Is my female full of eggs?

[kayleighh18]

I have very recently purchased a little caramel axie she is around 5". i have introduced her to my tank to which she has settled in fine and has made friends with her tank mates. at this point i noticed that she has a much larger belly then my other 2 females could this be eggs?

 

[AxolotlChris]

Possibly egg's depending on whether she has come from a tank with other males. The other possibility is that she has ingested substrate (stones/gravel/sand). Do you have any stones or gravel in your tank that the Axolotl could have swallowed? Otherwise she may have ingested stones or gravel from her previous owners tank (sand is unlikely to cause such a large belly as far as I am aware).

 

[kayleighh18]

my tank only has large stones as a base and the shop was bare bottom which they also sold plant from, as far as i'm aware the tank in the shop was mostly female although may have had young males i couldn't see all axies through the plants in the shop.

 

[tammyaxie]

The substrate ingested could be from the previous owner not your tank. Has she pooped at all since you have had her? Maybe fridging her will allow her to pass what's in there.

 

[AxolotlChris]

Yes putting your Axolotl in the fridge could help. It keeps its temperature low and helps them to excrete their waste (stones/gravel) it also keeps their metabolism low so don't be surprised if it stops eating for the duration of being in the fridge. Place in a large enough container to fit the axolotl with some movement and filled with cold dechlorinated water, within a few days stones/gravel should have passed through and you can clearly see them on the base of the container/tank. You must monitor the temperature and change the water 100% every day. There are quite a few good guides here on the forum.

 

[keiko]

Possibly egg's depending on whether she has come from a tank with other males.

Female axolotls don't need to be around males to produce eggs, they just won't get fertilized until they are. But at 5 inches it is highly unlikely that she has eggs and you most likely can't even tell her/his sex yet.

For now I'd suggest you monitor her to see whether she's eating and pooping like normal. If not, then think about fridging. It's always stressful for the axie and shouldn't be done unless necessary.

 

[binkuchan]

I was actually wondering the same about my female. I got her and my male day before yesterday, and shes been floating around, frequently gulping air, and tearing our all live plants lol. her belly is very large.

 

[AxolotlChris]

Could be, they're behavior changes when they are ready to lay eggs or in 'season'. Mating season is between December and June although they can mate at any time of the year depending on living conditions