Help!

Eh, you know, the sad thing is, I'm doing just what you suggested already. I guess I just have backwards beginners luck. Aren't you supposed to win the first time you try something?!

I did a full water change today but it's the first - before I was just sucking out the crud, but I've only had them a couple of days.

I took the waste out tonight, then saw Kinky had died. Then read the fourm and the suggestions about 100% water change, so I filled up a new tub for them, netted them out, and then poured their old water through the net to save the daphnia and put that back in with them (there's so little, it seemed the sensible option). Shortly after my white one looked kinked.

They're back on the windowsill because the temperature was creeping into the twenties in the living room. I've not even had the heaters on. I was just having a think about where to put them and the living room windowsill might be better - won't heat up with cooking, and is a little easier to access than the kitchen window. But it still worries me though - assuming any of these reach adulthood are they going to end up sitting in the window just to survive? If I, in Lancaster UK, can't keep an axolotl cool, how does anyone ever do it in the states?!

Eh - I can't keep my snakes warm enough or my axies cool enough

Hi Floxie,

Sorry to hear about your loss. When i first kept axolotls, i too faced the same problem of temperature management. It can get really hot here in sydney during summer.

I guess the best overall strategy is to firstly position the tank in a part of your house that is the coolest all year round, away from direct sunlight. Basements for eg. will tend to be cooler (unless in rare exceptions). Thereafter, you would have to try eliminate the sources of heat that may be warming up your tank. These includes the use of certain types of aquarium equipment such as motor-driven type filters and even incandescent light. Try replacing with a non-heating alternatives.

Other methods will involve some substantial money investment including having air conditioning of that room, investing in a chiller (which although costly outright, really pays for itself over time), or mounting up little fans to aid in evaporation from the water surface. Less costly short time solutions include the use of ice-bricks, ice cubes from clean dechlorinated water, exposing the surface area for evaporation (such as temporary removal of the tank lid or replacing with a netting instead) and insulating the tank. These methods however tend to have shorter effect and may not reduce the temperature all that much to be sufficient. Furthermore there is a risk of potentially causing excessive temperature fluctuations which may be even more detrimental.

There are some detailed cooling methods which you may like to look at :

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cooling.shtml

Cheers

floxie said:

If I, in Lancaster UK, can't keep an axolotl cool, how does anyone ever do it in the states?!

Click to expand...

That's easy for me right now, it's winter time. I turned down the heat and told the wife to get out her sweaters... best thing I ever did for my winter utility bills. roud:

This summer will be a totally different situation for me though. I will probably have to invest in a chiller.

floxie said:

\I'm told the very reason they were being given away in fours is because "they've got a pretty high mortality rate". ...
Are they called spinners because they can't swim in a straight line?!

Click to expand...

Barring deformities/genetic issues (like the spinner), axolotls have a really high survival rate. If you hatch 100 eggs, you should expect 90+ of them to survive to adulthood.

And yes, they're called spinners because they don't swim straight, but 'spin'.

I am sorry for your loss.

Thank you.

Well, I brought them home with me in the hopes we might be able to find them food here, rather than expecting the inlaws to cope. They survived the journey, but the last of the daphnia died on Christmas eve. If they can hold on until tomorrow when more places are open I'm going to ring every shop in Yorkshire and try to find them some food. Keep your fingers crossed for us

Here's some pictures:


The largest and darkest

Poor focus of the smallest (yellow? with white eyes)

The middle-sized one.

Let me know if I should change those to links...

Looks like you've got a wildtype, a golden albino, and a leucistic (or a REALLY light wildtype, but I'm betting it'll be leucistic).

And I'm betting that if you looked at their undersides, you'll start to see the front legs budding out right behind the gills.

If you need help, I have some friends who live in Yorkshire, and I can try to put you in touch with them.

Hee, awesome! I'm a happy bunny today, I got 10 bags of daphnia Thanks for the identification, the golden one was a puzzle to me. They're all ace, whatever they are! I think I have seen leg buds, but it's tricky to see under the gills...

Thanks very much for the offer, but I'm just in York for Christmas - I'm actually living in Lancaster. Don't suppose you know anybody there too do you?

*does the I'm Not Starving My Pets Happy Dance*