America's Next Top Lotl
New member
What happened:
My son and I went school shopping and were gone for at least 3 hours. At some unknown time period while we were gone, one of my baby axolotls (approx 3-4 months old) must have jumped from his container and took a long fall to the hard tile floor below. Of course, his container was on the top shelf making it an approx 4 ft. fall which makes me feel certain that he probably has some damage from the fall alone, but, even if he does, I want to do whatever I can to give him the best chance at survival and I am completely lost and clueless as to what the best thing to do is!
Housing/water info:
I know usually people will ask the water readings so some background on that is since I am selling axolotls and have more than 30, I currently don't have them all in cycled tanks and instead have them in the plastic container bins. I usually have 2-3 axolotls per bin and use 5 gallon bins. They do not have filters and I do daily water changes and every other day I clean the entire bin. I had done a water change before I left, so he was in a clean tank and I believe he fell out because I filled the container too high, wanting to give them more space to swim around
What I have done so far:
Upon finding him on the floor, I noticed there was no water around him and he appeared dried out and dead, but I still dumped water on him to see and he very slightly moved. I was able to get him onto a piece of cardboard by dumping more water til he kind of flowed onto it and then I moved him into his normal container. I immediately removed his tank mate and then got a new clean container with dechlorinator added & made it 2 degrees cooler than the one he was in and switched him to the clean one. I added an air disc stone & almond leaf. I also added a fan blowing on the top and made the water very low, but still covering him, as he is having a VERY hard time getting up to the surface for air and I think his legs are broken.
Other important info:
- I did also start to fridge him (this was after he was switched into the clean container) and I had him in the fridge for approx 2-3 minutes but my gut told me to take him out and since I am not educated enough to know if it would help or hurt him. It especially concerned me that he was out of the water for so long and it seems like it would be a complete shock to go from that to suddenly the refrigerator temperature and I wanted to get advice before doing something that I really have no business doing without guidance from someone who is educated and/or experienced in dealing with something like this.
As soon as I removed him from the fridge (again not more than 3 minutes in there) he started shedding his skin off it appears. It seems to be coming off of his body from every spot possible. He can barely move and I think his legs are broken. He looks really bad and I feel terrible for him and I hope I am able to help him, or at least make him not in so much pain while trying to help him.
I cannot afford to take him to a vet and honestly do not even know if there is one around my area. So, any advice would be greatly appreciated. He is one of my axolotls that are extra gentle and very sweet compared to the rest and he was one I was considering keeping he is so special. I just hate seeing him like this and hope he can pull through!
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. I will get some pics posted in just a few minutes I hate stressing him out more but I will get a couple in case they will help someone to help me to help him!
-Jessica
My son and I went school shopping and were gone for at least 3 hours. At some unknown time period while we were gone, one of my baby axolotls (approx 3-4 months old) must have jumped from his container and took a long fall to the hard tile floor below. Of course, his container was on the top shelf making it an approx 4 ft. fall which makes me feel certain that he probably has some damage from the fall alone, but, even if he does, I want to do whatever I can to give him the best chance at survival and I am completely lost and clueless as to what the best thing to do is!
Housing/water info:
I know usually people will ask the water readings so some background on that is since I am selling axolotls and have more than 30, I currently don't have them all in cycled tanks and instead have them in the plastic container bins. I usually have 2-3 axolotls per bin and use 5 gallon bins. They do not have filters and I do daily water changes and every other day I clean the entire bin. I had done a water change before I left, so he was in a clean tank and I believe he fell out because I filled the container too high, wanting to give them more space to swim around
What I have done so far:
Upon finding him on the floor, I noticed there was no water around him and he appeared dried out and dead, but I still dumped water on him to see and he very slightly moved. I was able to get him onto a piece of cardboard by dumping more water til he kind of flowed onto it and then I moved him into his normal container. I immediately removed his tank mate and then got a new clean container with dechlorinator added & made it 2 degrees cooler than the one he was in and switched him to the clean one. I added an air disc stone & almond leaf. I also added a fan blowing on the top and made the water very low, but still covering him, as he is having a VERY hard time getting up to the surface for air and I think his legs are broken.
Other important info:
- I did also start to fridge him (this was after he was switched into the clean container) and I had him in the fridge for approx 2-3 minutes but my gut told me to take him out and since I am not educated enough to know if it would help or hurt him. It especially concerned me that he was out of the water for so long and it seems like it would be a complete shock to go from that to suddenly the refrigerator temperature and I wanted to get advice before doing something that I really have no business doing without guidance from someone who is educated and/or experienced in dealing with something like this.
As soon as I removed him from the fridge (again not more than 3 minutes in there) he started shedding his skin off it appears. It seems to be coming off of his body from every spot possible. He can barely move and I think his legs are broken. He looks really bad and I feel terrible for him and I hope I am able to help him, or at least make him not in so much pain while trying to help him.
I cannot afford to take him to a vet and honestly do not even know if there is one around my area. So, any advice would be greatly appreciated. He is one of my axolotls that are extra gentle and very sweet compared to the rest and he was one I was considering keeping he is so special. I just hate seeing him like this and hope he can pull through!
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. I will get some pics posted in just a few minutes I hate stressing him out more but I will get a couple in case they will help someone to help me to help him!
-Jessica
