Arg I'm Sad!

I went to buy my Axie today and I couldn't find one!! And *edit* - the person in Petite Pets was all "I never had any water dogs" and I'm like "yes you did you lying goober" and then I went to a bigger Walmart and this guy comes up to me all "how can I help you" and I'm like "I want an axolotl" and he's like "try Petsmart" but I could swear that only sells pet accessories and *SIGH*. So now I'm looking all over west tenn to find some and I have to call everybody because apparently it's unfashionable to have a WEBSITE!!! where I can SEE WHAT YOU SELL!! *sigh*

Are these things more rare than I at first thought or what? They are not in my surrounding 50 mile radius it does appear.

(Message edited by bowling_fleury on February 03, 2007)

<font size="-2">Anna -I've edited your description of the assistant in the pet shop to avoid upsetting anyone. Mark</font>

(Message edited by aartse_tuyn on February 07, 2007)

Ha ha, you sound just about as frustrated as I was when i first wanted more axolotls. I picked my first seven up at a local reptile/amphibian expo that I attend regularly. I found a breeder up there who had a couple of colours, but not all of them. I searched in every pet store I could, and none of them even knew what I was talking about. Most of them gave me crazy looks. Finally I found this web site (caudata.org). If you look in the "for sale" section, every once in a while, you are bound to find them as many members breed them and sometimes sell excess babies. Patience is a virtue! Right now they are kind of out of season unless you want eggs or small larvae. Wait a month or two, and you will probably see them for sale if they aren't already.

Hey- that is exactly how i felt when i wanted a second axolotl. I got it at a Local petstore that i loved, got my axolotl, I knew people that worked and owned it and they were going to set up getting me a leutisic...Then, get this, the apartment abovoe it caught on fire and the whole petstore burned down! They never did rebuild. I scoured all the local petstore and even asked the people at the reptile store about it...Nothing... No one every know what I was talking about. The Chain petstore never have axolotl, and I am kinda glad...But one would think something that is so cool as axolotl and breeds so well as axolotl and doesnt need to be taken from the wild like axolotl would be easy to find....But no...So I found here, got one mailed to me...a few months later found a local breeder on here. Went to a few reptile shows... Now I have my own axolotl farm!

They may be in your 50 mi radius but very hidden in peoples houses rather than in the pet place. Now I have so many axolotl hook ups. I never wanted to buy from the science supply pages because at the time, i was too afraid to get an axolotl under 4 inches, and most of the time, i couldnt personaly pick one or a colouration.

You will find all sort of axolotl soon enough in life. I thought I would never find another one...

Or somestates make it illegal to have amphibian and some make it illegal to transport them over the borders. Two state that have some tricky amphibiam laws that come to mind are California and New Jersey. Laws might be limiting supply to where you live.

Thanks for your support, this is so frustrating! I asked the first few stores if they had water dogs because that's what the lady at Petite Pets called them (when she HAD them!!) but I then figured out that a water dog is this big poodle sailors use on ships. (Arghhh)

Wait wait. Mail them? They can be mailed? I can order them? Wow. Brain snap. How does that work?

Well, breeders will advertise when they have axolotls ready to sell, and, they can send it overnite Via USPS. Mailperson comes to door, BAM! mail order axolotl. Check the forsale/wanted area from time to time, its a bit cold now, like freezing, so probably hold off til its above freezing. Also, some biological supply stores sell them like Wards. From time to time it will list if it is "brown" "white with black eyes" "albino" or "gold". I Niles bio sells them too. I do believe from them they come small, like they just got their hind legs small...

Oh my gosh--that's so cool! Where can I get a magazine? Or can I order them online?? This is great! I'm so happy!!!! Yaaaay!!!!!

Thank you!!!! *parties*

Have you looked at Niles Biological Inc. I got two new little guys they were vary healthy. They sent them over night I thought the shipping price was really good.

http://www.nilesbio.com/subcat367.html

http://www.wardsci.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_IG0013576_A_Axolotl+Living+Specimen

Those are links to niles bio and wards science webpages. If you dont want to wait to hear from a breeder, these guys have stock. If you do order from them just make sure you have your axolotl house ready a few weeks before with running filter and whatnot. They may be small, I have never ordered from either but I heard they ship very small guys. Anyways, axolotl grow fairly fast.They larger the axolotl house the better. I fancy 20 gallon longs for housing two and then I make them some nice caves and fancy it up with some aquatic plants. Hornwort is good, it grows very fast and competes with algae growth, It can be ancored to the bottom with large rocks it also makes a nice background plant or a floating plant. Plants are a good sorce of biological filtrations. Just, becarefulf If you get plants, especially at the big chain petstore, for they sell plants in the water that will die, because they are bog plants and cannot survive totally submerged for long. Luck bamboo cannot be kept submerged, it will die. It can be kept in topless aquariums as long as the leaves stay above waterline.

OMG I am such a dork, I am so exited I am planing your axolotls home. Sigh.
Good luck!

Ah so cool. Okay this is what I have, tell me if it's good:

On the ground I've got rocks from a real stream bed (cleaned by boiling and scrubbing with handsoap) highlighted with polished fake river rocks from WalMart. I have probably 4 Aponogeton bulbs due to sprout on the 12th and 2 Nymphaea Lilies to sprout on the 17th. I have a curved PVC pipe, a straight one, and an arc with four openings on it, all of them covered in glued-on river rocks. Also I have a big black stone (cleaned by scrubbing)that has two little peaks and looks like a mountain. In addition I've got a whisper filter, NO heater, 20-odd ghost shrimp, and a medium-flow bubble curtain. This is in a 20-gallon topless tank for one Axolotl.

I think you need tops. Other than that, I'm jealous! You have a really cool setup!

Some say to use a top, but I have several hundred axolotls at a time and have never had one jump out of a tank (like mudpuppies do). Although, just to be safe you might not want to fill the tank to the brim, leave an inch or two of space at the top.

The weather was warm... until today... when it was cold again. I think I'm going to wait until it stays warm to order. But maybe not.

Okay, I'll have to find a top. It has a sort of top, which covers a bit less than half the top of the tank. But I'll look for something better Thanks for all the advice!

(several hundreds of axies at one time!!!)
Note to self... stalk Jacob, find out where he lives, move in unnoticed. Play with axolotls. If caught, refuse to leave peacefully. Yesss...

OH and I got some hornwort a while ago and you're right it's gorgeous! Thanks for the tip AnnMarie