New Axolotl Owner : Einstien

BonkersY2K

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Hi Everyone!!

I was just given a gift of an Axolotl about a week ago he is brilliant and i have gone through this forum like it is a bible i do have some pictures and ill pop them on i have changed his stones to fine grain sand and the previous owners were keeping his tempreture at 22 Degrees C, i have fixed this i set him up in 22 water and have purchased a cooling fan to bring him down to 18, he is down to 20 so far and that has been over the last 36 hours.

I have noticed he has become alot more active in swimming around.

However.. he has been taking food twice a day he is 2 years old and the previous owner said this was the normal feeding procedure, when does this change as feeding him 2 locust a day is getting pricey, i have tried switching him to dwarf shrimp and another fish thing i don't remember the name of, he ate almost all of them but i found a stash of food in his slate house is this normal behavior storing food?

anyway sorry for the long blar blar but here come the pictures:D:D:D

Meet Einstein Acting big and tough

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and this is him with his new sand

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What a lovely axie! Great name too :)
Very glad that you have changed over the gravel to sand, you'll need to watch out for gravel in his poop for the next few months.

Did you cycle the tank before getting him?

Does he have any hides in his tank? The swimming around might be that he doesn't have anywhere to sit and hide away, plus the heat will contribute to a more active axolotl. It may also be that the flow from the filter is a little strong, there are ways of diffusing this if thats the case :)

The best food for him is earthworms, you can order them online or dig them up from your garden if it is pesticide free. Other alternatives are bloodworms or pellets, most fish shops sell frozen bloodworm and pellets again you can get online. I got mine from a seller on ebay. At his age he probably only needs to be fed every other to every three days, perhaps cut it down to every day for a little while so not to stress him out. In my experience, axies don't store food, they eat as much as they can and still come back for more! You'll need to keep and eye on this as any food left over in the tank will spoil the water quite quickly!

Sorry for the essay! :)
 
What a lovely axie! Great name too :)
Very glad that you have changed over the gravel to sand, you'll need to watch out for gravel in his poop for the next few months.

Did you cycle the tank before getting him?

Does he have any hides in his tank? The swimming around might be that he doesn't have anywhere to sit and hide away, plus the heat will contribute to a more active axolotl. It may also be that the flow from the filter is a little strong, there are ways of diffusing this if thats the case :)

The best food for him is earthworms, you can order them online or dig them up from your garden if it is pesticide free. Other alternatives are bloodworms or pellets, most fish shops sell frozen bloodworm and pellets again you can get online. I got mine from a seller on ebay. At his age he probably only needs to be fed every other to every three days, perhaps cut it down to every day for a little while so not to stress him out. In my experience, axies don't store food, they eat as much as they can and still come back for more! You'll need to keep and eye on this as any food left over in the tank will spoil the water quite quickly!

Sorry for the essay! :)


Thanks for the Advice i have the pump turned down to gentle which he seems ok with although have noticed him floating into the stream of the pump sometimes and then turning so it gets his sides too lol

As for the tank being cycled yup i spoke with the local marine people as i was unsure how long it need to be done for he gave the things to check it was at a safe level and said as long as it the water in the tube was green and it had no "nitrons"? in it he would be fine

he has a 2 places he likes to hide under his log that in the picture below he is standing on and under the slate thing i made him in picture 2 also the place were he has been keeping his shrimps i have checked there all still alive if the escape from under his slate however his chases them back in there its actually quite amusing to watch. he has been eating them i guess he just isn't so keen on working for his food he has been hand fed for the past 2 years and maybe keeping them there gives him the ease of knowing food is there either that or he has OCD and just likes a tidy tank. im inclined to think its the first of the 2 lol.

as he hasn't had earthworms before what is the best way to feed him these he eats meal worms just as far as i know he hasn't ever had earthworms

Einstein on his Bogwood!!

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Einstein's Slate hidey place

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And the spot where he is keeping his food there is only one there now cheaky git went and nabbed 2 while i was trying to take the picture i think he knew what i was doing!!!

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Also on the very first picture i posted if you look right next to Einsteins head there is a white worm it was on the side of his tank.. since he has been cleaned out and switched over i havent seen anymore what the heck is it:confused::confused::confused: and if it does come back is it dangerous and if so how do i get rid of it?
 
Was the worm thing crawling on the glass? Might be planaria. Planaria is harmless (but might be harmful to eggs), so you don't have to get rid of it.
There might be a whole bunch of them crawling on the glass but sometimes they're suddenly gone.
 
Was the worm thing crawling on the glass? Might be planaria. Planaria is harmless (but might be harmful to eggs), so you don't have to get rid of it.
There might be a whole bunch of them crawling on the glass but sometimes they're suddenly gone.

Thanks at least I know and I don't have any eggs and if he start laying them he will be truly special :tongue::tongue:
 
Welcome,

Firstly this is a really good read for cycling to keep your axies water free from harmful toxins. Caudata Culture Articles - Cycling

Axies love earthworms and they're the most nutritionally balanced meal for them. Since he's an adult he maybe be able to eat whole earthworms. If he struggles to swallow them and keeps spitting them out they may need cutting up. I buy small earthworms from here so I no longer need to cut them unless they grow faster than mine can eat them. ;)Buying Lobworms, Worm Fishing for Salmon, Earthworms for Sale, Wormeries for Fishing, Worms Coarse
I rinse them under the tap before I feed them to remove all the dirt. If they do need cutting, scissors is the best method, it's quicker and easier!
This table shows how good they are for axolotls Caudata Culture Articles - Nutritional Values

It looks like you've done well so far, he looks like a happy chappy. :D
 
Ok so Einstein seems to have taken well to his new setup he has little hiding spots and is quite active when he is just lying there :rofl: however ... It's been 2 days and he is still backing away from food he was being fed twice aday by his past owner he is 2 and I know he should be taking food every 3 days or so however my intention was to bring him to this slowly instead he seems to have taken this on himself should I be concerned about this???


OH YEAH AND I SAW MY FIRST AXOLOTL YAWN TODAY LOL IT WAS FUNNY AND OMG WHAT A BIG MOUTH HE HAS!!!!:eek::eek::eek:
 
Sometimes they won't eat for a while after being moved. Just related to the stress of it all.
 
Just an update on Einstein ...... After 3 1/2 days of not eating he ate a meal worm only one backed away from the second but he ate wether out of sheer hunger or his stubbornness backed down but YAY he ate something :D:D
 
Thats great! Have you tried him on earthworms yet? Wondering if he might like the look of them as they are so wriggly :) You should be able to feed them by hand or with whatever you feed the mealworms with, make sure they are washed in a bit of tank water first.

Just a thought, but is his tank always do bright? A couple of mine like to fully hide in their tubes when the lights are on (unless it's dinner time!) and his slate hide doesn't seem very big. Perhaps if he had a bigger hide he would be a little more chilled and perhaps eat a bit more. A bit of PVC downpipe, or a terracotta pot would do fine.
 
I haven't tried earthworms yet I don't have a garden but I've got my friend to start digging in his garden, I've heard your supposed to soak the worms in decholrinated water for 24 hours to get rid of there bitter taste is that right??

With his tank I took think its bright but I think that is the sand I am planning on getting him something bigger to hid in I just don't want to clutter his tank as I've heard this is not something there so keen on, I don't know either way it has to wait until the end of the month because this month his cooling fan, sand, treatments and stuff cleaned me out lol
 
Awesome :) If they are the brown worms then just a quick wash in tank water will do, if it's the red compost worms then soaking them for about 20mins will do.
Yes, welcome to the wonderful world of axies! As Mewsie said, the correct number of axolotls is one more than you have, so that leads to bigger tanks and all sorts, lol :)
 
22 earthworms = 2 hours of digging, washing earthworms in tank water = 20 minutes, watching Einstein devour a 4" worm x2 in one go = PRICELESS

He loves earthworms just OM NOM NOM :eek:


Thanks for the advice pookie
 
He's so handsome, I love wildtype lotls :) And watching your axie eat his first earthworm is a priceless moment, they LOVE them!
 
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