Question: What type are these two Axies?

They are about 16cm and quite skinny. I bought one and wonder if I should have bought the other!
Is the plain one just a wildtype?

They are wild type (perhaps Melanoid) and desperately need to be fed! Also, I hope that you're not keeping them on that gravel. They will ingest that and could become impacted by it and die.

Fed AND taken off those rocks! Yikes! But yes, both wildtypes. Nice colour, though! Kind of a warm grey. Nice.

Even the gravel on the left? I thought it was big enough :-(. I didn't think wildtype had the reflectiveness? I bought the one on the left and have been feeding him daily. I feel sorry for the one I left behind. I am a newbie but have been reading up on them. He is about 16cm and very skinny. At what size can they be sexed? His "bulge" appears more male like...

Oh, poor little things

They are both very, very sickly looking. Its difficult to know what to say re: buying the other. I know it'd break my heart not to, but by buying them, would the irresponsible keeper just get more and abuse those? Urgh. Would the current keeper take well to some advice? Perhaps you could print out the pages from Caudata.org, or link him/her through?

Knowing me i'd end up rescuing them!

What are you feeding him? Earthworms are the best possible food, and goodness knows that little guy needs all the nutrition he can get!

Re: the stones, better safe than sorry, you'd be alarmed what they can swallow by accident. The rule is they must be much bigger than lotls head. Sand or a bare tank bottom is better, and easier to keep clean (crud gets in between stones and can affect your water quality). Is your new fella pooping ok? He could already have swallowed a lot of stones...

Re: wild type, wilds have the gold sparkly bits, sometimes around the eyes, melanoids have no sparkles, just the stealth, ninja look

Good luck helping the little guy get well, please keep us posted how he's doing.

kimbully said:

Even the gravel on the left? I thought it was big enough :-(. I didn't think wildtype had the reflectiveness? I bought the one on the left and have been feeding him daily. I feel sorry for the one I left behind. I am a newbie but have been reading up on them. He is about 16cm and very skinny. At what size can they be sexed? His "bulge" appears more male like...

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They can really eat rocks the size of their heads... So it's better to keep them om sand or in a bare bottom tank.

wow those guys are skinny!!

i'm glad that axie is in your care now

Thanks for the responses. I'll take the stones out. They are from a petshop which I will inform of the stones and skinniness! I didn't buy the second one as I want a leusistic and I also want to see how we go with the first one. I am feeding him worms and crickets which he loves. Is there a limit for each feed or is as much as he wants in one go ok?

it makes me mad when I see axies in pet stores being treated as if they are fish. I would keep them on no substrate at all so you can tell when they do start to pass waste. as they are so skinny, I would start feeding small amounts daily, and after a week or so of this, start feeding bigger meals daily untill they plump up somewhat.

a holiday in the fridge could be in order too, so they can clear out the contents of their digestive tracts, wich probably do contain stones.

I too had to resist rescuing a rather large melanoid axie from a garden center, he was kept in a tank with aquatic plants, on gravel. his belly was soo large and full of what I could only assume was gravel, his legs could barley touch the ground.

kimbully said:

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They are about 16cm and quite skinny. I bought one and wonder if I should have bought the other!
Is the plain one just a wildtype?

Click to expand...

aww... both of them have such wimpy gills, I'd bet they're both sickly. You definitely have to make sure your water is dechlorinated - from what I've read and observed, the reason their gills fall off like that is because of bad water conditions.

I wish you the best with the one you purchased!

The one I bought is filling out. Yay. I'll get s better pic soon and post it. I still want to know if he is wt or melanoid.

Poor little guys! Pet stores need to do research on what there selling, i rescued pixie from a similar situation and im still finding stones in her tank at home from her tank at the store. congrats on your new little guy and im sure he will start feeling better with a nice full tummy soon.