Lonely axolotl?

L

lisa

Guest
Do axolotls get lonely? The other day I sold one of my axolotls because he was getting to big for the tank and I only had one. This left my other axolotl all alone and lately he has taken to swimming up and down the side of the tank at about 1 oclock in the morning. He won't stop till morning when the room is lighter. If I turn the light on he will stop but as soon as I turn it off he will start swimming again. I t is very noisy and I am worried he will hurt himself on the side of the tank.
Does anybody know whats wrong?
 
My steve was doing that for a while. i think its when the light is just right for him to see a reflection of him self in the glass and he thinks hes fighting another axolotl! he was going up and down as well as back and forth and at one point shot out of the water like a dolphin!
i don't know about lonelyness? they are quite intelligent so i guess they could get lonely.
 
I think they can get lonely my Elroy was so quite on his own now he has his little friend morph they are both really happy quite often find them basking on their stones together, they feed together and tend to sleep in the same corner.

(Message edited by sophietrace on January 10, 2007)
 
when i got the first eight axies of this badge i acidently seperated a couple and spot didnt calm down before i went to the store and brought back hunter and stalker.
those 3 axies are allways together

if one gets sick and has to go to the fridge the rest of my weird gets restless and keeps looking at me through the glass as if saying :hey bring it back !
so yes i do belive that axies can get lonely
 
Whats this about putting them in the fridge if they are ill?? Can anyone explain this to me?? i have heard of it but know nothing about it and no one I have asked does either even people who have had them for years
 
please use the search function it is very commonly used.

And no they can't get lonely,
 
hey sophie you put them in the fridge when/if they get sick,
you do this to reduse stress and the cold helps there heal as it slows down the metabolism.

hey roy you seem very sure care to explain.
my basic attitude is that any animal can get lonely, as i have seen even goldfish mourn after being seperated, only to turn around completely after being reunited.so if goldfish can......
happy.gif
 
My goodness, yes.
When Rover, one of my goldies died, Rex, the other, was inconsolable.

He was sluggish, didn't respond, didn't want to eat - completely miserable.
The baby koi finally came out of quarantine, was put straight in with Rex - and it was like he was a whole new goldfish.

Still thick as a plank, but much happier.
I can't seperate THOSE two now without them panicking.

I think some axies are happy alone, but if they have a proper friend, then are seperated, can get a bit down for a while.
 
I think it all depends on the personalities of your axos.

I put my axo (girl) in a tank with another girl and boy, and she hid in her tunnel 24/7, never swimming about or being active. As soon as I seperated her, she is swimming about and looking around her tank, so I think she felt very unsettled sharing with the other 2.

Axo, especially when she was younger, would swim up and down the tank for ages, but not frantically, more just enjoying gliding in the water and bumping into her reflection. And yeah, when you turn the light on axolotls stop, but thats probably because you freak them out a bit with the light.
 
I will telll you one thing, My black axolotl seemed to get much happier when i finaly got him a leutistic buddy. They are both male and hang arround together alot. They are in a 55 gal with some other axolotl, but black axolotl and pink axolotl seem to have bonded.

It all depends on the axolotl, some of mine dont really care about hanging out with the others.
 
annmarie i totaly agree with you it depend on the axies just like with any other animal humans includet.
happy.gif
 
I'd hate to say either way but mine have been together all their lives and I was just about to type about how well they get along etc etc but I've just caught the little buggers fighting as I was making this comment....
I think one of them was doing the poo dance around the tank and annoyed the other, thus chaos ensued, no ones hurt though.
 
darn- i was hoping to separate our axie couple as they keep having babies-they have always been together. maybe it would not be a good idea.
 
If yours keep having babies the female will get stressed out and could get sick. Might be best to separate them for a while. Are you able to use a tank divider, then they'll still be in the same tank, just separated, or if you have another tank put the tanks end to end close together.
 
Axolotls are solitary animals. That means that they live alone. If you put them together they often don't attack each other but that does not mean they "like" each other.
An axolotl is not human and interpreting their "feelings" doesn't work.
 
Axolotls are nocturnal so they are more active between dusk and morning
 
I tried a divider in my tank and the female just leapt over to be with the male - who divides them in the wild? Who puts airstones etc in with spawn in the wild? Do we care about tadpoles in the UK??
 
airstones in the wild?

The lakes where they occur are a bit larger than your tank. That makes quite a lot of difference

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>Quoting Denise Colverson on Thursday 18 January 2007 - 21:05 (#POST118126):</font>

female just leapt over to be with the male <!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

It's really amazing that you know what they think.
 
Without wanting to dampen anyone’s spirits – caudates are not sociable animals. They do respond to each other and will interact during breeding, competitive feeding, territorial fighting etc... Often they will appear to be more active when kept in groups because there is more movement stimulus in the enclosure. They may also appear to be gregarious when they find a favourable hide/ perch. It’s not because they enjoy the company.

Emotions such as “happy”, “sad” and “lonely” do not really apply to animals that have such a tiny brain… A “happy” axolotl that swims about may actually be a stressed axolotl and alternatively a “sad, lonely” axie who hides and doesn’t move for hours may actually be a content and relaxed animal.

The important thing is to provide optimum conditions for the animal to live in. If you are seeing unusual behaviour it’s likely to be a problem with the animals environment - not because its “lonely”.

(Message edited by aartse_tuyn on January 19, 2007)
 
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