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Sick babies?

darrylsampson

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Hi guys, quick question. My girlfriend and iwere recantly given axolotl eggs. We were told the eggs would be 14 days old on Thursday. To our surprise we gad a babyhatch on monday! No other babies have yet they are still moving in thier eggs. The hatched babystarted moving alot bur now he is hiding in vegitatio. And laying on his side. Is he ok? Will he make it? Is it bad hes so premature? Any info would be great!!!!
 

auntiejude

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All perfectly normal.

I had 2 that I accidentally sucked up in my syphon while doing a water change and forced to hatch - they were hatched at 10 days - and they are now 3 weeks old and doing fine.

They don't seem to have much of a sense of up and down, and until they get their limbs they sometimes appear to loll on one side when inactive - even more so when they have fat bellies full of brineshrimp!

He may not need feeding for a few days as he will still be feeding off his yolk sac.
 

melrose1414

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I am his gf and the one that has this baby axolotl right now. I just came home from work and looked at him and he is in the same spot he was before I left for work and I am able to completely push him around the container and I don't see any movement :( I'm not sure that he is still alive at this point :(
 

Spartacus

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It can be hard to tell at that stage. I like to scoop them into a small spoon, then slowly drain the water to see if they twitch or respond, before returning them to the water. But if it is dead, it'll start to grow fuzzy soon enough. Maybe keep it separate until you can be sure so it doesn't foul the water if it is dead.
 

melrose1414

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tried that trick and unfortunately he didn't move at all or respond :( I think he hatched too soon seeing as the rest of the eggs haven't hatched yet :(
 

layna

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If a baby axie dies then generally their tail will have a hook on the end and the body will curl up.
If you have a magnifying glass or something and the axie is upside down you can see the heart beating
 

melrose1414

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he was completely unresponsive to any movement and I tried several times, so unfortunately he didn't make it :(
 

melrose1414

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So two more eggs hatched today while I was at work; one of the babies is moving around fine but the other one is not responsive to anything like the other one. I can't figure out if this means it is alive or dead. I plan on separating the babies in separate containers so that the water doesn't get contaminated or anything and to ensure which ones are still alive. Can anyone help us with this situation? Has anyone dealt with something similar?
 

Spartacus

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It will definitely happen. I have it happen all the time when I move the eggs around, or do cleaning and accidentally siphon them. It can be very hard to tell in those early stages, I normally just put ones I can't tell into the adult tank and don't bother with them. But if you really want to keep them and keep an eye on them, just put all the unresponsive ones together. Some will make it, and others probably won't. I have raised a wildtype from being a half-formed white blob before, like you described, lying on it's side and doesn't even look completely like an axolotl yet.
 

auntiejude

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Sometimes babies don't move for the first day or so as they are absorbing their yolk. But some just don't make it. Some will be fine for a week and then die. It's sad, but it's only survival of the fittest.

I have mine is small groups rather than individual tub as I just do't have the time to change water in more than 3 tubs every day.
 

layna

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Sometimes baby axies will just sit and freeze and not try to swim away as a defence mechanism.
When i raised babies i could put my hand right next to then and nudge them with a pipette and they still didnt move.
Like i said above generally if they are dead their tail will hook at then end then their body will curl up and they will go pale/grey.
If you really want to keep as many as you can, id put the ones you think are dead in a separate tub for a couple of days and they will go fuzzy if they are dead
 

melrose1414

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Thanks for all the input everyone! Two more eggs hatched later in the night! Unfortunately that one wasn't alive, but the other three are and they are doing just fine! I put them in their own container separated from the eggs just because I felt it was easier to take care of them that way; I have the time to do a water change once or twice a day. It is nerve racking when you've never raised babies before! But thank you all again for the help and input!
 

melrose1414

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I've got two of the three now not moving at all or responding to touch. I'm not sure what is going on here, could it be that they hatched too soon? Or is there something I am doing wrong?
 

auntiejude

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Unfortunately some babies don't make it - there doesn't have to be a reason.
Put them in a tub until you're sure they are not going to recover.
 

melrose1414

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Those two and another one didn't make it; a couple more hatched so now I have four living. I tried feeding them brine shrimp but they didn't respond at all; is it just too soon for them to eat?
 

PatchworkClocks

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Those two and another one didn't make it; a couple more hatched so now I have four living. I tried feeding them brine shrimp but they didn't respond at all; is it just too soon for them to eat?

For around 24 to 48 hours after they hatch, they're still feeding off of their yolk sacs, so they don't usually respond to other types of food until the sacs are depleted.
 

auntiejude

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Do you have BBS ready? Put some in, come back aftr a couple of hours and see if they have orange bellies.
 

melrose1414

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I have both frozen and live baby brine shrimp ready to go, and I've tried both. At this point I have five living but they have all hatched at different times. Since they are in the same container I'm not sure when they hatched, but they either hatched on Friday, Saturday, or today, so I'm not sure if I should be feeding them or not. I haven't heard about the orange belly trick though so maybe I will try that. I had heard that you need to do a water change about an hour after trying to feed them though, is that true?
 
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