Help please - yet another stone-related thread :(

Hiya.

I know there are countless similar threads, but please help me! Since my two Axolotls were babies i've had them on sand. They've recently grown quite big, so I decided to purchase a new tank for them. Whilst there the shop owner advised me to get pebbles for them instead of sand, I said no and aired my concerns, and he said it'd be fine and even showed me an Axolotl book that they sold...


http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images...ow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU02_.jpg

That one - he said the type of pebbles that are displayed throughout this would be fine. For some reason I gave in, against my better judgement.

As soon as I got them into the new tank in a rush of excitement one of them swallowed a couple of small pebbles

I immediately took them out. I'm an idiot. The pebbles aren't huge. But they're not small. They seem to be the same size as their normal poos. I think he swallowed 3. He's currently on his own in a separate tank with chilled water (as opposed to fridging)....

I'm concerned naturally. He seems fine and is pretty active, attempting to swim up to seem me if I go near him, and he still seems to have an appetite...but I don't really know what to do. Bizarrely his back legs are floating a little bit now too? And there's a little bit of stringy white poo coming from the back of him that seems attached. He poo'd this morning normally.

I've made a mistake, I know, and i'm worried. Any advice at all? Please help me sort him out

Do I fridge him? Do i feed him still? What is the white stuff? I'm worried!

Fridging helps if you're really worried, but that would depend on how cold your tank water is. Try not to worry, I worry all the time too. That book has an axolotl on gravel! What on earth? Someone makes money off of that!

Well its done now we all make mistakes so dont beat yourself up.

The white stuff can be when they are kinda constipated they will poo it out though so dont worry itst nothing to worry about!

All of my axolotls have eaten stones and pooed them out in their tank, so i personally wouldnt put mine in the fridge just keep him at a cool temp and see if any come out.

If this doesnt work fridging is meant to work wonders for getting rid of stones but as long as hes doing alright keep him in the tank, you should notice some passing in a few days.

Just keep him as cool as possible! And little feeds may not be a problem we dont want any constipation though xx

Thank you for the replies. This may be naive, but if the stones are the size of his poo, does this mean that he could theoretically pass a stone? Or is it not as simple as that? I'd say the stones are 1cm.

I slightly startled him when I went near his tank before and he shot off at pace, and the little white stringy thing fell off....which is good i guess.

So....feed him very little? Or just not at all? I'm fine with not feeding him for a bit if necessary. I just have a very worrying mother too who keeps wanting to feed him as he comes to the surface looking for food if she goes near the tank. She keeps insisting on feeding him and trying to explain why it'd be a bad idea is difficult! I guess the risk is constipation if i do?

I think they will eventually pass on their own.

How often do you feed him?

Id just cut it down a bit, or little bits so if there is a chance of constipation it doesnt build up as quick, Axies can live for 2 weeks id even say 2 months without food even though id never suggest starving them for more than 2 weeks!

Just keep food portions smaller temp down and we should see some gravel get pooped out! x

They're a bit bigger than gravel. More small pebbles than anything.

I normally feed them every other day/sometimes every day. I'd say about 5 days out of 7 really. So quite often.

I've not fed him for a couple of days now since it happened. I might feed him a little bit tomorrow morning to see how he reacts. I've just been downstairs to look at him, and some of the stones, and feel a little bit reassured as the pebbles are smaller than the finger nail on my little finger (I have normally sized hands for a 5'11 healthy male! haha) and i've seen him grab a frozen cube of bloodworms directly from my fingers before and swallow it almost whole, despite it being the size of his head. I'd say the pebbles were about a third of the size of his head, if not a tad smaller, so i'm not overly concerned that he won't be able to vomit them up. Just hope he does soon enough as i'm very worried of constipation etc.

And he may have a few in that belly of his. Are there any symptoms I should be looking out for that would suggest the situation would be worsening? At the moment i've got him back in his smaller tank with a frozen water bottle in to cool the water down. There is simply no room in the fridge and my dad's just not gonna let that happen sadly!

If he seems fine too shall I just put him back in with my other axy in the new tank?

Also, am i being naive in thinking that if my axy can excrete poo bigger than the actual stones he's swallowed then its possible that he could poo them out? Or would they be too firm to pass?

I think given they are rather small everything will be fine. I know your freaking but just try to breathe. They will come out. Just keep repeating it, keep the tank cool, I'm not sure about the feeding though you dont want consipation but the food may also help pass...

Perhaps a more knowledgable member can help anwser that

Give about 4-5 days in the cool tank no substrate so you can see if and what's going on down there and if you see nothing fridge.

They will come out, they will come out, they will come out...

Thanks!

Can a more knowledgeable member answer this then???

try keeping them on no substrate at all. then you can keep track of what they pass.

Im no expert but my axolotl was on gravel at the petshop when i got him (I keep him on a barebottom tank) and he pooped out three stones about a week or so later. Others have had gravel pass months after it was swallowed. So its just a matter of waiting. Im sure yours will pass them in its own time if they werent very large.

Hi there, ok I had exactly the same problem with my axies whose advice I got from the very same lady that wrote this book and the shop I bought my 2 axies from so like yourself I was very annoyed at the ill advice as I was a starter when I got mine!!

Anyway my guy "Finley" turned into a very lumpy bumpy axies due to the small gravel aswell so I fridged him and was pleased to say most days I found bits of gravel that had come out of his poo in the container BUT this did takes weeks for it all to come out!!

My advice is to fridge your axie in a nice container, with a teacloth over the top to keep it dark and let nature take its course!! Keep offering him daily a wiggly worm he may take it he may not dont stress, fridging reduces their metabolism some eat (all 3 of mine do when fridged) some dont! leave a worm in there for an hour or so and if its still in there later remove it!

After a good week or so in the fridge and hopefully a lot of pooped out gravel later your axie will hopefully be just fine!

Hello! I originally posted the "Axolotl Surgery" thread when my daughter's axie ate 2 rocks (9 grams worth of rocks.)

Perhaps you can consider getting an x-ray of your axie so you can know exactly what you are dealing with.... They do have the ability to pass stones up to a certain size, however, in my daughter's axie, the stones were so huge that they began to adhere to the stomach wall (hence the surgery.)

"Neptune" is doing fine (and on no substrate.)

I don't know what the prices in the UK would be, but for peace of mind for you, it may be well worth it to get a picture & see.

If your axie cant pass out of one end, sometimes they can eventually vomit up an obstruction. It just takes time! Good luck!

I have the same book and it's one of the many things that makes me a little mad.
If they can't poop it out/vomit THEN you might consider surgery... But you said the pebbles weren't that big so I guess they'll come out naturally :happy:

I know their poos can be huge but from what I understand like us their poo collects in one place just before it's excreted in our case it's the colon. It's not the poop passing through their cloaca that is necessarily the problem but rather the stones passing through the smaller tubes that connect the stomach to the digestive tract and their rectum.
Axolotl.org has this pic



Personally I'd be putting it in the fridge for a few days. It will help with any stress that their passing stones may cause and will put the axies system into almost hibernate mode (no they don't hibernate but you get the idea) and part of that is emptying their digestive tract.

Hopefully since they are fairly small they will pass or at the very least can be vomited back up.

Good luck.