How long out of water will hurt an axolotl?

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basilstorm

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My girl jumped out of her container as I was putting her back in after a water change (I startled her when I picked it up). She landed on the table, maybe a drop of two or three inches, and instead of squirming or thrashing like fish do out of water she was just perfectly still with her gills flat against her body. I scooped her up within a few seconds and got her back into her container so I could transfer her to her tank, but she hid in the cave and wouldn't come out after. She ALWAYS comes up to say hi to me after I finish a water change. It's been a few hours and she's acting normal now but I'm an extremely anxious person and I'm afraid she might have been harmed without me realizing. It scared me how still she was when she landed. I've never seen her out of water before
 
Being out of the water for a few seconds won't do any lasting harm.
A fall might, but it sounds like it wasn't a very high or hard fall, so I wouldn't worry about it.

It's stressful to them of course, being spooked and then suddenly being out of the water, so it makes sense that they would be hiding and recovering for a few hours. That's just how they deal with stress.

As long as she's back to normal in a few days and you don't see any lasting changes in behaviour, it's all OK.
 
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