Hello, amphibian-enthusiasts of the world! :)

Hello there This is my first ever post on Caudata.org, as I'm sure you can tell, although I've been reading the forums anonymously for a while to plan for the axolotl I'll hopefully be getting soon. I'm extremely excited, as I've wanted one for almost a year. I'm a big fan of interesting pets and I already have a cornsnake but I've never kept an amphibian before, so it should be fun I'm English and I know there are a fair few British members who use the forum, so I'd really appreciate your help in getting started. I hope to get really involved in the forum so I expect this will be the first post of many Thank you

Hi and welcome to the Forum! I think you will enjoy keeping an axolotl, or 2, or 3...! As I am sure you have read, they are addicting!

Not sure what you mean by getting started, but if you mean an axolotl, check the FS section at the bottom of the Forum index page.

Look forward to seeing you around and of course, if you have questions - just ask!

Thanks for your reply, Shannon
I really look forward to getting involved; I'd seen you around the forum a few times before I stared posting so I can tell you must be very willing to help those with questions. It's people like you who made me want to join this site orginally!
Thank you for the tip on the FS section. I'll have a look at it right now

Depending on your time frame, you should also start cycling a tank...a lot of people are unaware of this step, but it is crucial for a healthy environment for your animal.

If you are unaware of this process, or need some info on it, check here: Caudata Culture Articles - Cycling

Thanks, Eric.
I was aware of the cycling process having read Axolotl.org back to front many times since I became interested in the animals. I've planned out when I'll need everything by to make sure the tank is cycled properly
Thanks again for the tip, though.

hi lewis and welcome.....it is a great site and the people are wonderful
lea

hello...

become my friends... i'm new to...

i want to have axiolotol to... but no one want to sell me... because i live in indonesia...

Welcome aboard! Planning for a new pet is such an exciting stage, and it's freakin' awesome to see people join this addiction/hobby and really take the time to learn about species before hand. Glad to meet you!

Thanks for your replies everyone
I can see that this is very dedicated and welcoming forum.
I think I'll definitely be visiting regularly; I've just got my tank and filter!
This is really exciting, as it means I could potentially have my first axolotl in a month
Thanks again.

I don't know if this will help. But from sheer experience with aquatic pets(fish), I'ved noticed that if you set a planted tank up and you put in the inhabitants. The tank will automatically be cycled. Because the plants will eat the poop. Also the ammonia they convert it to usefull ammonium. I'ved read somewhere that acidic water keeps down fungi. So you could TRY slightly acidic. Like a low ph. Also plants "eat" nitrites. I think its the nitrites thats bad. Well one of the two I read somewhere that they consume it. If I were you I would think of adding some good plants in. In a forum dedicated to turtles, I have read when it comes to filters you dont need the carbon. Except the first three days to make sure you dont have anything bad in the water. What youshould get is a sheet of phosphate remover that comes in fabric. Also ammonia remover to get any extra ammonia out of the water. This can be found in petstores dedicated to aquatics. AS you can see, axos may decorate their own tank. So I would try potting the plants with some weights stuck to it. I would use sand as substrate or VERY VERY small gravel to keep the plants aeriated. You don't really need a CO2 injection. All you really need is the lights. Because since axos are aquatic(like fish), they produce CO2 through their gills(so I heard) in small/medium amounts. Just as when we breathe we produce CO2. Fertilizers should only be used may once a month. To provide a curb for the plants. Other than that not really. I would go for the brand "kent". Its specially made for these type of things. Its also the best brand you can find. As long as you have some gentle slow water flow inside the tank then your tank will do fine. I would also add a couple of airstones for circulation. Iam doing this with my turtles. Mind you turtles are not same as axos but they are messier. Her tank(turtle) is always clean, ammonia levels are down, etc. If set up properly in a large aquarium. You can leave the water changes to once every two weeks. Just so you dont disrupt any growing bacteria. Just make sure the tank is heavily planted and voila. If you dont have any fish in there or inhabitants when you plant it. I would advice getting a CO2 injection, and some ferts. If you want to make sure this works. Grab some sensitive fish like neons, they are somewhat cheap and look nice. So if there is anything wrong in the tank you will know because you will have dead neons. Sure its not "ethical" for fish keepers. But frankly it works.


If Iam wrong on any of this please correct me. But most of this is through personal experience. I dont know if it applies to axies. I do know that turtle is very sensitive to water quality. She needs literary pristine water conditions, with very low ammonia. They get sick if kept in otherwise conditions.

Good Luck with your soon to be new friend! Hope it brings many years of joy!

Also if you ever have problem feeding your little friend, I would try some earthworms(red wrigglers). Tend to be easy to acquire, they are high in protein and low on fat. I would avoid any meal worms/super/megaworms, they tend to cause digestive problems. Think of them as gum. Since you live in the UK you can try finding some locusts, put them with some tongs(ball point) and offer them manually. I would stay away from feeding live fish. If you want to feed it fish here are the most nutritional ones:
Silversides-comes frozen and tends tob e the healthiest
Tuna/Trout-Both are extremely healthy and loaded with "fish oils" which helps the animals system. My mother had told me once fish oil helps something with either cardio or the brain. xD Sorry forgot about that one. But never the less. It s hould be good for it. Try keeping a varied diet so you dont get a fuzzy eater. Pelleted foods are okay, but after a while I noticed they arent as healthy as they advertise. with many carbohydrates and such. If you want, you can try making your own foods through gel suspensions.

Gel suspensions are made with:
Foods they naturally eat
Transparent, flavorless without the additives jello
Blender
and other kitchen supplies.

Heres what I do for my turtles:
I make say 30% of it made with trout, tuna and silversides
40% shelled animal such as crabs, shrimps, snails and slugs(Especially snails), clam with shells(I have heavy duty blender)
20% consists of crickets, roaches, earthworms, waxworms, and a random assortment of insects.
10%Is made of fresh veggies and fruits. I use fresh kale, mustard greens, spinach, and nothing with enzymes.

Then I add 3cuttle bones and sprinkle some multivitamins in it(two spoon fulls).

WARNING:Make sure whatever you add DOES NOT have any enzymes. Enzymes prevent gellatin from forming.


You blend this, make sure its all liquid. Then you mix it in with the gelatin. Follow the box directions. Then you put it in the freezer, you let it freeze. Wait a day, now if you made atleast 3-4batches you have enough food for a year. Then voila! You cut it into equally sized pieces, and feed it to it through tongs.

BY THE WAY THIS STUFF SMELLs HORRIBLE! So I would put it in a rubbermaid and make sure you cover it. So the smell doesnt stink up the freezer and pass on its disgusting flavors to your foods.

Anywho the point of this, is for you to find your own species dietary needs, and make your own foods. In the long run this ends up being cheaper.

wow, that's pretty extensive Earthbound, it's good to see someone with such raw passion for his animals.

to Lewis, glad to have you on board, any idea what type of axie you may be getting? i always fancied the GFP axies (glowings things rule).

shmifty5 said:

wow, that's pretty extensive Earthbound, it's good to see someone with such raw passion for his animals.

to Lewis, glad to have you on board, any idea what type of axie you may be getting? i always fancied the GFP axies (glowings things rule).

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Why thank you. :] I love my pets to death. Whatever else Iam getting Iam probably going to give it a diet of its own too. I try to mix it up by making different batches. Here is my idea:
Carnivore batch=Meats, fish, cuttle bones
Insecti-Batch=Hoppers(crickets), wax worms, earthworms, insects in gen, moths, and crustaceans.
Veggie delux batch= Greens, veggies, fruits, algea, aquatic plants, etc. Mix it in with something they specially love so they go for it. Like say some animals like mice, throw just ONE dead mice in the batch. Or something. Supplement it with multivitamins of course.

Then by doing this they can have a varied diet. Not get bored by having th e same food OVER and OVEr again. But still get their nutritional value. ;] Make it taste great to em. Then voila! Honestly after using my home made products. I, and my animals could not be happier. They get their nutritions, and enjoy a "delectable" meal. While I know its good for them and it boosts their health, immunity and colors. Course like it was said somewhere. Make sure not to over do it by sprinkling vitamins. I put cuttle bones in the blend because turtles NEED tons of calcium. I freeze them because by biting into the frozen food it helps keep their beaks trimmed. I still give them pellets every few days to aid with the beaks. But yeah, I rather not give it to them. Pellets=suck. And any commercial diet sucks too. Hopefully if I get my dwarf sirens, they take on to frozen foods. First ill go with pellets to make sure, then ill go for frozen. ;]

Btw. I said add multivitamins and calcium earlier. Because you do realize if you choose to boil the items first It looses some vitamins and nutrition. As freezing does too. Its why I add the vitamins and the calcium, to kick it off to that curb. ;] Remember, nothing better like a healthy herp!

That´s an impressive post! However, i would like to point out a couple of things so that there is no confussion.

First, live plants are not an automatic cycling trick. I´m a huge defender of using lots of live plants instead of filters, but let´s not get carried away....in order to work properly, the tank must be cycled. As you say, plants take ammonia and nitrites, although in small amounts. The true factory of ammonia and nitrites processing are the bacteria. Once the tank is cycled, they will cover every submerged surface, including all the available surface that the plants provide. This is what makes it work, because the combination of the biofilm and the live plants acts as a natural filter.
Although the impact of ammonia and nitrie levels will be partially tamponed by the plants, you can´t expect an uncycled tank to be stable and safe just because you have plants in it.
Additionally if you have lots of plants you don´t really need a filter, and if you have a filter, then you don´t need an airstone, let alone two.

The other point is the food. Tuna, clams, silversides, crabs, and very specially vegetables are not suitable foods for any caudate. Salt water animals are inadequate because of the radically different osmotic contents. Parts of fish, instead of whole fish, are a poor choice since they are nutritionally incomplete, and they have trouble digesting vertebrate meat anyway.
The vegetables are a serious danger. ALL caudates are strict carnivores. Vegetable matter can indeed cause problems, plus it adds absolutely nothing to the nutritional value of their diet.

Your suggestions sound absolutely ideal for turtles, but do not apply to axolotls or other caudates, so please, be cautious.

Azhael said:

That´s an impressive post! However, i would like to point out a couple of things so that there is no confussion.

First, live plants are not an automatic cycling trick. I´m a huge defender of using lots of live plants instead of filters, but let´s not get carried away....in order to work properly, the tank must be cycled. As you say, plants take ammonia and nitrites, although in small amounts. The true factory of ammonia and nitrites processing are the bacteria. Once the tank is cycled, they will cover every submerged surface, including all the available surface that the plants provide. This is what makes it work, because the combination of the biofilm and the live plants acts as a natural filter.
Although the impact of ammonia and nitrie levels will be partially tamponed by the plants, you can´t expect an uncycled tank to be stable and safe just because you have plants in it.
Additionally if you have lots of plants you don´t really need a filter, and if you have a filter, then you don´t need an airstone, let alone two.

The other point is the food. Tuna, clams, silversides, crabs, and very specially vegetables are not suitable foods for any caudate. Salt water animals are inadequate because of the radically different osmotic contents. Parts of fish, instead of whole fish, are a poor choice since they are nutritionally incomplete, and they have trouble digesting vertebrate meat anyway.
The vegetables are a serious danger. ALL caudates are strict carnivores. Vegetable matter can indeed cause problems, plus it adds absolutely nothing to the nutritional value of their diet.

Your suggestions sound absolutely ideal for turtles, but do not apply to axolotls or other caudates, so please, be cautious.

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Nah I didnt say to use what I said. Iam just using that as an example. As in he can pretty much put whatever in that mix. As long as he liquifys it and uses the jello, freezes it. Then hes got a home meal. Its to get foods to the animal that are naturally made, that the animal doesnt like to eat it. But its good for it. You can also add multivitamins in it, so it has LITTLE bits of vitamins in each meal. But not so much to harm it. You know? make it equal. Like each meal wouldnt equal to a dusted cricket. A few meals would though, in multivitamins supplement that is.

The idea of home-made pellets is certainly interesting. Johnny (SludgeMonkey), made a wonderful post about them and i´ve been considering giving it a try since then. I still have commercial axolotl pellets so i´m using those for now.

Another advantage that i see to these home-made pellets is that you can add an apropriate amount of a commercial vitamin powder enriched with carotenes. Not only you get the benefits of the vitamins and the natural ingredients you use, but you also have a wonderful way of administering carotenes and introducing them in the diet of your animals. I´ll try that some day for sure.

Azhael said:

The idea of home-made pellets is certainly interesting. Johnny (SludgeMonkey), made a wonderful post about them and i´ve been considering giving it a try since then. I still have commercial axolotl pellets so i´m using those for now.

Another advantage that i see to these home-made pellets is that you can add an apropriate amount of a commercial vitamin powder enriched with carotenes. Not only you get the benefits of the vitamins and the natural ingredients you use, but you also have a wonderful way of administering carotenes and introducing them in the diet of your animals. I´ll try that some day for sure.

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Its wonderful because all of those with aquatic pets who simply cant sprinkle the vitamins on crickets because itll wash away. Well here is the answer. The jello will stay in shape even in water. Only the animals enzymes and acids will break through when they consume it. making it ideal for administring specific diets. SO there would be no vitamin defeciency. I do recomend people to boil the food items before given though. It may contain parasites and whatnot. Just food for thought. Even if it takes some nutrients. thats why the vitamin powder is for. Im sure you will be happy with this home made food.