APPALLING condition

[CheyenneAutumn]

Hey folks! I arranged to purchase a melanoid female Lotl today from a well known breeder in my city (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada).

I had already seen photos in her advertisement and assumed she was reputable due to the volume of her sales and regular ads. The photos of the Lotls looked great of course.

So I go to pick her up; the seller has her (the Lotl) in a dim basement, in a tuppaware on a dark table. Looks skinny, but I didn't shine lights to examine.

I get her in the car and to my horror half her bloody tail is rotted off and one arm is mangled and damaged!

Holy HELL I can't believe people keep any animal in this condition, let alone have the NERVE to sell her like this without telling me.

Jesus! Well, I'm glad I basically rescued this poor amphibian from this lazy, irresponsible, immature little... Sigh. Anyway, I need help and suggestions on how to help her recover

Just for reference, here are photos of MY axolotls in beautiful condition.

Should I keep her separate from my current axolotls?

Any suggestions or instructions are appreciated.

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[Sith the turtle]

Yes, keep that one separate until she heals. It will make sure she is eating, and you can monitor her, plus if she has a disease, it won't infect your other lotls

 

[auntiejude]

Suggestion - name and shame the seller!

 

[CheyenneAutumn]

What a useless, lazy jerk :|


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[CheyenneAutumn]

Anyway.
Any suggestions on treatment?
Will the leg need to be amputated to encourage healthy regrowth?

Would a black tea bath be helpful?


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[Sith the turtle]

I don't know, simply because I don't own an axie. Just keep her in the best conditions you can do, and for anything special, like the hand, ask a more experienced keeper

 

[CheyenneAutumn]

I guess I just gotta wait for an experienced keeper to comment this thread? Hohum


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[CheyenneAutumn]

Trying out pure black tea water. 1 tea bag per 2.5 gallon of filtered, chlorine free water. I hope that helps a little.
She isn't interested in night crawlers.. She was fed just blood worms previously.
Jeeze!


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[auntiejude]

OK, your new axie is underweight and injured, so needs some TLC. Tea baths should help, as will good nutrition. If she won't take worms you can try raw shellfish, white fish or fresh salmon.
You can try adding melafix to help prevent infection or IAL if you have some.
If she develops fungus I would go straight for salt baths or Hotfreters as she won't be able to fight it off too well herself.

 

[CheyenneAutumn]

OK, your new axie is underweight and injured, so needs some TLC. Tea baths should help, as will good nutrition. If she won't take worms you can try raw shellfish, white fish or fresh salmon.
You can try adding melafix to help prevent infection or IAL if you have some.
If she develops fungus I would go straight for salt baths or Hotfreters as she won't be able to fight it off too well herself.

Thanks!

Should I do anything about her arm?
It's rather mangled and deformed. Will it grow out as normal or would amputation encourage proper regrowth?

This morning she was floating at the surface and absolutely still, even when I nudged and poked her. I thought she was a goner When I picked her up she began wriggling. I put her in with my large tank and she brightened up right away. Swimming around, exploring.

Any suggestions about her tail?
Will it grow back healthily?

She also has greyish, mucusy spots throughout her body.
What would that be?

 

[CheyenneAutumn]

I've decided to name my poor little melanoid Nori - as in the black seaweed used to wrap sushi! :happy:

Nori has not been interested in food all day. I've tried frozen brine shrimp, and night crawler cut into eigths. After wiggling and trawling a quarter cube of brine shrimp I held it right against her mouth and she lapped a little bit up. She isn't snatching like my other axolotls do. It's almost like her mouth is painful That's all she ate today. She's horribly thin. She's actually two years old, but my one year leucistic is twice her girth and length!

I believe she was raised in the dark and didn't grow properly as a result? Someone told me constant darkness has that effect.

As mentioned earlier her skin is covered in grey mucusy patches; not sure what it is.

The rotting nub on her tail seems to be detaching? I can see a fresh red wound along the seam of the white, rotten flesh. Perhaps that indicates healing?

 

[CheyenneAutumn]

My established aquarium already has ideal water conditions for my other axolotls - they're lively with beautiful fluffy, bright gills.

I put Nori in with them; I thought if she were in good conditions and around other Lotls (she's lived with multiples whole life) that she would feel more at ease and familiar instead of having her in a tiny, barren holding tank.

What do you guys think?

 

[ChristineB]

I wouldn't risk it! Definitely do the recommended month-long quarantine before putting her in with healthy animals.
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/quarantine.shtml

Also, I think it's appropriate to give the seller's name and city in the "testimonials" section as a negative review, but I think it's really NOT appropriate to publicly post her home address. I hope you will re-think that choice and remove it, or I expect the mods will. Your review will certainly deter customers anyway, without having to betray her personal information.

 

[CheyenneAutumn]

I wouldn't risk it! Definitely do the recommended month-long quarantine before putting her in with healthy animals.
Caudata Culture Articles - Quarantine and Disinfection

Also, I think it's appropriate to give the seller's name and city in the "testimonials" section as a negative review, but I think it's really NOT appropriate to publicly post her home address. I hope you will re-think that choice and remove it, or I expect the mods will. Your review will certainly deter customers anyway, without having to betray her personal information.

Well, she can very easily go by a different name! But if you know her address she can't hide that, now can she?

She very clearly intentionally tricked me into buying a dying Axolotl.

I really don't think anyone would do anything malicious with her address, but I don't particularly care if they did. Allowing an animal to starve; knowingly letting them suffer and not trying to improve their life? I would not blink an eye if her house got egged or something Karma is a *****. It was her choice to scam someone outta their money and neglect an animal. Hope she gets what's coming to her!

Thanks for the suggestion, but I suppose it's too late now that I've had her in with them for 2 days?

 

[CheyenneAutumn]

Nori is doing better today! The white tissue on her tail is almost sloughed off and I can see portions of black, healthy skin coming through

She was responsive to me today and came to see me at the glass! She ate almost a whole cube of frozen brine shrimp, in portions. She still won't take night crawler worm. She even snapped at a small feeder guppie but missed!

Still wondering about her arm and whether it'll actually heal and grow as normal?

 

[ChristineB]

I suggest you contact the seller and confront her yourself about the animal's poor condition. Certainly you are entitled to an explanation and opportunity for exchange or partial refund. But again, doxxing is not a tactic used by civilized adults. The idea of her using a false name isn't plausible; someone willing to create a network of fake bank accounts and PayPal aliases to support a false business name is not selling axolotls out of their basement. I don't know the legal details in Canada, but in my state, posting a business owner's home address with suggestions to egg their house could be considered harassment.

I am glad to hear Nori is doing better already, though it does suggest that calling her "dying" yesterday may have been an exaggeration. ;-)

 

[CheyenneAutumn]

Her address is already publicly displayed on her ads anyway.
I added it to identify her more definitively. She isn't a "business" owner - she was running an Axolotl breeding mill. Anyway she was selling off the adults and closing her tank anyway. If anything she just deserves wide spread shaming from Internet communities.

I did email her to confront her, but obviously she didn't care. She knowingly deceived me and hoped I wouldn't notice. No one would've bought this Lotl in her condition. I would've taken her to help her recuperate in any case - wouldn't want to leave her there to die when no one takes her and the previous owner got tired of looking at her.

I would say an animal covered in sores, with bone exposed through a rotting wound, and a mangled limb, who's been starved for weeks - close to dying.

Good thing these Lotls are hardy and very tolerant

 

[CheyenneAutumn]

I don't know why others feel entitled to police users in forums. If you aren't a Moderator, it's really none of your concern. Like I said, she already publicly displays her address on her ads, so I'm not harassing or threatening her. Only providing more thorough information.

And I can't stress enough that she isn't any kind of professional or business owner. She neglected her Lotls and exploited animals for profit. I'm not sure why anyone would want to defend her actions or protect her identity. Too many people hide behind the anonymity of the Internet and think they can get away with awful behaviour.

Anyway, enough of all that :happy: A Mod already removed the address so no need to take it upon yourselves to tell me how to expose an Axolotl breeding mill!

Anyone have suggestions or ideas about what these grey mucusy patches are?
Her mouth looks sort of malformed with odd ridges and bumps along her "lips".