Changing Axolotl - Need advice

Hello all,

This is my first post here and I am hoping to get some help that we desperately need. In January, we bought 2 baby axolotls. I am more into the cute and furry pets, but my husband loved them and, according to the breeder, they seemed to be right up our alley. The breeder told us that the water only needed to be changed once a week, no filtration was needed, and they were extremely low maintenance. My husband is an activated army reservist and is only home on weekends. According to what the breeder said, that seemed perfect so that he could tend to them when he was home and I could stick to tending to the furry babies around the house.

Of course, now we are kicking ourselves in the head. My husband feels awful because he felt like he should have done his homework on them more instead of blindly believing the breeder. I feel bad because I sort of washed my hands of them all this time without knowing that they needed more help than they were getting. We were using an unfiltered tank and only doing water changes once a week. That is, of course, until my husband noticed that one of them was changing. He starting doing some research and now we are worried that it is morphing. The other one looks to be doing great, but the changing one has no frilly gills anymore. Its eyes seem to be more bulged out as well.

I am going to try to upload a few photos with this post. As I am sure a lot of you can relate to, it’s incredibly difficult to get good photos of these guys. If you think it would help if I obtained some photos that are more clear, I can try again tonight.


Currently, I have the sick axie in my bedroom (the coldest room in the house) in a small carrier tank so keep him extra cool and in a dark room. We decided last night to take him out of the 10 gallon tank he shared with the other axie and just do daily partial changes on his water. We were afraid that if he is morphing, we didn't want to risk him drowning so we made the water shallow. Of course, he has enough water to be completely submersed at all times. However, he is swimming up to the top and keeping his head at the top of the water a lot. (I hope that makes sense)

I would really appreciate any advice that you all can give me. I am totally willing to throw my amphibian reluctance out the window and do whatever has to be done to help this little guy out. If he is morphing, I need to know what kind of habitat I should put him in during this. If you think it will help, I am more than willing to clear out some fridge space for him. I am just not sure what will really benefit him right now. Thanks in advanced for any suggestions you all may have!

I think you would probably find this http://www.axolotl.org/tiger_salamander.htm interesting reading, the morphing axolotl has similar needs to the Tiger Salamander. Although I have heard alot of stories of people thinking they are buying axie and they turn out to have been Tiger Salamanders but I couldn't tell you if this is what has happened to you, they both look very similar at larval form.

But for general interest it maybe good for you and your husband to take a read round the http://www.axolotl.org website, it has been invaluable to me.

Thanks for replying Levo. I had also considered that he may be just a regular salamander. If so, that is fine. I went through the link about the metamorphosed axolotls and tiger salamanders. That helped a lot. However, I am concerned about making the wrong assumption. I am worried that if I switch him to a terrestrial habitat right now, he may not be ready for it. Also, I forgot to mention that he has been shedding skin it seems.

Should I just set up a terrestrial habitat and make sure that the water dish is deep enough that he can submerse and breathe if he so chooses?

Thanks again.

Haven't ever had to deal with it personally, but have read on here advise to people with morphing axies a little. And I'm sure someone with tonnes of experience will reply to you soon. The pictures do look like he's heading that way. I'd probably try and set up a half and half environment, so that he can get out of the water if/when he wants to. Without a filter you need to do daily water changes of about 20% as long as he's aquatic, and obviously for the other one who is still OK. However as long as he's in the small container, I'd change his water completely daily with dechlorinated water as small volumes of water become toxic quickly. I'd definately try a get a filter for the "healthy" one though; you'll still need to cycle the tank, but much easier in the long term than daily water changing. Keep a close eye on the aquatic one too... often the weaker one in a stressful tank will have problems first, but be followed by the other(s) ultimately getting sick too. You've obviously had a good read of this site now. Good luck.

It's hard to tell from the pictures what is happening to your axolotls. Axolotls morph very rarely so it would be quite unusual for yours to be morphing. The signs of morphing are often the same signs that are caused by poor water quality (ie. gasping at the surface, shrinking gills). Anyway, do you test your water parameters? If not you really need to get ammonia test kits at the very least (or get a local pet store to test the water for you). And nitrite/nitrate tests are also recommended. If there is any ammonia do a 20% water change daily until the ammonia is 0.

Without a filter though and weekly water changes I really think you might have a water quality problem. As Lisa said, daily changes when you don't have a filter are recommended so I think a filter is really recommended (but not required if you have the motivation to keep up frequent cleaning).

Anyway, the other alternative is that you have bought a tiger salamander and it is morphing. I don't really have any experience with tigers. Maybe someone else might have better luck with being able to tell from your pictures. Even if this is the case, you will still need to monitor water and temperature.

Thanks for replying. We did buy an filter set up for the healthy one last night. The nitrate/nitrite levels are good to go. I will look into an ammonia test or place to take the water to near here. We are going to work on getting a half and half set up for the changing one and we will pretty much just watch him and see how he reacts. Right now, he is chilling with his upper part of the head completely out of the water. The other one still seems to be okay so far. I will definitely keep a close eye on him/her in case we have a couple of tiger salamanders on our hands. I really appreciate the responses. I will let you know if there are any updates.

Looking at the picture, my guess is that it's a tiger salamander, but the images aren't too clear, so I may be wrong. In addition to the website listed above http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Ambystoma/A_tigrinum.shtml
may be a useful place to get information. Additionally, http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Amphibian, Water Dogs.htm is a fun site for pictures, but I'd urge not using gravel in your salamander's setup. Can you tell us more about how/where you came across the animal?

As for how to deal with water levels. You can make a transitional habitat (i.e. low water with partially submerged rocks) until you feel comfortable that he's crawling out of the water. Alternatively once his gills have receded completely, you're safe to move to a dirt environment. Just to warn you, feeding during the transition is sometimes a little difficult, but don't worry, once he's done morphing you'll likely find he has an insatiable appetite for crickets, worms and anything he can fit in his mouth.

Some other recent threads that may interest you.
http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=51411
http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=53122
http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=52233
http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=52722

Changing Axie?

Hi, I am no pro at this but I have a black Axolotl that looks the same (had him for 12 years) and the gills are of late in the same state. This was due to the water quality and everyone on this site has been helping me this week to get it right. Years ago I remember my albinos sitting with their heads out because it was so hot. Have you checked your water temp? Also I found keeping more than one together very problematic as they kept biting one anothers gills/limbs off.
Just a thought.....

It's hard to tell from the pictures you've provided if the animal in question is a morphing axolotl or some other Ambystomatid. In either case, it is way too thin, and should be given plenty of nightcrawlers to fatten it up. Their body should be slightly wider than their head (not too fat, but pleasantly plump)

A water change once each week in a 10 gallon tank would probably be fine if you did spot cleaning several times each day with a turkey baster.

Hello everyone,

Thanks so much for all the responses. I don't have time to go through all the links right now because I have to take off for school. (Crammed all night and morning for midterms...fun) He is still alive (yay) and so I decided to temporarily put in some gravel on one side (all we have at the moment) and make a half and half just for today. He can still completely submerge on the other side. I took some photos and he is staying out of the water and on the rocks. I can't take pictures from the top because he is climbing out! We live in a semi-rural area, but after I get home from class I will do my homework and try to find a decent store near here that will have the proper supplies for these guys. I will make sure I answer all the questions after school too. The temp of the water is 68 though.

We are going to go and get them something other than gravel, some night crawlers and such, get the water tested, and a set up for the changed one. Anyways, here are some better pictures. We are going to try and get a picture of his previous tank mate tonight. Thanks again all.

*edit* Pretty sure we have tiger salamanders instead of axolotls.

I just had two axolotls morph on me. One did because my filter died and before I knew it he was changing. His tankmate never changed. The second I don't know why,just did. But I'm pretty new at axolotls also but both are doing fine. I did just like you with the half land half water. I did that for about a week or two and after a while they stayed on land most of the time unless they got startled. It took me about 4-5 weeks to get them to eat. After about a week of staying out of the water I moved them to a deep sweater box filled with about 6 inches of topsoil and a bunch of leaves,to hide under. I also keep a water dish in there for them to soak in. But make sure he can crawl out of the water. I kept trying to feed them night crawlers and crickets and eventually they started eating. They didn't start eating until they got in the dirt. It took them a while to learn to catch live food also but now they are doing fine. I feed them half a night crawler each, twice a week. When they were first learning to catch food and they would activily chase it, I actaully held the crickets and night crawler for them to make it easier to catch. After 5 weeks of not eating I was concerned about malnutrition. Once they ate a few times, they started catching the food on their own. Make sure there is a top on the enclosure so he can't climb out.

Hope this helps.

What is the temperature. I keep mine at about 60F. I'm lucky I have a basment that never gets above 65F even in the summer.

I have a post on axie free for all about their morphing. I got alot of help from alot of people in this forum.There are also a few others on axie free for all that have morphed axolotl stories.

Good luck

Ron