How to make an axie...

Morrison

Morrison

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...poop?

I'm pretty sure my axie swallowed some gravel (no big rocks, but smaller gravel) at her previous home. She has a slightly bigger belly and isn't eating easily.

I read things about fridging, but I'm wondering: How can an axie poop more often when their metabolism is slowing down in the fridge. Is it that they want to get rid of that what's inside their body so that things won't end up... rotting or something?

I've had two terrible fridging moments and I won't fridge again. (I did what the description said, dechlorinated water in the fridge, water changes, etc), but no success. I lost both of the axies.

I just want you to tell me other ways to make an axie poop out smaller gravel.
Maybe this can also be helpful for other people.

I've read something about cooked vegetables, but I know that it's not the food for axies. So tell me... :D
 
I'm not sure how to make it poop, but from what I understand, because fridging slows the metabolism they want to get rid off anything in their digestive system as quickly as they can so that, yes, it wont rot inside them, they need to clean their insides out
 
My axies pooped all their small gravel out without the need for fridging in their tank,happened over about two weeks and all appear fine now.
If the gravel was only small it *should* pass straight through.

As for the question about fridging,unless my axie was seriously constipated or ill I wouldn't fridge,I'd only use the fridge to slow its Metabolism down so I had more time to get to search on here for answers and if I couldn't find anything,so It would make it less stressful going to the vets.
As an actual method to get an axie to poop,I don't see how it would induce or speed the process up as the cooler temp slows everything (including digestion as well as metabolism) down,it would make it easier to see when the axie had pooped,which is helpful if you have more than one.
 
Hey, as with you, I was worried about vegetables and axies. But my poor Mr Bonjangles was so constipated and floating when he was little that I gave him a REALLY tiny stalk of cooked broccoli and he did a poop the next day! (I know your not meant to give them vegetables but this was before I knew about fridging and it never harmed my axie)

Another tip. When I was away one time my mum rang me and told me one of my axie's had floaty bum and she didn't feel comfortable fridging him. So she put about 6 iced 1 pint milk bottles in the tank and in the morning the axie was not floating and had passed a poop. I also know that iced bottles can bring the temp up quite quick and then decrease quick, but this was in the winter and my room stays quite cool and at stable temp so it didn't affect him.

Or you could just wait like the others have said, or try and fridge him? how long has he been like it for?
 
I have her for two weeks now. Still the same.
 
I've also read about feeding them the inside of a pea. Is that also working?
 
HEy! i have a very greedy axi Aroara she eats so much sometimes it looks like she swallowed a golf ball. i keep the water heated to 22 degrees C. it helps her digest food quicker and pass it through her system. might help?
 
This might not have any scientific grounds at all, but i have heard when people get ccold they need to pee because its something extra for the body to keep warm. Maybe its something similar?

fridging is the best option, it is the first thing most owners do when impaction is suspected. You usually leave it in there untill it passes the stones, but if no stones come out in a moth in your case maybe take her to the vet for an xray to make sure. I hope she gets better!
 
But I'm scared of using the fridge :')
Well, it's because I had two axies in the fridge once, did what the description said, but they got fungus, their skin got all red and they looked more dead than alive. One of them died in there. I took the other one out of it when I saw the same thing happening, but she died outside the tank. I don't know what's wrong with the fridge. It's not too cold or something.

So if I don't use the fridge do you think keeping my axie in a cool box (a tub in a cool box) with ice packs underneath it (covered with a towel or something) to make it look and work a bit like a fridge?
 
If your aquarium is below 20 degrees and the water quality is good she can stay. If you want to try keeping her somewhere cooler, you could put her in a secure container in a cooler room, or even outside. Just keep a close eye on the temperatures.
 
Thanks. That helps :D
 
Fridging is not a "cure all" for axolotls. For some reason people have been lead to believe that. Cooling the animal down to the temperature of a normal refridgerator slows their metabolism way down. Contrary to what you have been told they do not get cold and pass the contents of their digestive tract in an effort to prevent the food from rotting inside them. If anything it will take them much longer to pass the waste, unless they had been recently fed a lot, in which case they are more likely to regurgitate.

The best way to get an axolotl to produce a bowel movement is to feed it. Easy enough, right? I've gotten axolotls from others who kept them on river rocks and was amazed by the size of the stones they were passing. I've gotten adult axolotls that passed a few stones at a time for some weeks after receiving them. They were in tubs with no substrate and blue rocks started to mysteriously appear.
 
Exactly what I thought about fridging. Thanks!
The good thing is that she's eating easier right now. The worms are still a bit 'weird' to her (guess she never got worms from the previous owner) but she's starting to learn :D
 
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