Question: Axolotl regenerating limbs?

Hello, this is my first post and I have a few questions about my axolotl!

My little guy's name is Onyx and he is now 8 inches and around 8-9 months
I got him when he was around 3 inches (2-3 months) and he didn't have his right elbow/foot/toes. Since then, he has regrown his elbow and foot but his toes seem to have stopped growing. Two of them look like they're stuck together and I'm not sure if they'll permanently be together or if they will separate if they continue to grow? Is it normal for them to have deformities when regrowing a body part? Also how long does it usually take for a limb to grow back? It has been about 6 months and he still hasn't grown those little toes back ):

My other question is, how much should I be feeding him now? Since he reached around 6 inches, I've fed him 2-3 earthworms a day. He is older now and doesn't have as big of an appetite so I started feeding him two a day. Should I start feeding him every other day or keep feeding him like I do? His water temperature is usually around 61 degrees so I know his metabolism is slower which makes me wonder if I have been feeding him too much?

Here are a few pictures of him from when he was a baby without the rest of his leg and some of him today

Thank you for any help!

this is one of my many axolotls. He had a incident when he was only about 3/4" long where he got sucked up in the turkey baster and lost most of his gills, at 6months and 6" ~ this is how they grew back. Sorry for the bad picture. There are two filaments stuck together on one side and the other side has 4 filaments lol.

When an axolotl regrows something it is hardly ever perfect. They can have extra toes, extra limbs growing ontop of existing limbs, limbs stuck together, the possibilities are endless. It really only becomes a problem if its causing huge inconvenience and they cant function and are stressed due to it.

omgitsbekahxD said:

Hello, this is my first post and I have a few questions about my axolotl!

My little guy's name is Onyx and he is now 8 inches and around 8-9 months
I got him when he was around 3 inches (2-3 months) and he didn't have his right elbow/foot/toes. Since then, he has regrown his elbow and foot but his toes seem to have stopped growing. Two of them look like they're stuck together and I'm not sure if they'll permanently be together or if they will separate if they continue to grow? Is it normal for them to have deformities when regrowing a body part? Also how long does it usually take for a limb to grow back? It has been about 6 months and he still hasn't grown those little toes back ):

My other question is, how much should I be feeding him now? Since he reached around 6 inches, I've fed him 2-3 earthworms a day. He is older now and doesn't have as big of an appetite so I started feeding him two a day. Should I start feeding him every other day or keep feeding him like I do? His water temperature is usually around 61 degrees so I know his metabolism is slower which makes me wonder if I have been feeding him too much?

Here are a few pictures of him from when he was a baby without the rest of his leg and some of him today

Thank you for any help!

Click to expand...

Hi, welcome to the forum

To answer your first few questions... Axolotls regenerate limbs/gills/general body parts whenever they are damaged or missing (bitten off). They often regenerate differently than the original body part was however, often resulting in an extra gill, extra/missing toes, etc. How long it takes for the body part to fully regenerate depends on a number of factors; namely genetics, age (the younger the axolotl, the faster it regenerates), general health, the amount of food it gets (more food = more energy to regenerate, don't overdo it though)...

Take into consideration that his toes might never grow back (unless you chop off his leg and make him regrow it from scratch, but that's just cruel). I myself have an axolotl I saved from a pet store, it had 3 tiny stumps and one regrowing stump. The regrowing stump now has 3 toes, the other stumps have grown but haven't developed toes at all. She has been like this, unchanged, for ages now. I don't think it'll ever grow back, but she's healthy and happy, and always begs for food at the aquarium window when I enter the room

The feeding... you should keep feeding him as you do. Like you said, his appetite decreased, so you'll know when to adjust his diet. Once they reach adult size (which is generally around 8 inches or bigger), you should decrease the diet, or you'll get a very fat axolotl. It will all depend on how you wish to feed; one small worm every day, a big worm every two days,... an adult axolotl's body should be as wide as its head. If you notice him getting too fat, just decrease the amount you feed him.

Thank you both so much!

I thought it would be common for it to be deformed, but that was just a hypothesis
However I had no idea sometimes they didn't completely re-grow whatever it is they lost.
I believe his siblings bit his leg off before I got him, but he doesn't seem to mind. He's a happy little fellow

You have some very cute ones by the way! I am ready to get Onyx a friend, but I'm having trouble finding what I want and I also want to wait until I get my 55 gallon up and running.