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Opinion on Veterinarians

EasternRomioi3

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Hey, my mom is a retired big animal vet, has no idea what an axolotl even is, but she asked her old coworkers if they knew anyone in our county who does, and they said there is a vet about an hour north of us. Nothing wrong with my axolotl right now but has anyone ever actually taken their axolotl to a vet? Is a checkup a waste of money? Is it entirely too dangerous to transport an axolotl by car like 20 miles? Just want to know if anyone has ever done it and it turned out well. The only exotic pet vet we've ever seen is one who works on Old World parrots, and like, the checkups aren't expensive but lab works were a lot, even with my mom's vet discount.

My axolotl is 2 years old, about 10 inches long (hard to tell cuz of the water's perspective). She is a leusistic, in a 20 gallon tank. We have no AC so her tank gets warm without the aid of ice packs, fans, and whatnot, but she's very active, very alert. Doesn't freak out other anything. I just got her an anubias plant or whatever they're called, to help with nitrates. Her ammonia levels never get above .25 and whenever I get that reading, I do a 20% water change, then the next day 0 ammonia. We use our tap water, but my dad has some special jugs he got for his turtles and caiman, so we let the water dechlorinate and I do have access to chemical agents to treat pH, ammonia, etc, etc. I have yet to use them. She eats regularly, I try to give her 3 pellets a day, because I never know if I'll be home from work 2-3 hours late. I give her a worm sometimes too. Basically she seems fine.

I just wanted to know what anyone thinks. I don't feel like blowing a ton of money and taking her out of her tank, putting her in a tub, driving 20 miles north, taking her into a strange building with a strange vet, if it is for nothing. Has anyone needed a vet, like had an actually sick axolotl and a vet saved your pet? That exotic bird vet I mentioned saved my mom's Congo Gray from an air sack fungal infection last year. It was obvious he was sick because he stopped talking and making any vocalizations.

Just looking for an opinion! Since I've been around dog and cat vets all my life, I am of the mind....some are not worth going to visit, others are angels on earth, helping.
 

MnGuy

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I've never taken any of my three alpine newts to the vet because they've never had an issue, but it is good to identify a good exotic vet should the need arise.

I have dogs, a Congo African grey parrot, two snakes, a uromastyx and the newts. I bring each to different vets.

My dogs go to a typical dog vet, my CAG goes to a clinic that has bird vets and my one snake that had an issue goes to a vet 30 minutes away that specializes in reptiles and owns a reptile himself. I think it's super important to find someone who really knows and cares about your type of creature.

Honestly, I've never taken my reptiles to a vet as a proactive measure, but they were all captive bred and have always been healthy.
 

EasternRomioi3

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Yeah, I'm just happy to have found an exotics vet who isn't just avian or reptile, the first two we called were like "Nah, birds only" or "Nah, turtle specialist."

I wish my canine and feline pets went to the vet but no, my mother treats them herself, because being retired doesn't mean she isn't too old to do her job...wait. Um...I may have revealed more than I intended with that statement.
 
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