Question: Just curious :P

Hi! I've been wondering for a while and decided to ask you guys
What is an axolotl mentally capable of? By this I mean do they remember what time they get food and where they have to go to find food? Is this different between wild axolotls and those who live in captivity? Do they recognize food only by smell and movement or do they also pay attention to for example texture? Would they be able to learn simple things like going through hoops for food? Do they play when their young (like for example cats) to train their hunting skills?

I know these are a lot of questions and I don't really axect an answer for all of them , but nonetheless. Also, if someone knows some good books or articles about axolotl behavior or biology I'd really like to know (prefeably somthing that can be found online, because I don't really have acces to a lot of the reccomended books :'))

Thanks in advance!

Axies aren't very smart, but they do recognise people and will learn routines. They hunt by smell and movement rather than sight, and will become accustomed to something like a feeding jar. I don't know if anyone has ever tried to teach an axie some 'tricks' like swimming through a hoop though.

They do play, especially juveniles. Mine liked to swim through the bubbler, some like to push moss balls around.

The best resource I have found is this forum! I have a couple of books, but there is no substitute for the the experience of real people, like you get on here.

Thanks for the quick answer! I didn't expect them to be able to recognize people Does that mean they could distinguish between different people or do they just see every person as the big shape that brings food?

I guess I will be reading a lot of threads but for more general information about their biology etc, I'd really like to get my hands on a book too. Is there one in particular recomended? it doesn't have to be about axolotl's only
Is there something like "the tarantula keeper's guide" but for salamanders and newts instead?

thanks for your help

Yes, axies can distinguish between people.
Axolotl.org is a great resource, and this book was recommended to me for deeper 'text book' reading. There is also a 'further reading' section on axolotl.org.

Axolotls can definitely differentiate between those who drop worms on them and those who don't. I used to think they worked on silhouette , my wife gets ignored by my adult axys ( she is roundish and I hope to god she never reads this) my no.2 son and I have a slimmer build though much broader in the shoulders, the axolotls come to us when they are hungry, this response is also triggered by sons 1 and 3 who are similarly shaped but don't feed them. Its hard to know how axolotls differentiate between people but my friend shaved his beard of and he reckoned his axolotls ignored him for a bit lol

xxianxx said:

my friend shaved his beard of and he reckoned his axolotls ignored him for a bit lol

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PMSL!!!!! :grin:

auntiejude said:

Yes, axies can distinguish between people.
Axolotl.org is a great resource, and this book was recommended to me for deeper 'text book' reading. There is also a 'further reading' section on axolotl.org.

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very interesting, thanks for the info!

xxianxx said:

Axolotls can definitely differentiate between those who drop worms on them and those who don't. I used to think they worked on silhouette , my wife gets ignored by my adult axys ( she is roundish and I hope to god she never reads this) my no.2 son and I have a slimmer build though much broader in the shoulders, the axolotls come to us when they are hungry, this response is also triggered by sons 1 and 3 who are similarly shaped but don't feed them. Its hard to know how axolotls differentiate between people but my friend shaved his beard of and he reckoned his axolotls ignored him for a bit lol

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hahaha:rofl: Maybe they notice the difference between the lighter and darker spots in faces (other shapes) and remember the pattern or something like that. Or maybe even colour. I wonder how thy precieve colour Maybe your friends axolotl's just really liked the beard

great question mate, i have always wondered this too and have been paying close attention to both the axys i take care of right now (one at my house over the summer tht is not at school, the other is mine but is also currently at school till tank cycling is done)
some observations i have made are:
1) if u always feed them at a specific spot they will remember to check there. i have a feeding dish for my axy to reduce sand ingestion and actually when she is hungry she will come and sit in the bowl and stare right at me till i feed her. its very cute it looks like she is begging haha

2) they can be trained for simple tricks like going through the hoop. now this is more axolotl specific i think. for example my axolotl is kinda shy and wont try too hard to get at food. my bio teachers axolotl on the other hand is crazy hungry always no matter how much i feed him or how round his tummy looks. i feed him with large metal tongs and as soon as the tong enters the water the chase begins. he will follow the food around anywhere in the tank and i have played around too see how far he is willing to go for food. so he could definitely be trained for going through hoops, infact i will probably try to train him as soon as im done with some extra school work i got going on. ill keep u guys updated with any success or failures in the matter.

3) they recognize people. i feed the two axys everyday second period and as soon as im in sight they come out of their hidy holes or wherever they are and start looking up at me and come to the glass etc. its more a repetition thing i think. however when kids from a class come to the room and look at them, no matter how much effort they make the axys ignore them. No food no love is wht i feel like they got going on towards people

4) lastly i find tht they are WAAAAY more interested in their people than other herps are. i know for a fact tht my turtles just like me for food, if they dont see food in my hand i get the cold shoulder. on the other hand over the summer i spend countless hours just sitting in front of my axolotl tank and not even moving, just standing still and observing the axy. The second time i did this the axolotl came up in front of the tank and put its paws in the air and just stood there still stared at me too. i did this at night every night for couple weeks and although he eventually figured out there was no food involved for him, he still stood there and stared and idk i felt like we built a bond. i might just be romanticizing the relationship i have with my animals but it really feels like unlike alot of herps axolotls are just as fascinated with their owners as their owners are with them.

nothing solid or scientific, just my personal experiences with two axys

I just wanted to add that it also seems to depend on personality and/or whether they're kept alone or with friends totally non-scientific observation, but my two Axies who lived together since day 1 are less inclined to socialise with me; they do come to the glass, but they also can ignore me if there's no food involved and seem to be more interested in each other than me when not hungry; if in danger or new environment - they cling to each other and literally do everything together until they feel the danger is over I call them "the gang" - they are inseparable from day one) they can sit on each other's head and no one would mind - they sniff each other and then go almost like "ah, yeah, it's ok, you can do whatever you want buddy"))
My third axie who's still a juvie (or acts like one) has been on his own with only a snail to keep company. He is unbelievably friendly!!! He comes to the glass when I walk into the room; he follows you when you move around; he swims up the minute you look over the tank - it's a crazy interaction but to me it looks like he's bored and wants to play)) he doesn't eat when my husband gives him food though - swims away from his hand, that's so unlike him - but if I take the same food - he snaps it straight away...
I'm yet to remove the divider and let all three of them meet - but the whole behaviour reminds me of my cats - when there was one, she used to play with us more; once she got a buddy - they were fine without us, having enough fun just the two of them so this may be yet another quirky side of the Axies?

dryopteris said:

Thanks for the quick answer! I didn't expect them to be able to recognize people Does that mean they could distinguish between different people or do they just see every person as the big shape that brings food?

I guess I will be reading a lot of threads but for more general information about their biology etc, I'd really like to get my hands on a book too. Is there one in particular recomended? it doesn't have to be about axolotl's only
Is there something like "the tarantula keeper's guide" but for salamanders and newts instead?

thanks for your help

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Our axolotls fly towards the tank wall when me or my partner come near the tank and talk. Our second youngest dog Hailey is in love with fish and has become very attached to the axolotls to the point that she will sit and watch them for hours. The axolotls dart straight for the parts of the tank that she is sitting at and will swim up and down in that area while she is watching or when Hailey goes in to a pacing fit in front of the tank the axolotls, Honkey especially, will swim back and forth with her. I find it nice to know that we are recognized. We honestly chalked it up to the fact that we feed them (probably a contributing factor), but it is nice to know now that they might actually pick up on us as individuals.

I only used to feed my Axolotls six days a week. Some of them lived to be very old, but despite being able to learn to recognise different people, learn what the net was for and to stay well away from the siphon hose, learn what time they got fed etc, none of them could learn the six days a week thing and that Saturday was fasting day. It was as though their memory's only worked on a 24hr cycle, or maybe they were just being optimistic, who knows!

After a little effort, I retrained my axolotl to eat from the surface of the water instead of from my hand because I didn't want to put a feeding bowl in the tank and I was tired of getting my hand wet every feeding time.
When GD is hungry she will assume a vertical position and stick the tip of her nose out of the water. It took less than a month to relearn how to eat, after only accepting food from my hand at the bottom of the tank. I definitely underestimated her intelligence.
I also noted that if I went to the tank during a time of day that was not "feeding time" (early evening) she would swim to the side of the tank to interact with me instead of the surface to eat.
Lately, GD has been so good at the timing of the bite when I drop the pellet, it seemed like she has caught it a few times before it even hit the surface of the water. But if she missed it, she was unable to find it, unless I picked it up and dropped it again. (If I didn't she would chase it in circles snapping at it but unintentionally bumping it away until she gave up and swam back down.) This interested me because it seemed that she was relying on sight more than smell to eat, when I had read otherwise. To test her vision and/or smell, I held my hand above the tank, pinching my fingers as if to drop a pellet but holding nothing. GD would swim to the surface under my hand, investigate for a short second and then swim away. Next I held both hands over the tank one with a bright orange pellet and one without, every time she would swim under the hand with the pellet.
I assume that means that her eyesight is at least good enough to differentiate between a hand holding a pellet and an empty hand in the same position.