Hi Forum,
I recently acquired two adult axolotls. They were donated to me by a local museum. Unfortunately, they were not provided proper care. One (a female i think) looks pretty terrible. She is missing all of her gills, is patchy, and at some point suffered a broken leg (i think) that set and healed in the wrong direction.
But she has a great appetite.
She is covered in patches of varying pigmentation. Some are red, some orange, one is pale yellow, but most are golden. Is this normal, and if not, can anyone provide a hypothesis as to what they are?
At the museum she and her tank mate were fed three adult crickets, twice weekly. These are my first axolotls and that does not seem like enough food. I am feeding them salamander kibble, beef heart, and blood worms.
They told me her tank mate (a male i think) bullied her some what, and the day i picked them up, had actually bitten off the end of her tail. A piece was hanging and eventually fell off. I haven't seen them squabble at all, except once when they were both going for the same piece of kibble.
They were contained in a thirty gallon tank, on a gravel/marble combination substrate which i removed the day i brought them home. Also, i know the water flow was quick and noisy; the tank was filtered with a thirty gallon fish filter that poured water like a waterfall. They had no hides. I know that this filter isn't going to cut it and i've already picked out a replacement (Zoo Med 501 Turtle clean). I have provided them with hides and have changed the water completely through a transition over several days.
There is an aquatic plant in their tank; i don't know the species.
I have them in filtered 63 degree Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius) water. The tank is full so the filter is now very quiet.
We are about to complete a three day penicillin treatment recommended to me by a local retailer.
I recently acquired two adult axolotls. They were donated to me by a local museum. Unfortunately, they were not provided proper care. One (a female i think) looks pretty terrible. She is missing all of her gills, is patchy, and at some point suffered a broken leg (i think) that set and healed in the wrong direction.
But she has a great appetite.
She is covered in patches of varying pigmentation. Some are red, some orange, one is pale yellow, but most are golden. Is this normal, and if not, can anyone provide a hypothesis as to what they are?
At the museum she and her tank mate were fed three adult crickets, twice weekly. These are my first axolotls and that does not seem like enough food. I am feeding them salamander kibble, beef heart, and blood worms.
They told me her tank mate (a male i think) bullied her some what, and the day i picked them up, had actually bitten off the end of her tail. A piece was hanging and eventually fell off. I haven't seen them squabble at all, except once when they were both going for the same piece of kibble.
They were contained in a thirty gallon tank, on a gravel/marble combination substrate which i removed the day i brought them home. Also, i know the water flow was quick and noisy; the tank was filtered with a thirty gallon fish filter that poured water like a waterfall. They had no hides. I know that this filter isn't going to cut it and i've already picked out a replacement (Zoo Med 501 Turtle clean). I have provided them with hides and have changed the water completely through a transition over several days.
There is an aquatic plant in their tank; i don't know the species.
I have them in filtered 63 degree Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius) water. The tank is full so the filter is now very quiet.
We are about to complete a three day penicillin treatment recommended to me by a local retailer.