Axie out of water?

HI I got a axie for my birthday this year and a while ago my frriend told me you could take them out of their water is it true? If so what is the timelimit for having them out? :smile:

Hi Axiegirl,

Axolotls are fully aquatic and should never be taken out of the aquarium or handled unless absolutely necessary.

If at any point you need to handle them (such as transfering from one place to another or if administering treatment if the axie is sick) then this handling should be of brief duration as handling them can damage their natural slimecoat.

If you do have to handle your axolotl try to make sure your fingernails are not very long. Make sure your hand are clean and free from creams/chemicals etc.
Its not always neccessary to handle your axolotl if your are just transferring it to another tank/container. You can float a small container in the tank and guide the axolotl into that and lift that from the tank without ever having to touch the axolotl.
As Jacq has said, they should not be removed from water unless absolutely neccessary, but a few seconds shouldn't cause harm but no more then that.

Since somebody has brought it up, I've been dying to ask about this...
My friend had an axie when she was a little girl, and she said that she was told to take it for walks every few days, out of the water... She swears she used to make puddles in the backyard to keep him wet and took him out to play on the grass. I was completely shocked, and I thought that maybe she was mistaken and it wasn't really an axolotl. She swears it is though, and described him perfectly. She moved out of her parents house years ago and her axie was left behind, but he's still going strong and I think she said he is around 10 years old.

How is this possible?

She said something about the webbing between his toes growing if she didn't take him out for a while - could he have been trying to morph or something?

I'm very confused! I've been reading about so many of these little guys dying at the drop of a hat, how could he have survived?

I've been told similair stories Neke. The thing is it has to be some other animal, its just pretty much impossible. I'd recommend just leaving it at that and keeping your Axolotl safe. Like Havelock said, they're completely aquatic.

I would be great if you could and ive got to say ive been told stories like these and thats what got me interested in axolotls. Never mind they are still kool animals

The thing is it has to be some other animal, its just pretty much impossible.

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That's what I thought too, so I grilled her about it - the thing that swayed me was that she said she dropped him once when she was cleaning his tank (because she doesn't have him any more I didn't bother explaining about cycling or handling) and his tail snapped off. She said part of the bone was even sticking out, and he just grew it back. Do other animals have the ability to regenerate so well? The whole thing just seemed insane. She also said she always kept him wet when he was out of the water, and that they used to splash in the puddles together, but I don't think he would have been fully submerged in it.

Egh, that story makes me cringe :lame:

Axolotls have rudimentary lungs. I cannot imagine, though, that it can be healthy, much less beneficial, to take them out of the water for any length of time. If you creat a walk-out (ramp, log, island, etc.) in their aquarium, they will not leave the water of their own volition.

(I'm speaking in terms of a healthy axolotl, wanting to avoid opening the moroph topic again.)

-Eva

They could survive out of water for a small period of time. When we first got Junior, he jumped out of the tank and got lost in my brother's trashed room for 8 hours or so. He was only found when mum cleaned it up. I hate my bro lol. Anyway, when we found him, he was really badly shrivelled and nearly died. It took him months to recover. Don't let it happen.

inkozana said:

Egh, that story makes me cringe

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That was my reaction too. The thing that upset me was that she loved him so much and it sounded like she made a huge effort to look after him but she'd been told that he was a walking fish and she had to take him out every once and a while to let him walk around. At least he survived I guess, but it sounds like she was just lucky. I'm sure he wasn't impressed about being taken for walks!