Feeding my axolotl

[anonymousaxolol]

Okay, I have had my axolotl Lucie just on a week now....

To my astonishment I found two small pebbles in the tank last night! After changing the décor and removing the gravel they were definitely not there before. So she must have passed them. Needless to say I'm grateful for the advice given here.

Lucie has been very active, but has not seemed distressed or frantic.

The best news is that I've got her to eat this morning.
I gave her two very small earthworms. It seemed as if she had never seen a worm before as she approached it and even followed it carefully around the floor of the tank as they wriggled away from her before snapping them up like that.

She has been quieter too today, not moving as much, so perhaps she was in discomfort anyway poor thing. As we are getting to know each other it will be easier to interpret her behaviour I guess.

I know it can be some time for an Axolotl to pass the gravel so I'll be keeping a close eye on further developments and have in the mean time familiarized myself by reading up on fridging as a treatment.

The next issue I need to tackle is getting a water testing kit, to keep an eye on the water quality, now that the most immediate issue seems to be improving and Lucie at least is eating something.

I have another question regarding her behaviour. Every now and then (there is hours in between) Lucie seems to come to the surface of the water to "gulp some air??"
Is this usual or a sign of trouble?
If this is resulting from water quality I am on to sorting that out. (Taking it one step at the time, since she was a rescue and has unexpectedly ended up here, we are learning as fast as we can.) But what exactly in the water would be causing this behaviour if there is anything?

Axolotls will do that, they have lungs and gills. It is nothing of concern unless it happens very often(every 5 minutes) in which case means she is not taking on oxygen from her gills. That there is a source of concern. If her girls look burnt, than it is an ammonia issue, I would go to your lfs and get a general test kit. If her gills are long and stingy it is good, if shorter filaments and less, than bad.

 

[Esthernz]

Axolotls will do that, they have lungs and gills. It is nothing of concern unless it happens very often(every 5 minutes) in which case means she is not taking on oxygen from her gills. That there is a source of concern. If her girls look burnt, than it is an ammonia issue, I would go to your lfs and get a general test kit. If her gills are long and stingy it is good, if shorter filaments and less, than bad.

Gills.....
Talking about that I'm not sure if you are right (who am I to say you are not as I have no experience with axolotls beyond my 1 week ownership LOL) but I have been reading up on gills on this site. And have looked at pictures and it seems there is no Axolotl the same almost. I have seen some amazingly long and frilly Gills and some very small/short ones or uneven sized. What I have read I understand that gill development hangs on early start in life, genetics, health and oxygen content in water. It seems the more oxygen rich the smaller the gills if I'm right and low oxygen develops the gills as they have to work harder.
My Lucie's gills are actually quite small. She is a very mature (maybe 14) year old Axolotl, but she came to me like that. She seems fine with them so far so I don't think they are an issue, they are frilled and she moves them....Would be good to have some other input on gills. Keen to hear what the experts say

 

[LSuzuki]

Anonymousaxolol is right about the gills. They have both lungs and gills, and if they can't get enough oxygen from the water they will surface a lot more often. Once every few hours is nothing to worry about. So, it sounds like your axie's gills, short though they may be, are up to the job. And you have well-oxygenated water.

 

[Esthernz]

Anonymousaxolol is right about the gills. They have both lungs and gills, and if they can't get enough oxygen from the water they will surface a lot more often. Once every few hours is nothing to worry about. So, it sounds like your axie's gills, short though they may be, are up to the job. And you have well-oxygenated water.

Oh thanks Laura for your reply, I think I did not express myself clearly. I did not doubt Anonymousaxolotl's comment about the 'air gulping' at all. As a matter of fact I now am embarrassed to notice that I did not even acknowledge it and I should have, I'm sorry. I found that reassuring to read, thanks.
I was just not sure about the comment made by Anonymousaxolotl's that short gills mean a bad thing as I have read other opinions here on the site too.
Just clearing up the confusion.

 

[LSuzuki]

He is right that poor water conditions can damage gills, and you are right in that there is such a wide variety of gills, that just being short with short filaments does not mean that there is something wrong. Usually, damaged gills look different to the educated eye (which I don't have yet) than "normal" short gills.

Oh, have you figured out why her name is Lucie? I'm guessing she is white with black eyes - a color caused by having two recessive leucistic genes. I'm surprised there aren't more with that name. :happy:

 

[Esthernz]

He is right that poor water conditions can damage gills, and you are right in that there is such a wide variety of gills, that just being short with short filaments does not mean that there is something wrong. Usually, damaged gills look different to the educated eye (which I don't have yet) than "normal" short gills.

Oh, have you figured out why her name is Lucie? I'm guessing she is white with black eyes - a color caused by having two recessive leucistic genes. I'm surprised there aren't more with that name. :happy:

My Lucie has come from poor conditions and dark green water for at least 2-3 years I think...perhaps that is why her gills are smaller? I like her the way she looks and think she is very cute. Anyway you may be on to something here Leucistic genes....perhaps her original owner chose the name for that reason. I'm not sure. It may even have been 'Leucie' ?? I like that a lot better actually...thanks for the idea, I think I will adopt it! I have never seen her name written, just always heard her being called 'Lucy', then my daughter wanted a different spelling and said lets spell it Lucie. Leucie....I like it. Sounds the same looks different.

 

[Esthernz]

We are getting to know each other much better now. She seems to enjoy the attention and being talked to and will come to see me through the glass of her tank.

She is definitely been eating daily, but I find it difficult to determine how often and much she should be fed.

I offer her pellets and a small worm twice a day.

She usually eats at least 1 pellet each time. But if they don't fall right in front of her nose, she won't catch them and she does not seem to eat them from the tank floor. So I remove them, but I feel I can be wasting quite some food that way.
The worms are either eaten straight away or later (they do survive surprisingly long underwater!)

Leucie seems content and active. But one concern I have is that I have never actually seen her poop. I have cleaned greenish muck out of the tank with the siphon, but haven't seen any solid stuff and am not actually sure how often this should happen or what it should look like. Can someone shine a light on this for me perhaps?

I have also noticed that some days Leucie (White axolotle) is more pink then others, her tail particularly colours pink very nicely at times. But....is this ok?

Thanks!

 

[LSuzuki]

Their poop may not be very solid, depending what they are fed. Axies fed worms only tend to have more solid poop. Pellets tend to product poop the disintegrates when they walk through/near it. I haven't noticed "greenish" with mine, but I don't have lights over my tanks (yet).

I have tongs and will try to pick the missed pellets back up and drop them again. Spoiled axies seem to not eat from the bottom. :smile:

If her middle is about as wide as her head, she is eating enough and not too much. "How much" depends on things like water temperature, so it is hard to give a specific amount.

Leucistics will sometimes look more pink than others, depending on activity level.

I'm so glad she is settling in. :smile:

 

[Esthernz]

I'm sorry, I just keep posting here as to keep all the info on Leucie in one place. Its a learning curve for me. We are progressing of sorts I think.

The last few days Leucie has not seemed overly interested in food and has eaten no worms.

Last night, for the first time since I've had her (about 9 nine days) she has pooped. There was quite an amount of it. She seemed very restless, hunched and with her hind legs lifted. It took some effort and lasted a while.

Since then she seems to have been quite restless and has not been interested in food yet.

I understand that the amount passed or frequency is relative to the amount fed and that it is difficult to say but on average how often does an Axolotl pass its stools? Is it daily or every other day or....?

One good thing is that at least she has pooped now, so I guess her system is working and there is no more gravel after she passed two bits of gravel earlier.

I guess her whole situation has changed, she is being fed more often then before she came to us, as she is warmer and more active. She is also being offered earth worms, which is new to her...Her tank conditions are better...

Is there such thing as constipation in Axolotls and what would be the best way to deal with that?

Thanks!