Constipated Axolotl?

[Pastelosshiro]

My axoltol is over a year old, almost two years, and he’s on the edge of being 10 inches. I feed him half a Canadian Night Crawlers every other day (those things are huge, cut in half they’re about from his head to the middle of his side). I’ll give him axolotl protein pellets as an ocasional treat, but his main diet is the worms. He rarely poops, but when he does he lets out a ton of it. He’s had this problem since he was born, so I made a chart of how often he pooped. His tank parameters are fine besides a little lower on the PH scale and a bit high in nitrate. His tank’s temperature stays around 64-68. Amy clues on why he is like this? I don’t think it’s normal... I’ll attach a picture of him as well, he’s actually kind of chunky and a healthy weight, (head as big as body) gills are fine, he’s active and healthy! Not sure why this has been happening.
Chart below:
Aug 8th
Aug 23rd
Aug 31st
Sep 7th
Sep 9th
Sep 27th
Oct 13th
Oct 18th
Oct 20th
Nov 12th
Nov 24th
Nov 29th
Dec 12th
Dec 30th

 

[EasternRomioi3]

Hm, that is somewhat odd. Mine poops like once a week, sometimes once every 2 weeks. Have you tried "fridging" him? A lot of people do that for constipation. I've done it once for my girl, put her in a tub with two gallons of water, put her in the fridge for 10 minutes. A lot of people do it but I do it mainly because we had a super heatwave and no house in my area has AC.

Also, good on you for making that time table and chart. I write down tons of notes that I get from this site for my axolotl.

 

[Pastelosshiro]

Hm, that is somewhat odd. Mine poops like once a week, sometimes once every 2 weeks. Have you tried "fridging" him? A lot of people do that for constipation. I've done it once for my girl, put her in a tub with two gallons of water, put her in the fridge for 10 minutes. A lot of people do it but I do it mainly because we had a super heatwave and no house in my area has AC.

Also, good on you for making that time table and chart. I write down tons of notes that I get from this site for my axolotl.

Thank you for the reply and info! I’ve seen fridging a lot on websites, but I’ve also seen some websites and forums in on that fridging can also do more harm than good to an axolotl. I had to tub him a few times because of fungus issues and he was very stressed during those, so I’d like to stray from fridging if possible! Though, if it’s the only option, of course I’ll do it, just worrying seeing the bad experiences some people have had with it.

 

[GulfCoastAxolotls]

My axoltol is over a year old, almost two years, and he’s on the edge of being 10 inches. I feed him half a Canadian Night Crawlers every other day (those things are huge, cut in half they’re about from his head to the middle of his side). I’ll give him axolotl protein pellets as an ocasional treat, but his main diet is the worms. He rarely poops, but when he does he lets out a ton of it. He’s had this problem since he was born, so I made a chart of how often he pooped. His tank parameters are fine besides a little lower on the PH scale and a bit high in nitrate. His tank’s temperature stays around 64-68. Amy clues on why he is like this? I don’t think it’s normal... I’ll attach a picture of him as well, he’s actually kind of chunky and a healthy weight, (head as big as body) gills are fine, he’s active and healthy! Not sure why this has been happening.
Chart below:
Aug 8th
Aug 23rd
Aug 31st
Sep 7th
Sep 9th
Sep 27th
Oct 13th
Oct 18th
Oct 20th
Nov 12th
Nov 24th
Nov 29th
Dec 12th
Dec 30th

Axolotls naturally have a slow metabolism. The cooler the water, the slower it is. And with the amount you are feeding, pooping once a week or every other week isn't unusual at all. If he's been like that his whole life, then I wouldnt worry about it. Its just his natural digestive cycle. I see no signs of impaction or anything to indicate that he is unhealthy in any way. Please please do not fridge him. People are very quick to jump to that because its mentioned quite a bit but it has to be done very carefully with the temperature of the water lowering and rising gradually or you can cause more harm than good. Fridging is used as an emergency solution to slow the progression of disease/illness (bacterial infection, impaction, ect.) and should only be used in those circumstances.

 

[JM29]

By this very rainy season, I feed my axolotls only earthworms, easy to pick up after (during) the rain.
I think I don't see all the poops they make. Poops after earthworm feeding are almost made of fine earth and disappear rapidly, dispersed by water movements caused by the animals.
I must add that my substrate is made of sand and that I have a lot of plants (Egeria, Ceratophyllum).

 

[Pastelosshiro]

Axolotls naturally have a slow metabolism. The cooler the water, the slower it is. And with the amount you are feeding, pooping once a week or every other week isn't unusual at all. If he's been like that his whole life, then I wouldnt worry about it. Its just his natural digestive cycle. I see no signs of impaction or anything to indicate that he is unhealthy in any way. Please please do not fridge him. People are very quick to jump to that because its mentioned quite a bit but it has to be done very carefully with the temperature of the water lowering and rising gradually or you can cause more harm than good. Fridging is used as an emergency solution to slow the progression of disease/illness (bacterial infection, impaction, ect.) and should only be used in those circumstances.

Yeah that’s what I’ve been thinking, maybe his body’s metabolism is just naturally very slow or something similar since he doesn’t seem distressed at all or show any signs of sickness. I’ve been straying from fridging as well for those reasons, thank you!

 

[Southwest Axolotls]

I would only fridge when there is no other option. Axolotls metabolisms are generally quite slow. If he is constipated he will usually swim around with his bum in the air, is this happening? Has he ever been housed on gravel? I don’t think there’s a real problem with him (but I’m not a vet) he seems to have a slow transit I have a female that only poops once a week and she’s perfectly healthy. Keep an eye on water parameters and keep an eye out for signs of constipation and if he does show signs cooling the water should help get things moving all the best

 

[Pastelosshiro]

I would only fridge when there is no other option. Axolotls metabolisms are generally quite slow. If he is constipated he will usually swim around with his bum in the air, is this happening? Has he ever been housed on gravel? I don’t think there’s a real problem with him (but I’m not a vet) he seems to have a slow transit I have a female that only poops once a week and she’s perfectly healthy. Keep an eye on water parameters and keep an eye out for signs of constipation and if he does show signs cooling the water should help get things moving all the best

Thank you! He’s never been on gravel, heard the horror stories of those, he’s only ever been on super fine sand. He hasn’t showed any signs of the tail floating either, I guess he just has a very slow metabolism. Thank you for the input!

 

[Southwest Axolotls]

Thank you! He’s never been on gravel, heard the horror stories of those, he’s only ever been on super fine sand. He hasn’t showed any signs of the tail floating either, I guess he just has a very slow metabolism. Thank you for the input!

No problem how’s he doing ?

 

[Pastelosshiro]

No problem how’s he doing ?

He’s been doing ok! He just pooped yesterday actually, hanging out on the filter now, he likes the bubbles for some reason.

 

[Southwest Axolotls]

Mine do the same currently making room for 20 rescues coming in next week lol glad he’s doing better

 

[EasternRomioi3]

@Pastelosshiro

is your axolotl continuing to do well?