Regrowing lost limbs...or not!

Hi all,

I would like to hear your experiences on axolotls regrowing lost limbs. I have 4 axies who are missing limbs and seem to be struggling to regrow them:

• Bob the floater (wildtype 5") - had his front legs bitten off as well as all the gills on one side while he was floating. Gills are now the biggest I have seen, but no front leg growth at all.
• Peggy the runt (albino 5") - lost her front legs, but now has front leg buds after 2 months
• Stumpy the runt (wildtype 3.5") - found him hiding under a plant pot at half the size of his siblings, with 1 back leg and a little stump on the other back leg, front legs missing, gills looking awful (I didn't know he was 'missing' as I must have miscounted). He has regrown the lost foot on the stump, and now has lovely fluffy gills, but no front legs.
• Billy the dwarf (albino 5") - I don't think he ever grew front legs in the first place.

All are otherwise healthy, happy and eating earthworms and bloodworms like piggylotls.

So my questions are:
1. How long did it take your axie to regrow a whole limb?
2. How old and how big was your axie at the time?
3. Was there a delay between limb loss and seeing new growth?
4. Did you give your injured axie any special treatment or nutrition while they regrew limbs?
5. Does your axie have any lasting deformity or problems with the regrown limb?

Thanks guys, I've read all the literature but I'm interested in your experiences too.

Wow...some tough going there!

I'm tipping you've got a lot more than 4 axies and can't help but notice that it's all runts that are copping it.

I guess in nature they'd just end up dead from the stronger ones.

I've had 4-6 of these events, even posted here about putting one down yet he came back perfectly.

In answer to your questions...

1. How long did it take your axie to regrow a whole limb?

Anything from 2-4 months, seems to vary per animal.

2. How old and how big was your axie at the time?

Various...younger ones seem to grow them back quicker.

3. Was there a delay between limb loss and seeing new growth?

Yes...about a month.

4. Did you give your injured axie any special treatment or nutrition while they regrew limbs?

No. they certainly went off their food when it first happened, but went back to their normal business (minus some dexterity) soon enough.

5. Does your axie have any lasting deformity or problems with the regrown limb?

No. New limbs were always perfect.

Yes, I currently have 4 adults and 11 juvies that are all fine, it's just these 4 that seem to have issues! I had other juvies with injuries - missing gills & toes mostly - but they recovered nicely. And yes, the runts do seem to cop it more than the others, but I am yet to establish whether runts are picked on, or whether picked-on axies become runts....

I'm putting a sign up at the weekend - Auntie Jude's Rescue and Recuperation Home for Injured and Oddball Axolotls.

Thanks for your input.

auntiejude said:

So my questions are:
1. How long did it take your axie to regrow a whole limb?
2. How old and how big was your axie at the time?
3. Was there a delay between limb loss and seeing new growth?
4. Did you give your injured axie any special treatment or nutrition while they regrew limbs?
5. Does your axie have any lasting deformity or problems with the regrown limb?

Click to expand...

Wild type was missing all limbs and gills when I got him at (I reckon) about 4-5 months old. I don't normally fold when I see sorry looking animals in fish shops, but I couldn't resist his little dragon-face.

Took him around a month to grow back the limbs. No idea how long he had had them missing, his tank mates had already gone.

No special treatment. Clean water, bloodworm (live and frozen) and whiteworm.

His gills are very small and one is forked. His legs are fine with the exception of missing toes on a couple of feet. Remarkable really.



Adult Leucistic was involved in a biting incident and I had to amputate a leg errr. He was around 2 at the time.

Took about 3-4 months to regrow with instant change. The first 2 weeks he was isolated, refrigerated and given baths in rooibos tea (decreasing concentration). He was given a LOT of time and attention to make sure he was ok. He didn't eat for a week and refuses worms to this day.

He was then added back into the tank with Bitey McBiter removed into his own tank. Catappa leaves are always in the tanks anyway.

The limb is not perfect by any means, he only has two toes that are heavily webbed, but he has a similar arrangement on another leg (probably from before I got him).

Hadfield, my adult male, had very badly damaged gills and some missing toes when I first got him. It took about 4 months for his gills to fill out, but they are still quite short and stunted compared to a normal adult - that is to say, the main arms of the gills never regenerated at all, but the little fronds that come off did, though it took a while.

I've had three babies from this clutch lose all or part of a front limb. Two of them started re-growth right away, but they were both some of the larger babies who are very aggressive about getting food first, etc. The third one had a delay and the stump where his hand got bitten off was red for a while - I had him quarantined for a few days with some indian almond leaves to prevent fungus. He was 'special' in that he developed oddly, with the left side of his body growing faster than the right until the point where I almost euthanized him, but then the right started growing too and he sort of straightened out (I called him Lefty). His right side gills never got quite as large as the left side and his head was permanently tilted to the right, but he still behaved normally and hunted fine.

I hand fed him a bit at each feeding to be sure he was getting enough food, but other than that he go special treatment once the stump healed over. I ended up giving him to an acquaintance with small children and they dote on him now. His fingers are slowly growing back.

mewsie said:

Wild type was missing all limbs and gills when I got him at (I reckon) about 4-5 months old. I don't normally fold when I see sorry looking animals in fish shops, but I couldn't resist his little dragon-face.

Took him around a month to grow back the limbs. No idea how long he had had them missing, his tank mates had already gone.

No special treatment. Clean water, bloodworm (live and frozen) and whiteworm.

His gills are very small and one is forked. His legs are fine with the exception of missing toes on a couple of feet. Remarkable really.



Adult Leucistic was involved in a biting incident and I had to amputate a leg errr. He was around 2 at the time.

Took about 3-4 months to regrow with instant change. The first 2 weeks he was isolated, refrigerated and given baths in rooibos tea (decreasing concentration). He was given a LOT of time and attention to make sure he was ok. He didn't eat for a week and refuses worms to this day.

He was then added back into the tank with Bitey McBiter removed into his own tank. Catappa leaves are always in the tanks anyway.

The limb is not perfect by any means, he only has two toes that are heavily webbed, but he has a similar arrangement on another leg (probably from before I got him).

Click to expand...

Bitey McBiter...that's cool!

kjnorman said:

He was 'special' in that he developed oddly, with the left side of his body growing faster than the right until the point where I almost euthanized him, but then the right started growing too and he sort of straightened out (I called him Lefty). His right side gills never got quite as large as the left side and his head was permanently tilted to the right, but he still behaved normally and hunted fine.

Click to expand...

Sounds like a chimera?