EasternRomioi3
Active member
I've wanted to write this for a bit now and I figured I might as well just do it. So, in February 2018, my friend bought a baby axolotl. When my friend had to move suddenly and very, very far away, I inherited the axolotl in 2020. It has been a struggle taking care of the little girl. One, I didn't know how cycling work, which I learned about. Two, I didn't know about their temperature requirements, which I do now. Three, I learned how to treat all sorts of issues.
So my house has no AC, and the water temp, without any interference, will easily break 70 degrees. To combat this, I bought a cheap chest freezer, got ice packs, and I freeze them, put them in zip lock bags and float them on her water. Plus, I have ice cube trays that I fill with her treated, dechlorinated water. Between them, I can keep the water at a comfortable 62-64 every day, I just have to rotate the ice packs. She's very used to it now.
Last October, 2020, she had fungus on her shortest gill stalk. People on this site were able to teach me how to treat it properly with a salt bath routine and we got her back to normal. Her gills are longer and bushier than ever!
She's clumsy though. When she was about a year old, she developed this growth on the side of her face, that got cut or tore open somehow, giving her the distinctive bump and scar she has. We never knew what happened there. She's cut her tail twice since I got her, so she has scars from that, and then one day she smacked her face off her driftwood, got a cut that didn't scar this time. Is this average axolotl injury or is she just exceptionally clumsy?
Last year, last August, I crashed her tank cycle unintentionally trying to deal with her detritus worms. We had like 40 of them sliming around on the walls of her tank and I freaked trying to get rid of them. Every now and then I see a single one slithering across her tank now, I just get the turkey baster, suck it up, and that's that. I learned not respond so...actively to things with her.
She eats earthworms and pellets, at least once a day. Maybe just 3 pellets, or just a small worm. She goes to the bathroom regularly. I just hope I'm doing well by her. She eats, she's inquisitive, and friendly. I haven't taken her out of her tank since April when I had to do a big cleaning of her tank. I've stopped doing such drastic water changes, instead of taking like 75% out of her 20 gallon tank, I do like 50% now and I think it works. I've learned that the less I'm in her tank, the better. I just hope I'm not causing issues going in and out with the ice packs... I have no other way to really cool her tank. On top of that, my parents are on blood thinners so they have the eat on in like June.
Do I have control of this situation? Am I on a good course with her? I will post photos from over the course of her development too. The first one is when she was real little, then filling out, then right when she hurt herself/got that growth, then after, then her from the front now, then her in her tub while I rearranged her tank, and then the one of her standing is from like 2 weeks ago.
She look healthy? Let me know, no hurry. Thank you. This forum has made taking care of her possible and I am eternally grateful to the community.
So my house has no AC, and the water temp, without any interference, will easily break 70 degrees. To combat this, I bought a cheap chest freezer, got ice packs, and I freeze them, put them in zip lock bags and float them on her water. Plus, I have ice cube trays that I fill with her treated, dechlorinated water. Between them, I can keep the water at a comfortable 62-64 every day, I just have to rotate the ice packs. She's very used to it now.
Last October, 2020, she had fungus on her shortest gill stalk. People on this site were able to teach me how to treat it properly with a salt bath routine and we got her back to normal. Her gills are longer and bushier than ever!
She's clumsy though. When she was about a year old, she developed this growth on the side of her face, that got cut or tore open somehow, giving her the distinctive bump and scar she has. We never knew what happened there. She's cut her tail twice since I got her, so she has scars from that, and then one day she smacked her face off her driftwood, got a cut that didn't scar this time. Is this average axolotl injury or is she just exceptionally clumsy?
Last year, last August, I crashed her tank cycle unintentionally trying to deal with her detritus worms. We had like 40 of them sliming around on the walls of her tank and I freaked trying to get rid of them. Every now and then I see a single one slithering across her tank now, I just get the turkey baster, suck it up, and that's that. I learned not respond so...actively to things with her.
She eats earthworms and pellets, at least once a day. Maybe just 3 pellets, or just a small worm. She goes to the bathroom regularly. I just hope I'm doing well by her. She eats, she's inquisitive, and friendly. I haven't taken her out of her tank since April when I had to do a big cleaning of her tank. I've stopped doing such drastic water changes, instead of taking like 75% out of her 20 gallon tank, I do like 50% now and I think it works. I've learned that the less I'm in her tank, the better. I just hope I'm not causing issues going in and out with the ice packs... I have no other way to really cool her tank. On top of that, my parents are on blood thinners so they have the eat on in like June.
Do I have control of this situation? Am I on a good course with her? I will post photos from over the course of her development too. The first one is when she was real little, then filling out, then right when she hurt herself/got that growth, then after, then her from the front now, then her in her tub while I rearranged her tank, and then the one of her standing is from like 2 weeks ago.
She look healthy? Let me know, no hurry. Thank you. This forum has made taking care of her possible and I am eternally grateful to the community.
