You should be able to nurse them back to health. It may be necessary to separate them if there is any bullying occurring, but if they have been together until now, it may be okay to leave them in the one tank, as long as there is enough room and several hides. I would not consider fridging at this stage as it will decrease appetite and these two look like they need to do quite a bit of eating. Good luck, and well done for taking them on and giving them a chance at a decent life.

Pics taken today

more.

final 2 pics

Well, if you want to get some weight on them I would try feeding chopped/whole worms and maybe some waxworms too

ThoseNewtsTho said:

Well, if you want to get some weight on them I would try feeding chopped/whole worms and maybe some waxworms too

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As I said in my first post I tried worms but the wild one refused to eat it and the other one ate the worm but 2 hours later was sick and threw it up.
I have tried again today to get them to eat the bit of worms but they just not interested, the wild one is trying to eat blood worms but only eats one or two of them and the rest get ignored, the other one does eat the bloodworms.

They are far too small for waxworms, they only the size of my middle finger

so far they have not done a poo yet, not sure if they even have any to produce if not been fed well

I agree with Sweetie! Feeding small portions twice a day will help a lot - it worked magic for my little guy coming from similar conditions.
These guys do look small and from my little experience with Axies and people who abandon them - there seems to be a common lie "we had them for a while and now can't afford to look after them anymore" which should really be read as "we tried but got bored within a month or so, left them unattended for a while, but we don't want to admit that and long term sounds better". So I'd say they may be still little and may grow up to full size (I'm only judging by my boy who went from small and skinny to plump and big in three months where ex-owner claimed him to be a 2-year old) or may stay shorter than average but will definitely put on weight and be happy and healthy. Maybe try axie pellets? Worked a treat for me at some point.
Good luck and good on you for adopting them)

I just cannot get the wild one to eat, no matter what it eats be that tiny chopped up worms or blood worms (frozen and live ones) it just spits them out.
Its just not interested in eating at all, and its still not done a poo yet, the other one eats a tiny bit but not much but at least its done a tiny poo

Here is what they look like one month later

http://oi60.tinypic.com/2zsw51i.jpg

latest pics

They are definitely looking healthier, especially the gills. Have they grown any since your original pics in November? It's hard to tell size in pics. I assume this means the wild one finally started eating?

Leash44 said:

They are definitely looking healthier, especially the gills. Have they grown any since your original pics in November? It's hard to tell size in pics. I assume this means the wild one finally started eating?

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it took nearly 3 weeks for the wildone to eat, now it likes 2 worms a day
i think they have both grown about 1cm in length, and the wild ones front foot has grown fully back although the chunk out the top of its tail has not regrown so it has an obvious bite mark in it
they were a bit bully with each other and fighting so put a barrier up to seperate them in same tub and 1.5 weeks later remeoved it and they are fine with each other now.
size wise they now look about 6 month old, but its anyone gues their real age

I think it's true that an axolotl's feeding and housing in its first few months determines a lot of its growth and health during its early life, although breeding may be a factor. I remember getting Gally, my Golden, who was skinny, with gill stubs, and tiny. She is now fat and much longer, with gills and little gill fronds. I estimate she was six months when I got her and I don't believe her gills will ever be big and frondy, but she definitely looks happier now.

When I raised sixty babies from larvae the good breeding of their parents definitely helped. I fed the babies on a good diet of BBS. They grew like weeds. I have pictures of them in their new homes now, fat and healthy-looking, and most of the new owners have followed my advice to the letter.

It is hard to say how old they are but they do look much better now they're eating the right foods. I found that worms are one of those things - once an axxie gets a taste for them, they fatten up like no one's business!

latest pics
they quite snug and content in the cave. only for one but they both squeese in it