Question: Moving with axolotls?

I have two axolotls, in a 30 gal:
Mulder, 3 years old, male wildtype
Turanga, no idea on his/her age, biggish juvie, GFP wildtype with crazy mutant forked gills.

In fall 2016 I will be moving across the country, from Maryland to either New Mexico or Washington State. We will probably be driving at least one car cross country, shipping a lot of things, maybe moving in stages (there are three of us, three cars, a cat, a bird, some fish, and the two axies).

Mulder has already survived quarterly three-hour moves from my college, home and back for breaks and between semesters. As long as the AC is working, he seems utterly unpreturbed by life in a bucket in a car. I have yet to drive Turanga since I picked her up on a four hour drive. She wasn't in great shape then, but she's pretty robust now and she will be a big, fat adult by the time we move.

My question is: has anyone done a really long move with axolotls? Did you drive them, ship them, fly with them? If you shipped, what season, did they do alright, how did you package them so they got enough oxygen, etc?

Or is it really too much of a risk/should I be finding them new homes rather than kill them on a long trip?

well axolotls are constantly shipped with priority and overnight shipping, i just got a new addition to my family this Wednesday in the mail (2 day shipping) and she is perfectly healthy and eats well. so i think shipping is a pretty good option if you know where you are going to live already, have an address and a house or dorm or whtever.

i have also put A LOT of thought into driving across country with axolotls because its seeming more and more like a possibility for me for fall of 2015. i figured this is how i would do it and maybe you might like the idea as well:

1) get bunch of declorinated water ready and put in 1 gallon milk jugs ahead of time, keep them in the car close to AC

2) get as many fish bags as the number of times your would like to change water, im sure you could nicely ask your nearest petshop and they will give you a couple nice big ones for free (i dont know where else one can get them other than ordering online honestly)

3)Depending on the lenght of the road trip change bag and water on intervals. So for a 10 hour ride maybe do 3-4 changes, i thnk a change every 2 hours is pushing it, also you have two axies and i would bag them separately so (3-4)x2 should be plenty to keep up with.

so the reason i think a fish bag is better than a bucket is because a bucket is a rigid plastic and when the car accelerates or stops suddenly for wht ever the reason the bucket itself will not move but the water and whtever in it will. This means it will be a much more shaky ride for your axolotl, With fish bags, if you have someone hold it up in the air ( not like high up but not touching anyone else) when there is jerk in the cars motion the bag moves with it and the water moves with the bag and whtever is in the bag moves with the water. So instead of your axolotl getting sloshed around and hitting sides of containers and possibly spilling water everywhere, you got one smaller bag moving with the motion of the car to minimize all tht. the only think is 2 axolotls mean 2 people and obviously one driver can hold only one bag. also hand will get tired so you will have to switch, you dont have to hold it up all the time just when you know u will have to step on the break or something shaky is about to happen, just lift the bag in the air, otherwise have it resting on your lap.

i started to do this when i had to traspost my axie to school and back (the longest ride so far has been about an hour) and she seems much less freaked out then when i used to put her in a rigid container.

just a thought, take it leave it tweak it. Let us know wht you might end up doing, if you have something better i might want to implement it myself and as will other people on this site im sure, good luck!!