Concernd Mum - Are these good pets for small children?

Just wondering if these are good pets for children?
My six year old daughter is autistic and has been saving for almost a year to get a "mexican walking fish"
i have no doubt in her ability to care for the creature and i understand why some people love them but hey creap me out
I've been on the net for days on end trying to work out what she needs but i don't want to miss anything
Where we live often gets to 30-34 degrees c in summer so i am worried about temperature
So ANY help or advice would be much appreciated
Thanks

We have 3 children, aged 4-7, that love having axies, probably know more about them than most adults/teachers do in our area. Even tho, they help with: feeding, filling the waterbuckets for waterchanges, spotcleaning with a turkey baster, checking each tanktemp and setup of the wormfarms and sorting out the worms to feed the axies; that is all they do.

If you're really worried that you couldn't get the tank temp down and you had extreme heat then maybe not an option. You could invest in a chiller to sort this out which I understand is very expensive; we just use the fan and iced bottles methods but don't get those temps in Wellington.

It might creep you out now, but you might find it grows on you; esp. as you or your husband will be the ones doing the major cleaning - weekly siphoning/waterchanges; testing the tankwater using testkits regularly/at least weekly b4 waterchange (and if you don't have them taking a sample of water to petshop to be tested if you think something's wrong with axie).

Another thing too, if the axie is sick it may be necessary for the axie to be put in the fridge, are you prepared for that? (My mother still freaks when she spots an icecream container in the fridge!); or for doing saltbaths if needed for fungus infections/treatments.

Also, an axie can't be petted (schools and kindies that have axies here in NZ tend to let kids do that), handled too much as it can damage their slimecoat and cause more harm. Probably the one thing my kids were disappointed about, tho they understand now, tho occasionally I will hear my middle one saying "she'd love to hold and cuddle it, but knows it will get sick and probably die if she did"

I think they're great pets for kids as long as the kids are taught what they can do to help care for it.



(Message edited by kapo on October 20, 2006)

(Message edited by kapo on October 20, 2006)

thanks for all your helpfull advice
i really appreciate it --- and she already has bought it an old bar fridge from a friend in case it needs it
and can i look into chiller a a pet store or any where else?

dont use small gravel if u get one, i learnt that pretty quick!

thanks -- got some over 2cm
i believe thats right?

I personally don't believe axie's are a good choice for young kids....

It may break their heart to see an axie loose a leg or get an infection.
Also due to the fact that after a while axie's develop such strong personalities the atachment might be too much.

In saying that though my old next door neighbours boy was Autisitc and had his own little fish tank (gold fish), and you would never see him happier when feeding his "babies" or having to clean up there "messies".

So I think that if you can manage and care for your daughters axie ( behind the scenes of course ) then it would be a great choice!

Otherwise a suggestion, what about guppies? They are easy to keep and extremely brightly coloured, perfect for kids!

Axolotl's do have more personality though.......... Just a thought

Regards Eastern_axle

thanks for you opinion -- that was my concern too
but since learning about them and with everyones help i think we might try
how ever there is a big rule if it isn't being looked after properly or is unhappy then we find it a new home
i tried the other fish angle but it didn't work
i think i'm starting to come around to the idea there still creepy but fasinating

we have our tank set up now and tested the water this morning and everything is fine
so now were just waiting
will let you know when it arrives and how it goes