Temperature

H

heather

Guest
Hi guys ...I have noticed when you guys do your whole tank checks with the temp readings and the ammonia levels; you all have really low temperatures in your tanks. like 18* C.... My tank is at like 24* C... it never gets much lower than about 19* C. I live in hawaii so there isnt much i can do about the hot temperature, but is this gonna hurt my axies? they seem to be fine its always been this hot in there ... i guess they're used to it. help....
 
I live in england have no heating in my axolotl tank and it lives between about 8º and 12º celcius, it functions completely normally except it doesn't surface as much as it did when I kept it at 18º. It eats and grows at about the same rate, I'm wondering If my cold temperatures could postpone sexual maturity while the axolotl continues growing at the same speed resulting in an oversized axolotl. 19º c is perfectly safe for an axolotl.
 
19 is fine, but if it gets to 24 i'd be putting a frozen bottle of water in there to keep the temperature down, personally. if it's there all the time and they don't have a problem... i dunno, maybe they've adapted. but axies aren't really designed to live in that temperature permanently.
 
Heather, do you havce an air conditioned room in your home you might relocate your tank into?

24 deg C is really too warm for an axie to live in for a prolonged length of time. Youi could try putting bottles of ice into the tank or placing a fan to blow air over the tank surface.
Make sure if there are any heat generating devices, like tank lights, that they are turned off.

Expensive options include things like tank coolers.

Ben,not sure why you think that cold water would inhibit one part of the growth and not the other. I have no idea but it doesn't seem logical to me. Perhaps one of our bio-vetty type readers may have an opinion.

The cold water will slow down the MBR of the animal so it eatsdless and requires less oxygen (which is more bountiful in cold water than warm). But I can't see why you think it would result in an oversized animal. Not sure why it would delay sexual maturity either. Surely that is more to do with the animals own make up but I am ready to believe that several environmetal factors would make a difference. Interesting question...
 
Well from my experience with frog tadpoles the largest metamorphs are the ones kept in the coldest water they develop there legs slower than the ones in the warmer water but they grow at the same speed, when they leave the water they were easier to feed because they were about twice the size of their warm water relatives who had already been out of the water for several weeks. I've read about this happenning in terrestrial salamanders as well colder water=bigger animals+latter sexual maturity. I'm not sure If this could apply to the completely aquatic axolotl.
 
Mik- We dont have air conditioning cuz we actually live up on a mountain/volcano and it is pretty cold at our house we have to use fire places in the winter, mornings are coolest up here and the tank is at about 20 C then ... its just that during the day it really warms up and the tank gets up to almost 24 C. its summer here now so thats why my tank is so warm. In the winter it goes down to about 16 or 17 C.
what are possible health problems resulting from high temperature because seem to be better than ever
 
Ben, thx for that. I get the benefits about the size when they morph. But I wonder why larger animals result from being kept in colder water and why they develop legs later. Perhaps it is an environment thing; maybe they stay in the water longer 'cos their metabolism says spring hasn't fully arrived and food isn't as plentiful on land. So they just keep on growing until their bodies say it's time to leave.

Heather, if you were kept above your normal temperature range you would anticipate that you would experience additional stress from the heat. Continual stress can't be good. You have to have relief from it. But at the same time their must be a fair amount of acclimatisation. But the axies prefer colder if possible. If there's nothing you can do about it then you have to live with it. I'm sorry that doesn't sounds as reasssuring as I would like. But your temperature will drop over night and you will have seasonal variation. Both will help, but try the icy water bottle trick or fan blowing air over the water. It can make quite a difference.
 
Heather -

I always keep a supply of frozen water bottles in the freezer and whenever I notice the temp in the axie tank getting too high, I just put one or two in to keep the temperature down. I don't need them all the time, but it's good to keep on hand for the times (such as according to you - during the day) when it gets too warm. It's better to be safe and have a bunch of frozen water bottles and not need them, then sorry, having your axies overstressed and not have them.
 
Heather, there are several other things you could do to keep the tank cooler.

1. Get a bigger tank. Since your night-time temps are always cool, this will allow the tank temp to stay more stable during the day. Night lasts longer than the hot part of the day, so on average, your water temp would stay closer to the nighttime temperature.

2. Put the tank closer to the floor and/or on the lowest level of the house.

3. Obviously, do what you can to let cold air into the room during the night.

4. Use a screen lid, instead of a solid plastic top. It may sound crazy, but this can reduce water temp in the tank by SEVERAL degrees!

I live in a climate similar to yours (mountains, but in a southern zone). I have 2 tanks in my livingroom. One of them has a solid lid, and the water temperature during hot weather can reach 79F (26C). The other has a screen lid, and its highest temp this summer was 75F (23.8C).

I would also add that, if the axies are doing well and they are only occasionally getting above 74F (23C), then I wouldn't worry too much about it.

(Message edited by jennewt on September 26, 2004)
 
dot&jenn> thax a bunch the ice and the fan really worked out good! now when i get home from school i just put in my ice,plug on the fan, and watch the temperature drop!
 
Glad to hear it's working for you Heather.

Cheap solutions can be pretty good ;-)
 
i had to do the frozen bottle and and a fan as my temps went sky high... and it worked great... now its cold just got to watch how far it drops!
 
It is getting pretty hot here in NZ now and our house is not air conditioned. Trying to keep the axies tanks down below 20C is a struggle. I put in frozen bottles before work and when I get home. Will it stress them too much if the temp rises up to 24C during when I am at work? I have my partner trained in axie cooling strategies but there is a long period in the day when I am out. What happens too them if they get too hot?
 
If they get to hot they will get stressed and will suffer.

I have had very good success with iced bottles but while you are at work there is nothing to keep the cooling going.

I now have a fan that has a clamp on it.. I attached it to a near by shelf and while I was out each day I would leave it on.

So just keep up with the iced bottles and try and get a fan to blow across the top of the tank while your out.

This helped me bring down the temp by about 5c.

Good luck!
 
how cold are your houses i live in england and mines about 20 to 24 degrees and never goes lower then 19 and my axie is very happy and well and there is no stress
 
Dont know the exact temp of my house in summer but in NZ we have no central heating or air conditioning. I figure it is hot with the axies tanks getting so warm. Thanks Kim I will get some fans for the axies and fan them during the day. So far the ice is working but it melts pretty quickly so the fans are a cool idea during the day.
The mesh screen is a good idea too. I am going to get some shade cloth and try that.
My little guy Taco freaked out when the temperature hit 24C but since then I have worked really hard keeping the it around 21C. Barry who is full grown does not seem to care but then he would continue to hang out at the bottom no matter what went on!
Thanks everyone!
 
I air conditioned my basement for my salamanders. Before I did I did massive water changes in hot weather. I tried to have the largest volume of water per animal and the best filtration I could. I found the frozen water botle works on small scale but not on a large scale. It seemed if the swings were to drastic it was just as well for the axolotl to stay a little warm.

Now that the basement is air conditined I put lots of salamanders down their to justify the cost of the air conditioning.
 
If you have a basic normal house, even in a hot place where it's above 28° most of the summer, you should be able to keep the house under 20° at all times by keeping the doors and windows closed in the heat of the day and using window blinds. if your house is often too hot in the summer, you should consider reading how Tunisian houses are built and tips for building houses for hot countries. My uncle's house in the South of France is built on a Tunisian style and it is always around 18° indoors all day even when it is 35 in the garden.
 
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