Illness/Sickness: I neglected my Axolotls.

Hello everyone,

It is with a heavy heart that I have come here. I fell into a really bad depression and neglected my dear Axolotls for about 2 months. I barely fed them or changed their water. And now I have to deal with the repercussions. I have three of them, One albino and two dark ones. Overall, the only signs of neglections are that their skin is very thin and you can see their bones through it. (only on their feet)

I take it that this is just a sign of malnourishment. I instantly bought some live guppies for them (will also feed them some worms when I can buy some), and started feeding them daily again. (They get deep freezed red moquito larves) But one of them appears to have a leg that has been ripped open and a bone is sticking through.

I honestly dont know what to do with him. I feel very bad seeing him in this way and I am worried if I leave this be, that his leg will either grow disfigured or will grow into more complications?

My first thought was to amputate it. But I dont dare do that without proper advise or instructions. I also have NO idea whether I can take this Axolotl to my Vet. I live in holland and I have never heard of anyone bringing something other then dogs/cats/bunnies to the vet.

If neccesary I can try to take a picture of it. My phone does take ****ty pictures though.

I hope you guys can help me with this.

They are probably malnourished and with some tlc they should hopefully improve. I would start them on earthworms as soon as you can as these will be more nutritious than fish or mosquito larvae. Fish should be quarantined first before feeding as they can introduce nasty parasites or illness. Have you tested the water parameters? This would be a good step to getting back on track with their maintenance and ensure that there is nothing out of whack that might affect them further.

With the injured leg, clean and cool water will help the healing process. It may be best to call your local vet clinics and see if they would be able to help. I would not recommend amputating the leg without veterinary advice. You may do more harm than good and he may suffer needlessly if this procedure is performed without any anaesthetic or pain relief.

Well done for admitting you made a mistake and coming here for help - it took a lot of courage.

If you get your tank clean and fresh, feed your axies properly they should recover. With your injured axie the bones will probably fall off on their own, the leg may regrow a little odd but it should be fine. Worms are ideal, waxworms are high fat, live shrimp are entertaining for them to chase.

Good luck.

Thank you for your kind words.

I immediatly started to look for worms and fed them three of them. They ate everything. I refreshed the water and everything is OK. I called the vet and thank god they have a doctor who looks at these kind of non standard animals. I have an appointment soon.

Welcome, Pakuska. I'm so sorry to hear you've been too ill to care for your pets, and so glad you're feeling better. They are resilient animals and you're now doing all you can to help them.

How are they doing now?