Fridging your axie.. How cold is too cold?

[shells]

Hi,
Looking at putting my off colour axie in the fridge for some "de stress" time, i've been tweeking my fridge temp all week and don't want to put off popping her in too much longer, from all my observations the coldest it gets is 5degrees and the highest 7degrees... is this too cold??

 

[zoezakella]

Hi there, 5 is the lowest you should go with up to 8 degrees!

Good luck Zoe

 

[Cas]

5 degree's is the general min low.

In saying that my fridge I have minimal control over and at points when I couldnt be constantly checking (ie. when I was at work) the fridge got to just under 3 degrees. Fortunately I have one tough axie and she did okay, I think in short periods of time they can survive colder temps. Earlier there was a thread about axies being in cold/ iced water during winter and were okay, so I would say your fridge is fine between 5-7.

 

[Greatwtehunter]

Like the others have said, 5-8'c is the ideal range. Axies can tolerate surprisingly cold temperatures. Mine regularly get down to -1 for a week at a time during the winter with no ill effects.

 

[shells]

Thanks heaps everyone :happy:
Im sure she'll feel soo much better from her time out. How do you know is a good time to put them back in their tank?

 

[iChris]

5 days should suffice, maybe a week.

just keep another tub in the fridge too, filled with treated water and swap him to the other tub in the morning, empty the container he came from and refill with treated water, and put back in the fridge, then just swap him again in the afternoon and repeat, that way you always have another container with water of the same temperature to swap him into.

 

[pegasus]

Hi Shells,

why are you fridging them? if its just to "chill out" because of the weather don't do 100% water changes only change 20% of water if necessary as will cause stress, if axie "pooping" alot and that why if fridge all means do 100% water change. Mine is currently in the fridge Been there 1 month so far i was doing 100% water changes everyday but i recently took mine to the vet who told me the above advice, so while i thought i was helping her i was really stressing her more. his advice was 20% water changes once per week, as she not being fed as temp too low, if she does eat the temp may be too low for her to be able to digest properly may regurge food, and may not but if not processed because of temp can be bad, better off not feeding while in fridge and just having a holiday away. (vet also told me his axies have been fridged 5 months no food then 48hrs after out of fridge they back to normal happy as Larry persay) hope it helps

 

[carsona246]

I agree with Chris. if both containers are in the fridge, the temp will be the same, and the water should have similar qualities. The only difference will be the water with the axie will have ammonia, and the new water will not. The amount of ammonia built up in the small container will stress the axolotl out much more than doing a 100 percent water change with water that is the exact same temp will. If the container was cycled, then yes 20% waterchanges would be all that is necessary, but it wont be, and ammonia is by far more stressful. I'm not sure what Pegasus means by the amount of waterchanges controlling how much an axie poo's, but fridging your axolotl is what makes your axolotl poo more, not the amount of water changed. I'd do 100% waterchanges with fridged dechlorinated water

 

[shells]

Thanks heaps everyone for all your advise, my gal is going in the fridge due to recent sickness that she is still recovering from, want to give her some time with constant temps (damn Aussie summer!) to heal herself, I cant leave her in the tank due to her flat mate not treating her nicely while she's convalessing :happy: (she's currently in a LARGE WIDE bucket (with daily water changes) but its too hard to keep her at a constant temp. Will take up the idea of having 2 containers and swapping her over. Getting a new tank for them both this weekend, hope to have her all better by the time their new home is fully cycled.

 

[iChris]

Just to add what carson said, the idea of having more than one container in the fridge and swapping your axie between them and swapping often minimizes the amount of time your animal is exposed to ammonia.

 

[shells]

Thanks heaps everyone, she seems to be doing ok in the fridge, although skinny, hopefully she'll fatten up nicely once out :happy: