Care for Juvenile while out of town

[themamaj]

I have a juvenille albino axolotl who is about 3+ inches. I have had had him about a month and he (?) is doing great. I have a travel trip coming up and will be gone about 7 days. I have a lady that cares for my fish and other animals but just comes every other day. Am concerned leaving my axolotl as every day I feed, suction uneaten food and waste, water change, monitor temperature etc. At his size and age, will he be ok eating only every other day and will his water perimeters stay stable if I do a large water change prior to leaving. Tank is cycled and filtered. I am also concerned about maintaining temp while gone so plan to move tank downstairs where cooler and keep fan on tank. So many things I am thinking about with potential water evaporation, concern over food left in tank, and how to make things as easy as possible for lady that will be helping me. She has never seen an axolotl and I have never asked her to feed live or frozen food. Ok basically Mama is panicking over leaving her baby. Any suggestions welcome. Thanks in advance.

 

[SammyTheLotus]

Awe, don't stress! I'm sure the little guy will be just fine!
Just wondering though, what size tank do you have him in? I have two of mine in a 50 gallon long and after a week or so (I usually do a 25% water change once a week) only maybe about 10-15% of the water has evaporated from the use of my fan!
The leftover food and waste might be a bit of an issue but I don't think it'll be enough to seriously harm him, you'll probably just come home to a tank that desperately needs to be cleaned! Haha
And he should be fine eating every other day if it's only for a week My juvies eat a lot but they're little piggies and I'm sure if I had to leave they'd be okay with that schedule temporarily.

 

[themamaj]

Thanks! That makes me feel better. He is in a 5.5 right now while still little. Plan to move him to a 20 long this summer when gets a little bigger. Do you know how long a cut up worm would be good in fridge? I could go ahead and prepare some food ahead of time if you think it would be OK. He occasionally eats pellets but spits them out more than eats.

 

[SammyTheLotus]

Thanks! That makes me feel better. He is in a 5.5 right now while still little. Plan to move him to a 20 long this summer when gets a little bigger. Do you know how long a cut up worm would be good in fridge? I could go ahead and prepare some food ahead of time if you think it would be OK. He occasionally eats pellets but spits them out more than eats.

Yeah, 5.5 is a bit small but he's a little guy so it should be okay for now I wouldn't leave a cut up worm in the fridge for longer than a few hours honestly, they can go rotten pretty fast and your Axie might not like it and more importantly it could make him sick..
Mine weren't crazy about pellets either as little guys but they loved (and still love) frozen bloodworms! I don't know if you're able to get some but they're great for a small Axie and I'm sure they'd be easy enough for your aquatic babysitter to feed to him!
Maybe try getting the pellet soaked with water and breaking it into smaller pieces? That worked for mine as well.

 

[themamaj]

Do you have a chiller on your tank? As I upgrade to larger tank, wondered if it would be harder to maintain stable temps. Any recommendations on what would be best to use that would be affordable.