The Rescue of Sparrow

I went into the pet store on Wednesday, because I was bored and love looking at the axies. I didn't have another tank, so I wasn't planning on buying one. I was suprised and horrified to find that the pet store were selling juvie axies - only about 5cm long. There were 5 or 6 in the tank, and all of them were missing at least one limb. I even thought one little guy, who was lying on his side, was dead until he went up for air. The lady told me a customer had brought them in, so I'm not sure if they came so unhealthy, or the store was at fault.

Anyway, the next day, after work, I rushed to buy a tank, a small filter and sand, and hurried back to the pet store. There was one little guy left. Selling these little ones, who need so much care and attention, to the unknowing public, most of them would have been impulse buys. Even the little one I thought was dead, was sold.

This little guy they had left - I named him/her Sparrow. He's missing one of his front legs, and his foot on the other side. It makes it pretty hard for him to swim, and to stay anchored to the ground. He's also got a few sores on his mouth/chin. I'm feeding him bloodworms, as I'm not sure what they were feeding at the pet store, and they're small enough for him to eat, and he has constant access if he's ever hungry. He even ate one this morning :happy: I'm not sure how old he is; you can still see his organs, and he's about 5/6cm long.

I've included pictures of the little guy; he's a wild type, with lovely red gills and amazing green-ish colouring that I hope he keeps. The first is so you can see his missing limbs and sore mouth (and his organs!) and the others are of him just chilling

Poor guy! But he has beautiful colors. If only we could rescue all the axies from bad pet stores - but then my place would be covered in aquariums. Good luck! I hope he recovers soon. It sounds like you know what you're doing.

You are an amazing person for helping him without a second thought. I hope that some other axie knowledgable person bought the other four!

I'd talk to the manager of the pet store and give them your number if they have this happen again. Explain to them the amount of work that needs to be put in for a baby axie when compared to an adult and if they are a good person they will hopefully get in touch with you if this ever happens again.

You might also want to get the name of the supplier and tell your local animal welfare society what's going on at the pet shop.

This is just like the other day when I went to the local chain pet store to get Inca some emergency crickets (the reptile shop I usually go to was closed). I walked into the shop and within five minutes noticed something very unusual and bizarre: the kids working had built a large round goldfish bowl up with some weed in the middle and small pebbles all around the bottom and were about to put an adult leucistic axie in the tank and sell the entire thing as a package.
I walked over, took the axie off them, removed the gravel from the bottom of the bowl, got their manager and told them to all sit down and shut up. I then told them something about axolotls including the nitty gritty about substrate and required filter!

The manager turned to the girl in charge of the operation and pointedly asked "Did you, or did you not research the upkeep of axolotls before making this set up?" She said she had (of course) and the manager fired her on the spot. He's been trying to get the staff more aware about these things for months and she was meant to be teaching the others, she'd been making it up as she went along.

I set the tank up for them and now that pet shop has a decent tank set up for sale this christmas.

I think we should all get in contact with our local pet shops and tell them how tanks should be set up before the usual mistakes happen!

El.

Thanks guys, but unfortunately, poor little Sparrow passed away Even though he ate, and seemed very active on the first day, I noticed that he seemed very lethargic the second day. Oddly, he even started losing his colouring He was a sick little boy, and on only the second morning I had him, he passed away. I gave him a good burial; I only had him for two days but was devastated to see him go.

On a lighter note, I did acquire a new (older) juvie from a different pet store. I told the man about Sparrow and he was horrified.
This is Angel, and she seems pretty healthy, but I don't want to get too hopeful yet.
She's about 10cm long, so I'm not sure how old. Her gills are absolutely lovely!
What should I feed her? I can't get any earthworms, and refuse to feed them bloodworms after what happened to Sparrow. I think the only option would be to feed her and my other axies pellets? But would Angel be too small?

I'm sorry to hear about Sparrow, but Angel is gorgeous!

When I weaned my axies off of bloodworms so they'd start eating pellets they were a little small too. There were always some little broken pieces of pellets in to tub so I'd find those and feed it to them, and if I couldn't find any then I'd slice a larger one into smaller bits with my fingernail.

If you can make the pieces smaller (and get her to eat them) then she'll be great with the pellets.

Sorry to hear about Sparrow. I know you did your very best with him, and it's good that he at least got to pass away in a home where he was loved and well cared for, instead of a pet store where he seemed to be suffering.

Congrats on your new girl. She's beautiful and I love her colouration

I'm sorry about Sparrow! I was tempted to rescue four axies today from a store after watching one swallow a pebble as large as her head right before my eyes. But then I realized that they were in such bad shape that there was nothing that I could do except yell at the manager over animal neglect for a while.

Poor Sparrow. I'm sorry to hear.
It always makes me happy when I see someone trying to save an animal

I rescued an axie a while ago. His tail was looking awfull. His legs were almost all gone. There were a lot of other axies in the tank. Some of them had fungus on the legs. Water was too hot, gravel in the tank. Even another kind of salamander.
Thin, a lot of daphnia, but they were too big to actually eat them.

I bought one and a week or 2 later he was still pooping gravel. Sharp little pieces of gravel.

He survived, became a healthy axie and then... I sold him.

I'm really sorry to hear about Sparrow, Angel looks lovely!!

It's so heart breaking hearing everyone's stories about pet stores. I work in a pet store and we really care. I do work for a small British Columbia chain and I don't know about all our stores and how they are, but my manager is just as passionate as me on all things aquarium, and animals for that fact. I have come across wrong doings in my work place but my boss or I always spot them and fix it, unfortunately we have 6 employees and not everyone is up to speed but I do believe we really try. But in saying all that I have also been in pet stores and been horrified. I would definitely would want a customer to inform us if they see something wrong, it is a constant learning job and I have come to realize that a lot of the people working in pet stores are younger kids, it is like that in our store, and unfortunately they don't have the passion to want to learn about ALL the different animals. It gets very frustrating, but hopefully in most stores (this is my wish) that there is at least a few people how care enough to make sure things are the way they should be! Not all pet stores are bad, even some chains!

Good job to all you who stepped up to say something or save an animal!!

Just thought I'd give you guys a little update on Angel. I know it may be a little too soon, but she's looking very healthy. I managed to get pellets that are specially formulated for axies, and luckily they are quite small. And she loves them! She ate three in ten minutes! The older axies Chicken and Fonzie seem to have a bit of trouble eating them, because they are so small, but there are always some gone when I come back (and yes, I clean up the uneaten ones).

I've attached some photos of my lovely little girl. First, her enjoying her axie pellets and the second is just a shot I thought was beautiful

That second shot really is great, and she's a darling.

Axies are so addictive I think nearly ever axie owner at some point has rescued or considered rescuing one. I currently have 5 rescues, all of them still look a little raggedy from their poor starts in life, but I think it adds to their characters and they're all my favourites. Most of them came from one particular shop near me who have been constantly ignoring advice given to them for months. A while ago when I went in there I tried again to get them to change their tanks, even if it was to just take the heater out, and I was told 'Oh they're fine, they're used to warm water because they come from Mexico.' so I walked out the shop and was straight on the phone to the RSPCA. Another woman also got involved on my behalf and now they are getting weekly visits from an inspector and a vet and I'm hoping to see some changes. I'm also in contact with another local shop, who thankfully IS taking advice and slowly improving their axie housing... I'll see where that one leads! Might just add the RSPCA hotline number to speed dial just in case...

Here in South Australia we have animal cruelty legislation and the RSPCA i wonder if something like this could be reported to your relevant state authority, there are strict conditions around pet shop owners in my state,

get well sparrow and friends

sorry to hear about sparrow and angel is stunning