New Here and have a question...

Hi everyone! I just got my first Axototl and he's amazing! His name is Rex and he lives in my aqarium with 4 goldfish and a plecostomus. The guy we bought him from never said what his official name was so I had to do some research and found your site. He only called them "Baby Dinosaurs" and we bought it at a Kiosk in a local mall. I saw them back at Christmas and wanted one right away but I had to wait for a while. My husband found them at the same mall and bought me one for Mother's Day. The salesman said they live fine in aquariums with other fish so he has been living in mine since we got him. I didn't know anything about the dangers until I found this site. They are all around the same size but I have been watching them closely and they are all getting along great and seem to be fine. No one is picking on anyone at all! The first night I had him I was so worried thru the night that I got up 3 times to check him! I was exhausted the next day!

My question is this:

I want him to be comfortable with me and allow me to feed him by hand. I also want to hold him and take him out of the tank but I don't want to endanger him at all. How long can they be out of water and can they be tamed? I've included a picture

Hi krwallis and welcome to the "club"

What a pretty new baby you have!

I am sort of new-ish myself so I can't say for sure, but I know that axolotls only have rudimentary lungs and so mainly breathe through their gills and skin (like tadpoles). I have two, a male and a female (and 26 babies). The female is a cheeky beggar and defies all rumors that axolotls can't see - she sees me clear across the room, I swear! She started the handfeeding herself, by standing on the tip of her tail and begging. That part's easy. If I hold my hand out flat underwater, she will also swim up and climb on and sniff around (reminds me of a dog, really) and take little nips (it doesn't hurt, it's like fast kisses) looking for food. I haven't tried taking her out of the water; I'd be scared to do so. I don't really know how dependable their lungs are.

But aren't they the cutest things?

-Eva

That's not an axolotl, it's a tiger salamander larvae. It will morph into a tiger salamander. You should NOT keep it with a pleco and goldfish. Not only are plecos tropical fish (while tiger salamanders should be kept in the 60-70F range AND NO HIGHER), but they have lots of sharp spines which could injure or kill your salamander.

They cannot be handled, and cannot come out of the water as larvae. Morphed tiger salamanders, which are completely terrestrial, should be handled as little as possible. Amphibians have extremely sensitive skin, and can die from any sort of contaminants or too much handling.

Please read:
http://axolotl.org/tiger_salamander.htm
http://caudata.org/cc/species/Ambystoma/A_tigrinum.shtml
http://caudata.org/cc/articles/Mixing_disasters.shtml

Kaysie I'm so glad you said that! I didn't want to cause alarm with my ignorance but I thought the same thing (I didn't see feathers on the gills and the tail markings are very TS-like and unlike Ax., and I have read that the two are quite easy to confuse.)

Krwallis you most certainly have a beautiful and exotic pet! It's going to be a land (terrarium) creature, though, not an aquarium pet. That's a horse of a different color, but you can also find, I think, all the information you need on this site. Just go straight to www.caudata.org and learn as much as you can. If not, just ask!

I have some better pictures but the gills do have feathers so I'm a little confused now myself. I just want what is best for my little guy. I will do more research but the guy I purchased him from raises them and said they stay completely aquatic. I appreciate all you all have said so far... If i need to get another aquarium, I will certainly do it!

Nobody sells full-grown adult axolotls this size. If they did, it would cost a lot of money to raise them to this size. If this animal cost less than $50, I can guarantee you by the ruthless laws of economics that it is a wild-caught tiger salamander larva. It will have feathery gills as long as it's a larva, but watch for signs of the gills receding. Once it reaches the point of needing land, it could drown if it doesn't have access to land. Read the first link Kaysie gave carefully. Keeping it in the 70F temperature range will generally accelerate its transition toward metamorphosis. Keeping it with a pleco, goldfish, and gravel makes me cringe, but hopefully it will survive this and be moved to a terrarium after it morphs.

A word of caution...
Watch it carefully for signs of nibbles on the gills. I have, after help identifying from this sight, what I believe to be a Tiger Salamander also. It has the same color and patterning as yours. It is a rescue from a pet shop. They had it in a tank with feeder gold fish and it didn't take long to nibble the gills away. It has no gills right now and battling a fungus due to injury.
Connie

I'm going to move this to the newt/sal help section, as it isn't really an Intro post.

Well it seems you guys were all correct... After all the comments I decided to watch "Rex" real good. He could not possibly be an axolotl but actually a tiger salamander. I will have a few choice words from the person I bought him from (but enough about that).

Because of the comments I started to watch the gills on him. I noticed a few days ago that they were pretty "stubby" and his feathers were completely gone. Another thing I noticed were his eyes started "popping" out further than before and his coloring started to really change. My other fish still left him alone. There are no nibble marks or anything. They were all getting along great but last night I removed him from the tank for fear of "drowning". I put Rex back into the small aquarium he came in and placed a rock from my garden in there so he can get out of the water. He now perches on that rock and keeps himself pretty much out of the water. I'm including a new picture so you can compare the two for the short time between the postings.

Thanks to everyone here... you may have saved his life! I will take good care of him, land or aquatic.

Krwallis

Meet the new "REX"!

Oh wow, he is beautiful! Vivat Rex!

I'd say it's getting close to time to move him to a terrestrial setup.

What a fun story of seeing an "axie" turn into a big, beautiful salamander. It's a good thing you can here, or you would have been pretty surprised ... !

Kaysie,

Since I wasn't really planning on a land animal I really have no idea what to do or expect from him during this morphing phase. I thought he was having spasms yesterday but it turned out he was just shedding and scratching off what was left. Its actually quite slimy He still prefers the water quite a bit and only leaves his nose sticking out. He uses the rock when he wants out completely. He wasn't eating for a while so I was getting worried but then while working outside last night I found a baby earthworm and thought I would give that a try. I dropped it in right next to his nose and he snatched it up quick! I was so happy to see him eat...

Can anyone help me with what to expect during all this? Is shedding normal? Is not eating much normal? He's looking REALLY good... but how long is the phase between water and land?

Thanks to everyone!

Shedding is normal. If he has no gill stubs left, it's time to move him to a terrestrial setup. Tiger salamanders can easily drown. Use coconut fiber, or a mix of organic topsoil and coconut fiber, and fill a (dry) aquarium with 4-5 inches of it. Provide a small water dish. Keep the soil moist, but not wet.

The article that Kaysie linked for you above has a subsection on care during metamorphosis. You might want to re-read it:
http://caudata.org/cc/species/Ambystoma/A_tigrinum.shtml

Shedding is normal, and eating less is normal. The process probably takes about 2-3 weeks in total. After losing the gills, the animal may still appear to "like" going in the water, but this is usually because they have a natural instinct to hide under things, and if the land is just a rock, the water is still more comfortable for hiding. If kept in the current setup, the tiger may never stay out of the water, but this doesn't mean that remaining aquatic is good for him.

Keep feeding him worms if you can. These are an ideal food.