Finally got them! It was tramatic!

I finally got my Axies today! And it was so crazy! I slept on the couch this morning bright and early to make sure not to miss them at my door, but I slept too late and missed them! Then I called different people, and then finally was able to locate them and went and picked them up. They are both alive and I hope doing well, but the white one is missing two legs, what should I do? Should I give it salt baths? He seems fine, they both ate, as my Indiana Axolotl Colony Pellets also arrived in the mail today, and I have them both in the fridge in seperate containers. The black ones eyes are so big! He looks so adorible, or she does Not sure their sex yet, but I am so happy I got them home! I waited forever, and now they are here and I am just so happy! Please if anyone has any advise on the salt baths, please let me know. They seem fine, but I don't really know what do do. Thanks I will post pictures soon! I have lots of pictures to take!

I am glad they finally arrived.

You don't need to put them in the fridge. If the stumps of the legs look clean with no fungus growing or sign of infection you can just add a little salt to their containers for a few days and keep an eye on them. The leg stumps usually heal nicely if the water is kept clean.

I added 1 teaspoon of salt to 3 liters of water for 3 days. The legs on mine healed very nice and were all grown back in 3-4 weeks.

Thanks Cynthia, do I just leave the Axie in the water with the salt until I do the next water change, or only for 10 minutes? I took them out of the fridge a while ago, I mainly put them in there because I knew they were uncomfortible, because they had sat in their own poo for so long! I am so glad that I was able to go and get them, because they would have died! I am naming my black one Grimace if is a boy, but if it is a girl, going to name her Hushpuppy. I don't know for sure on my white one, Maybe Marbles...hmmm? Just so happy they are part of our family now

I just noticed my white Axolotls right back leg is backwards. Will it heal correctly? I don't know if its broken or dislocated, and he can't seem to use his back legs very well . I really hope he will survive. If the leg does not correct its self, what should I do? Poor little guy, I wonder why he is in such bad shape, I thought he was in pretty good shape

I left mine in the light salt mixture (changing it daily) for 3 days. Not just a soak. I did it as a precautionary measure. It may not even be necessary I think it made "me" feel better.

Their legs do strange things sometimes after they have been damaged. I am sure you read in the forums about double legs and double feet and toes growing and new legs growing from "elbows".

Best thing is not to worry but just keep an eye out for fungus or infection. It could end up growing correctly or having a backward facing leg or any other combo of strange axolotl regenerated leg styles. Axolotls can survive with no legs at all. I had a badly damage larva that my sister took home and it ended up with no legs at all growing back. It lived to be 16 years old.

Wow, 16 years, that's pretty nice Thanks Cynthia, I sort of thought thats what you meant about just living them in the bit of salt mixture, I wanted to make sure. I did just that, I left both of them in, as the other one has a slightly nibbled tail. They are doing much better today! They are eating great, have very healthy appitites. The white one doesn't appeaer to have any infection or fungus growing on his/her leg. I am glad for that. The white one isn't is active as the black one, and the black one does a lot of "Free hanging" but both seem happy. I look forward to putting them in my tank in a few weeks, or maybe sooner if they show a great deal of more good health and improvement. Black ones eyes look a solid color, and I noticed last night they are a very dark blue! His eyes are so big! He/she's so precious! I noticed that when I kept Mr. NIbbles, my wild type axie in the ice cream bucket and switched him over to the 2 gallon every now and again when I was makign water changes, he got a lot bigger, and fatter, and I am so proud of my self, because he is so healthy and active, and always willing to take his meals The Black and white axies are a bit smaller than him, almost as long, just a bit shorter, and they are much thinner than he is. I really hope they will be ok. I will continue to use a little salt in their water change mixtures to help thim recover, as the salt seemed to help a bit, or maybe just help me Thank you Cynthia for your wonderful advise, it has really helped me out.

Glad to here your getting everything sorted out. Post some pictures ASAP!!!

Thanks Grant I will get my film put on a cd very soon, and I will post ASAP, I can't wait to show them off!

I have two albino axies. i have had them for about 7 months. The little one looks really weird his back is bent like someones been siting on him. someone said that he mite have eaten some gravel im not sure. i took him out of the tank and put him in a new one by himself with no gravel but he hasnt seemed to have passed the stone yet. what do i do? help

well don't think that eating gravel would have caused his back to go like that it may be genetic or an injury (not likely) i have heard of something similar to this happening on these posts, http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/793/37146.html?1118706216

Hi Deanna,
What have you been feeding him - the bent back could be due to nutritional deficiency? Have you just noticed it or has he always been that way?

(Message edited by waltona on July 13, 2005)

Deanna - Would it be possible for you to post a picture of the bent one so we can see it?

Well, without seeing a picture, I can't be 100% sure, but I'm fairly confident I know whats wrong with your axolotl. A bent spine is usually a sure sign of a serious calcium deficiency (in any animal). I'm not sure how you would go about fixing this in an axolotl though. Post a picture so we can be sure, though.