Illness/Sickness: 2 legs lost

My axolotl have had 2 scraps this past 2 months resulting in a lost hand just after xmas and now an entire arm on the other side. I'm not really sure what to do, is it my feeding routine? I've had them 18 months or so now and this has happened 3 times, once when I first got them, within the first week of owning them, and now this. The latest one was while I was cleaning them out, perhaps I aggravated the tank too much and they got stressed?

The tank is 3ft by 1ft so wide enough to house 2 axolotl and they have separate caves to live in. I am worried about its feeding and general health for the next couple of months if it has no front legs, will she/he be able to get by? The left one is gone from the shoulder so will take a while to heal, the right one is coming along well and has healed cleanly in that you can now see the nubs of the 'fingers' growing back.

I'm prepared for infections, with salt on standby and indian almond leaves also in the tank as I type. I have a pretty good filter system so the water is very clean. I just fret that I'll come home to a dead axolotl

Any advice would be great!

I was considering whether it'd be a good idea to put a divider down the middle of the tank, giving them 1.5ft each? Is that too small? Would the filtering work ok or would one get awesome filtering and the other none? Is there any suitable partition that'd work well?

Might be a **** idea. I didn't think I'd need to worry too much about them fighting once they got a bit older etc.

Try feeding at opposite ends of the tank. Nipping is usually the result of accidentally mistaking a foot as food or underfeeding. How big are your axies, how often are you feeding them and what are you feeding them?

You can use a mesh divider so debris and water flow can still circulate and be sucked in by the filter.

What and how much are you feeding them? I am keeping 9 in a 20 gallon until they get older and haven't had any issues with biting because I make sure they are fed and the water quality is great. As they get older they eat more food but at a less frequent interval.

First off, don't be too worried about a sudden death. When I got my first axolotl, he was also completely missing two limbs and had to regrow them from scratch. Axolotls are hardy little guys, and as long as you give them cold, clean water and plenty of earthworms, they'll heal just fine on their own.

How often are you feeding them? Having this many scrapes suggests they need food more frequently. I would put a divider in the tank until everyone is healed up, and perhaps increase how often you feed them (especially for your wounded guy. Offer him food everyday until he's healed!)

Thank you guys, that's a huge load off my mind re sudden death!

I have been feeding them bloodworms mainly after feedback - are they ok? I got a bucket of earth worms last year and they died within a week, wasn't sure it was economical, is there anything else a bit steadier I can feed them?

I was feeding them every 2-3 days and someone told me that was far too often, I made it 3 days as a rule, but am thinking while Ash is injured daily is probably best and 2 days is the max I should probably do. I got them Aug 2012 and they were about 4 months old I think, so we're looking at 22 months roughly?

Will look for a mesh divider. I have a really good external filter with 3 layers of filtration so the water is always clean and I swap out a few buckets every week and test it frequently.

Why did your worms die? If you bought lobworms from a pet shop as food you need to keep them in the fridge, if you bought a bucket of composting worms they need to be kept in a wormery. Full details of worm farming here.

Bloodworms really aren't enough for an axie, earthworms are best. 2-3 days is fine, just make sure they are in proportion. I feed my adults 1 medium worm every day, some people feed 3 or 4 worms every once a week. You need to figure it out for your own axies, just keep their bodies as wide as their head.

I hadn't noticed last night, but just seen that one of her hind legs is cut where I guess she caught it during the fight. Any suggestions on what I should do? I don't know whether to leave it and hope it heals, or treat it (leaves are in there already to help) or whether it needs to be amputated (would a vet do this?!)

Even more worried now! She seems to walk on it fine, you can just see inside the leg. This is worrying the heck out of me, the divider cannot come soon enough!

if you have a plastic tub or something (perhaps a container you put them in for travel or water changes?) move the most injured one to the temporary tub and keep it cool and clean until a divider arrives.

Try not to worry too much. Just keep an eye out for fungal infections and try to feed your little guys earthworms.

I personally feed my adults a large worm every 2 days. (My guys will throw up all their dinner if I try feeding them every day :/ )

Ok so as long as the leg doesn't go white and fluffy all should be ok? Have ordered the divider with expediated delivery so should be here by wed at the latest. In the mean time I'm trying to think of a suitable container. Annoyingly I have a spare tank! But it had a plant in it recently and so baby grow has been in there which I think contains iodine? Meaning it's not suitable for a sick axolotl, shouldn't have let that happen!!

This has happened to me as well. I put the injured one (who lost his entire left arm) in a seperate tank and made sure he ate well and watched closely for infection, swelling, etc.
Once he looked like he was beginning to heal I put him back in the tank with the other Axolotl but with a divider in place. Had them like this for 3 months and fed them in the tank as well, they got used to each other and eventually I was able to take out the divider and feed them individually without problem. If you don't have a divider, just use the lid for your tank and split it diagonally and lower the water level so they don't jump out. Hope this helps!