Cannibalism :-(

Hi Guys

I think I know what may have caused the death of some of my babies - the last few days I have seen 3 of the babies attack each other.

They have plenty of food and are almost exactly the same size and have lots of space - so I was very surprised.

What seemed more surprising though was that it seemed almost intentional :-(

Previously when I had seen axies snap at each other - I always presumed it was a case of mistaken identity. These last few days though, not only have they snapped - but they have refused to let go once they have got hold of a leg - and have shaken until they leg has come off (then presumably eaten it - it was a little fast to see exactly what happened !!)

Either way I found it all a bit upsettting - and I now have 2 axies that are missing a front leg each :-(

I always convinced myself that missing legs were accidents - it's a bit upsetting to release that thats not really the case :-(

the legs should grow back tho

I think I know what you mean Karen. We refer to these adorable little cannibals as 'cute' and 'full of personality' but really their motives are purely survival aren't they? Maybe we just need to acknowledge that they are driven by urges that are not human, and accept those urges as part of their 'charm'??? My 3 week old larvae are starting to exhibit undeniably aggressive behaviour - toward their siblings!- and at the moment it's very funny. When they're bigger and stronger and limbs go missing I'll have to remind myself they are behaving as axolotls and not people. Hard tho'.

Karen...Its survival of the fittest, sorting out the wheat from the chaff, if your not careful the weakest will be eaten. Do you think prince Edward would be around now if he had been a axie.

Cannibalism is fierce when they are very young, and tapers off when they become adults. You can decrease this by keeping the same size axolotls in the same setup, and providing lots of plants and rocks to create private areas for them. Having lots of room and a big enough tank will decrease the chances. You can separate them with tank dividers or remove the aggressor to another setup. This is very important when rearing larva. The larger, stronger ones will eat the smaller weaker ones. Some keepers allow this to thin out a large group of larva or they will cull them to aquire this natural process. This is what happens in nature and will keep the genetic pool stronger.