Toys for axolotls?

[sherrisixxx]

Has anybody got any ideas on toys axos like to play with? My axo is very playful and fun loving, and sometimes she is a bit bored. (Luckily not very often,tho, as she is very good at entertaining herself). I'd love to give her a toy or two to play with to keep her entertained, if anybody has some ideas??

 

[sharn]

ping pong balls? snails (mine love to stalk mine)

 

[isobel]

ghost shrimp!! hours of fun they cant catch them but doesnt stop mine trying, and they eat waste and left overs.

 

[rheann]

How about Japanese moss balls? They don't attach them selves to rocks or the substrate, just roll around like giant green snow balls lol. Axies might have some fun with that, and also ghost shrimp like Isobel suggested. I have ghost shrimp in my tank, they are fun to watch, and provide activity for the axies... even though they can't catch them lol.

 

[andrew]

my guys make their own fun.

They absolutely love uprooting all my plants. lol.

Isobel - where did you get the ghost shrimp?? I can't recall seeing anything like that in a pet store round here.

 

[alex]

lol yea mine like to uproot plants too. H likes to push the fake plant around with his nose, i put just enuf weight on it to sink it so its not to hard for him, but he always does that. i might try the ping pong ball. the ghost shrimp, i dont think they sell them anywhere around here.

(Message edited by jennewt on December 18, 2005)

 

[edward]

At this time, "play behaviors" are not documented in any amphibians.
Toys may be used for behavioral enrichment which encourages natural behaviors; however the behavior being encouraged needs to be evaluated for impact on the animal (for example, items that encourage territorial displays, or aggressive attacks should not be used as the stress caused by the items may be sufficient to depress the immune system).
The use of items that encourage normal foraging behaviors is a well documented and accepted as long as the food items are not added in quantities that either harass or predate on the animal (as has been documented with crickets) or pollutes the enviroment, or increases the caloric content of the diet to the point of causing obesity then this can be considered a postive effect (however sometimes satiation occurs and the animal no longer demonstrates any interest in the item).


Ed

(Message edited by Ed on December 18, 2005)

 

[isobel]

oh i live in england and got ghost shrimp from baytree garden centre where they also sell axis,

 

[charlotte]

i noticed my axolotl would pull up my plant and push it around the tank with it's nose and when i put a new object in it would 'notice' that something had changed about that area and go check it out.

that's interesting ed, so the study of axolotl "play" has not been officially studied and documented (in all salamanders?) if they did it would mean they were much more intelligent?

how would you go about knowing whether an axolotl is chasing something for play, agression(territorial etc) or preying on it?

i want to observe axolotls now.

 

[sharn]

lol ask my sisters cat- she spends hours at a time watching them and gets super excited when they move, im sure she could tell us a few things we didnt know haha.

 

[charlotte]

she observes does she? as long as she doesn't do anything else haha

 

[theresa]

Charlotte, i am just curious.... is the axie in your avatar pregnant? it is soo much fatter than mine...
just curious.

 

[rob]

Andrew, i went chasing Ghost shrimp in aquarium shops today and had no luck, but the last shop i went into said he could get em in for me

he also told me i could get them out of the murray river by using a net in the grassy areas, or i can get them out of the Torrens river locally
so off fishing i go

 

[sharn]

be careful of fishing them- could contain heaps of nasties.

yes all she does is observe, she has run into the tank a few times when shes walked past, seen them move and got too excited. she likes to sit on the top and dip her feet in and have little drinks but shes never tried to actually get at them.

 

[jeff]

Haha my cat also likes to "sample" the water, she does the feet dipping and such. What is really funny is that she likes the newts, and the fish, but the real deal for her is the extra worms left in the tubberware in my bedroom. Thats a 1 hour event.

 

[charlotte]

cats are funny.

hey theresa, unfortunately that image is not my axolotl but it sure looks like it's full of something haha. it's so cute.