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Quarantine

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katy

Guest
Does anyone have any tips about quarantining new axolotls? How long should they be kept separate? What kind of signs should you look out for before giving them the all-ok? Any special treatment?

I saw an awful petshop today and their axolotls were in really poor shape. I wanted to get one and nurse him back to health, but am unsure of procedures.

Thanks
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kaysie

Guest
This has been the subject of dispute on this forum many times: Do you buy a sick caudate and nurse it back to health because you feel bad, or do you not buy it because it will encourage the pet shop to get more animals and mistreat those.

If you're going to buy a puppy, do you pick the skinny puppy with crud in his eyes and open wounds? I don't mean to force my morals onto anyone, but it's something to think about.

Refer back to the thread about quarantine http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/8/16561.html?1086383484
 
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katy

Guest
You definitely have a point, which is why I made a complaint to the parent company of the pet shop, gave them advice on how to care for axolotls myself, and will be checking back on them next week.
 
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kaysie

Guest
Katy, while your quest is noble, it usually doesn't change anything. They simply don't care about the health of their animals. They're looking to make that quick $$. I was in Doncaster, England, and stopped into a shop which had absolutely horrid conditions (not to mention outrageous prices). Their axies were seriously overcrowded and had no hiding spaces, chunks of tail missing, etc. and in the C. orientalis tank, I even found an obviously dead newt. Those were also mislabled. But my point is, even after pointing out better husbandry habits to the owner, the shop has not changed.

But keep on them. Sometimes they change if you bug them enough. Every time you go in, bring in a caresheet. lol, Set up a one-person protest in front of their tank and hand out fact sheets to people. That will get some attention!
 
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sharon

Guest
By all means, be loud and vocal in your disagreement of their treatment of animals. If it is truely bad enough, call an animal protection agency.

Pet shops do have to maintain standards. Sick and ill animals require treatment. Fish are a grey area, but if you walk in and see obviously injured animals that are NOT being treated (virtually anyone knows the healthy beat up the sick, be it a dog or a chicken), call the animal protection agency AGAIN, and again. LOL! Stand there in front of the tank w/a cell phone and call them. Take a digital camera (this did get a woman barred from a mall petshop though), what I've heard of happening is the petshop feels harrassed enough, they give over the animals to a credible person (you or a known rescue) and USUALLY don't keep that species anymore.

Really. It does cost them money when the animals die. But it costs more to treat animals they really don't know anything about. And to treat animals they are fairly sure are going to die anyway.....

I'm not the best person at expressing themselves at the best of times, and now that I'm sick, I'm afraid I'm hardly making any sense at all.

Really don't give up. In the US you have options. Call the BBB, file a complaint.

The shop where I worked, I have come to understand was fairly remarkable. My boss gave me considerable leeway in discouraging nut jobs from buying animals. Leeway, was him ignoring complaints about me being mouthy.

AND do provide the shop with caresheets. 25 care sheets at 5 cents a piece is a buck 25, to save how many potential lives? I've seen change happen, you just gotta keep at it.

Hang in there!
Sharon

P.S. DO NOT buy an animal. If there is a particular individual that just calls out to you to save it, have a friend buy it for you, but not before you register your complaints. Ugh, sticky eyes, and stuffy nose, sore throat.....
 
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katy

Guest
Thanks Kaysie and Sharon for your advice - I love the idea of care sheets! Do either of you know where I can get a really good one? I can probably make one up myself, but would likely miss something, knowing me ;) And Sharon, I'm in Australia, so I don't know what the BBB is. We do have animal protection agencies, so I may call on them.
 
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mik

Guest
Katy, look on this site. Drop back to home page. John Clare has put a wealth of information and FAQs here. Just browse around there's loads of iunteresting information on axos and others.

Also www.easyexotics.co.uk post simple care sheets on thier site too.

Regards,

Mikki
 
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sharon

Guest
I've read the caudata.org caresheet and its great.
Its got a lot of info, maybe to much. I think its more than the average petshop go'er can handle all at once. Some "streamlining" maybe necessary. And I think that referencing Caudata.org for more indepth info is a must. Your average pet shop go'er isn't going to know what a "perrenibranchiate" is. Saying simply "a fully aquatic creature that will never change to a land form" is probably better for a caresheet.

Sorry Katy, the BBB is the Better Business Bureau here. I don't know what the Australian equivalent is but I could find out.

Sharon
 
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