To ship or not

This won't be happening until May, but I figured it'd be good to ask plenty in advance so I can get everything in order. I'll be moving from Pennsylvania to Oregon, and, naturally, I want to bring my axolotl along. He will be a year and a few months old by that point.

When I move, the people who are helping me want to take me sightseeing (turning the moving process into more of a road trip), so the cross-country journey will take from a week to a week and a half. I've read about transporting axolotls in sealed containers placed in coolers, but I haven't seen any mention of how to transport them on such a long trip. I'm worried that the amount of time he'd be spending out of a normal tank environment would stress him out too much, and/or that he'd run out of oxygen in the water. Would it be better to take him along with me in the car, or would it be better to overnight ship him to my fiance in Oregon? And if it's better to ship my axolotl, what is the correct procedure to do so?

I'm not certain off the top of my head, but I believe there are legality issues in owning an axolotl in Oregon. You might want to look into that and think about rehoming him in Penn as another option.

It would certainly make your trip less stressful for you and the axolotl if you ship the axolotl. If you weren't planning sightseeing, it would be possible to take him along, but with sightseeing I don't think so.

Try searching for old threads about shipping an adult axolotl. It does take some advance planning, but it's doable.

There aren't any restrictions, unless something was added very recently; my favorite Oregon pet store has some there. I know that California won't let you have them, however. Thanks for the advice. I probably will ship; it'll probably be a lot better for my peace of mind too, and less time for him spent in a non-tank.

You are right. Most non-native salamanders are illegal to own in Oregon, but evidently axolotls escaped the chopping block.
Oregon Secretary of State Archives Division

Good luck, and it's great that you are planning ahead.