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Hi there! New to the site and axolotls!

NeonSparrow

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Hello, my name is Alicia. My axies name is Phera (fear-a), and I recieved her through a teacher at the school I'm working at. Her age is roughly one year and she's a wild type. Another school I worked at had tons of these awesome looking little creatures in it seemed every science classroom, and I decided I wanted one right then and there. Lo and behold, 3 months later, the school I'm working at now had yet another one of these creatures in one of the kindergarden rooms. When I asked the teacher what they were called and how to take care of them, as well as where I could find them at, imagine my surprise when she tells me she's the reason for all the axolotls floating around the school system! Apparently someone gave her a pair, and they bred very shortly after she recieved them, and she's been giving them away to other teachers ever since. Also imagine my delight when she mentions she has two that needed homes! I told her I'd be glad to take one off of her hands, and the next day there she was! Wasn't exactly the leucistic I'd seen that I'd been admiring, but she is a rather beautifully spotted wild type. The first day all her pics show her gills forward, but I think that was due to water temp, (it was right at 70F, but now stays btw 62F and 66F), because now that I keep a fan on it she seems relaxed; gills laid back, sprawled out across her tank, likes to occasionally prance around her domain before hiding in her log for a bit. She sticks her head out and gets a "tense" look, as well as I can describe, when she wants fed. It's been around a month now and so far she seems happy and healthy. She finished rounding out and even looks a little longer to me, as well as her little toes are white tipped now. (At first I was nervous she had a fungal infection, but apparently that's normal for sexually mature axxies.)



Ok, that's enough bragging from me. I do have one question; What does "fridging" accomplish exactly? I know it's for sick axolotls, but how does it work? She seems perfectly healthy, mind you, but I was just curious.



Here she is, not that happy in this pic, but fixed that with a fan. Does show off her spots rather nicely though.


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Greatwtehunter

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Welcome to the forum Alicia! Fridging works a number of ways. One way is it decreases an axolotls metabolism which can slow down the rate at which fungus or an infection spreads. This will give you time to fight it.

Fridging can also aid in helping impacted axolotls pass stones, although I don't know exactly how it helps.:eek:
 

darkfaerie

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Hi, welcome to the site! I'm fairly new to 'lotls too, having gained my 4 beasties in the last few months, but having loved them for years! I've found this site to be really friendly and helpful, so I'd say you made a wise choice joining up!

And Phera look gorgeous!
 

Kaysie

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The size of the stones in your tank worries me. Those are small enough to be swallowed, but definitely big enough to get stuck. I would seriously consider removing them before she ingests one.

Fridging works like this: Axolotls are poikilothermic (formerly ectothermic, aka cold blooded). Their rate of digestion is tied to how warm they (and their surroundings) are. If you place a poikilothermic animal into a cold habitat, they aren't able to digest as quickly. In order to prevent food from rotting in their digestive tract, they void as much of it as they can. So when you put an axolotl in the fridge, it poops a lot to get all that food out of there. If there is something like a rock in there, the hope is that the force of voiding the gut will also propel out any impaction. It doesn't always work, but if the impaction is small (like gravel), it usually works pretty well. Larger impactions (like large rocks) usually need to be removed with surgery.
 

scooty16

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Hello! Welcome!

Your axolotl is gorgeous! I have a wildtype baby! I'm hoping one day it will look a bit like yours! :D
 

NeonSparrow

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Thnx for your concern :) I realized this after reading more posts on the forum. For now I've placed all the stones bigger than her head around her log, where she likes to eat, and taken out anything that looks like it could possibly fit into her mouth. Makes for a rather strange looking tank, but I don't want to leave it bare bottomed, as she was not in the least amused by this in the beginning. ( I literally made the trip to the store to buy SOMETHING to put in her tank the day I got her be
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cause she looked really irritated at trying to walk on the bare bottom.) This weekend I'm going out to find either really large stones or filter sand for her tank.

And the stuff on her head is bits of food i couldn't rescue before it became "dust". Lil bugger.
 

NeonSparrow

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I'd like to thank everyone for their welcome and advice! And thanks for the info on "fridging". Odd to think that fridging makes them poop, lol, but makes sense at the same time.
 
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