Not sure what i have. axolotl or tiger salamander larvae

[Kaytiandpixie]

Hi yall,

im sorry if im in the wrong section or something but i have a kinda serious question about my dear friend pixie. when i bought my friend pixie from the pet store i had been searching for either an axolotl or a tiger salamander larvae for over 2 years. and i wanted to buy it from a store instead of putting the poor dear through the stress of shipping him. so when i found pixie i was so excited. now the issue is the store is notoriously bad at mistaking fish species and they had pixie labeled as an albino water dog with no label with his proper scientific name included which was a red flag to me immediately that he might be mislabeled. his habit was poorly set up at the store and i was and am prepared for either species but it would be helpful to know what im dealing with.
thanks so much for any and all help.
kayti and pixie

 

[smily sam]

you have an axolotl. you need to change your substrate to ether sand or bare botum
if you have questions don't hesitate to ask, sam:happy::wacko:
p.s welcome to the forum

 

[dragonlady]

Hi there,

You do indeed have a beautiful little leucistic axolotl there!

If you don't mind, I see one recommendation I'd like to make right off. Please remove that gravel. Axolotls can try to eat anything as they are opportunistic eaters and since they also use a vacuum style of eating, gravel can get "hoovered" up along with food. It doesn't matter if you hand feed or not. Gravel is very difficult to pass through their little systems and can pose impaction issues.

Given that this little one had a rough start where it wasn't even known what he/she was, the gills look really nice and fluffy! Get some wiggly, juicy nightcrawlers for him/her!

edit: sorry Sam, we posted at the same time!

 

[Shizeric]

What's all that stuff in between the gravel? Is that uneaten food?

 

[Kaysie]

Sam's right. You do indeed have an axolotl. It's not albino, but a color morph called Leucistic. This is characterized by the white/pink skin and black eyes.

To elaborate on Sam's advice, your gravel needs to be changed immediately. Axolotls are notorious for swallowing anything that can fit in their mouth (and some things that can't!). This includes gravel. The way an axolotl feeds is by creating a vacuum in their mouth, and then opening wide and 'sucking' in whatever food is in the way. Along with that food can come gravel, sand, plants, or anything else swimming by.

Gravel is just the wrong size to travel through the digestive tract. It often gets stuck, causing impaction. Impaction can be fatal! Sand is one of the more commonly used substrates, as it is much smaller and can travel through the digestive tract much easier. Others prefer using natural slate as a substrate, or you can use none at all and keep Pixie on a bare-bottom tank.

The axolotl section of the forum is fantastic for receiving advice, as is the Axolotl Site. Have a good look through, and don't hesitate to ask any questions you might have!

Edit: Thanks Eric and Shannon for being so quick!

 

[Shizeric]

Well, I hope you don't expect me to be doing actual work while at.....work.

 

[Kaytiandpixie]

Thank you all so much for your help and advice!
Before i got pixie i did extensive amounts of research on things and never stumbled upon the fact that gravel was a poor choice. it has since been changed to sand and i just have not taken any newer photographs of pixie.fortunately he never paid much attention to the gravel before i corrected my mistake.
he never has liked night crawlers much as that is what i original tried feeding him, when i decided it was time to try something else i contacted the small animal,aquatic, and reptile vet i have for my health challenged guinea pig who recommended blood worms and after trying many brands and types he finally reacted to hikari blood worms, he even prefers them to live blood worms which suits me just fine.
Hes grown nearly two inches in the month ive had him so hes getting a new, bigger tank when my semester is over in two weeks.
Thank you all again for such a quick and helpful response to my question, i obviously picked the right place to ask for help.

Kayti and Pixie

 

[smily sam]

guinea pig
Kayti and Pixie

I have guinea pigs my one of my females just had babys, on last friday

he even prefers them to live blood worms which suits me just fine.
Kayti and Pixie

LOL:lol: you eat LIVE BLOOD WORMS.
what do they taste like? what do they taste like? the frozen ones smell a bit urr are they nice? do they squrm in your mouth?
Sam:happy::wacko:

 

[Kaytiandpixie]

my Guinea was the runt when he was born so he has some health problems. congrats on your Guinea baby's. and i meant that im glad that he lies the freeze dried ones instead of the live ones because ive always been squeamish about feeding my pets live food.i guess i have a hard time putting the life of one animal over another.i even feel bad feeding my pets food that used to be alive. you'd have to kill me before you could get me to eat one of those worms!

 

[smily sam]

my Guinea was the runt when he was born so he has some health problems. congrats on your Guinea baby's. and i meant that im glad that he lies the freeze dried ones instead of the live ones because ive always been squeamish about feeding my pets live food.i guess i have a hard time putting the life of one animal over another.i even feel bad feeding my pets food that used to be alive. you'd have to kill me before you could get me to eat one of those worms!

are you a vegetarian?

 

[Kaytiandpixie]

i used to be but now due to health problems i just don't eat red meat.

 

[Kaysie]

Are you feeding freeze-dried bloodworms or frozen bloodworms? There's a big difference, nutritionally speaking.

 

[Kaytiandpixie]

both he prefers the freeze dried but will eat the frozen most days. i usually go with frozen but some days he just turns up his little nose at them so he gets a few of the freeze dried. he gets freeze dried no more then once a week usually.

 

[Kaytiandpixie]

so i went into the pet store to refresh my supply of frozen blood worms for pixie, and i mentioned to them that he was mislabeled and they said that when they(they had two, Both sold the day they arrived) arrived there was no type of identification so they Google-d it and they found some website (obviously not this one) that made it seem like water dog and axolotl was the same thing. i then informed that that quite the contrary, there we so different that one eventually metamorphs into a tiger salamander and the other( under the proper conditions) would not metamorph at all. i then recommend they come check out the site if they wanted more reliable identification and care information(they had gravel, and not much swim space).
and i also received 10% off my purchase and a free container of frozen bloodworm for informing them of a grave mistake.
i chose not to mention the fact that the vastly over charged me for pixie, i would have paid 10 times that knowing him like i do now.

Moral of the story: dont trust the pet store, all ways try to be informed in order to inform others, and when in doubt Caudata out.

 

[ikeyballz]

so i went into the pet store to refresh my supply of frozen blood worms for pixie, and i mentioned to them that he was mislabeled and they said that when they(they had two, Both sold the day they arrived) arrived there was no type of identification so they Google-d it and they found some website (obviously not this one) that made it seem like water dog and axolotl was the same thing. i then informed that that quite the contrary, there we so different that one eventually metamorphs into a tiger salamander and the other( under the proper conditions) would not metamorph at all. i then recommend they come check out the site if they wanted more reliable identification and care information(they had gravel, and not much swim space).
and i also received 10% off my purchase and a free container of frozen bloodworm for informing them of a grave mistake.
i chose not to mention the fact that the vastly over charged me for pixie, i would have paid 10 times that knowing him like i do now.

Moral of the story: dont trust the pet store, all ways try to be informed in order to inform others, and when in doubt Caudata out.

haha, pet stores really are more of a jack of all trades..they know basics (if you're lucky) and thats it. I had my pet store recommending that I feed my axolotls dry reptomin pellets instead of worms/bloodworms. I guess they assumed they're amphibians which are near reptiles...

Anyway, how are your axolotl gills so fluffy? Do you have an air filter bubbling in air to the tank? My axolotls have a lot of oxygen in their tanks so I'm wondering if thats why its not as large. The gills arent being attacked by mold/parasites either.

 

[Kaytiandpixie]

im not entirely sure why pix gills are so fluffy, when i first got him he was in pretty bad shape his gills were really curly and pretty bare. they started perking up about 2 days after i got him, he has calmed down alot and was eating alot better. i just have my normal low flow filter so im not sure if that's the cause or not.i know they seemed to get fluffier after i switched him to frozen blood worms instead of the pellets the store gave me, and the better the water quality the fluffier the gills at least with pix. ive never understood a whole lot about the biology and gills stuff. i basically just follow all the recommendations on here and keep the water good. im not sure how pix does all the stuff he does i just try to make sure he can keep on doing it. i did here some times gills are genetic, but i might be wrong. the funny thing is, his gills are even fluffier now

 

[ikeyballz]

im not entirely sure why pix gills are so fluffy, when i first got him he was in pretty bad shape his gills were really curly and pretty bare. they started perking up about 2 days after i got him, he has calmed down alot and was eating alot better. i just have my normal low flow filter so im not sure if that's the cause or not.i know they seemed to get fluffier after i switched him to frozen blood worms instead of the pellets the store gave me, and the better the water quality the fluffier the gills at least with pix. ive never understood a whole lot about the biology and gills stuff. i basically just follow all the recommendations on here and keep the water good. im not sure how pix does all the stuff he does i just try to make sure he can keep on doing it. i did here some times gills are genetic, but i might be wrong. the funny thing is, his gills are even fluffier now

Ah, I see. So no air stones bubbling in air, then? Possibly lower oxgen levels in your tank so he grows fuller gills. I like it!

 

[Kaytiandpixie]

nope no air stone, i had one at first but the bubbles scared him so out it went.