BitterFanged
New member
Hello everyone,
Wanted to ask and get a general consensus of what to do and wondering if I'm just being a worry wort or should tackle this as this is the first time I've considered fridging. (Also apologies if this is posted in the wrong section of the forums) I currently have a one year old axolotl (who is actually turning 1 tomorrow the 25th) and have had them since early February of this year, so in a sense grown a general idea of temperament and behavior of them. I've begun to notice that they haven't pooped recently and am starting to get a little concerned seeing it has been a good two weeks and normally I see a poop from them once a week at most and upon reading other forum posts that say fridging is a good thing to help with healing but also slowing down appetite and allowing them to pass stool/stones/etc. as well.
They are not floating or struggling to get around, they like to swim (I call it zoomies) at night/early morning then immediately stop when they notice someone before just wandering off again and exploring. I've seen their back legs forward at times but nothing that points out that they're constipated/impacted and I've never seen them with their rear in the air and struggling to sit on the ground. In addition to that, they haven't lost appetite as I've dropped a pellet in and they'll eat it with no signs of spitting it up so they're still interested in food.
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They're about 9" long, wild/copper and most likely female
Tank parameters:
Size: 20G Long
Substrate: Sand, has live plants that are mostly floating with a few buried in the sand/tucked behind hiding spots (2 hiding spots)
Sponge Filter attached to air pump and Fluvial Canister filter (flow is turned down to half to reduce current and is facing wall)
Temperature range: 64f to 69F (depending on when we have AC on/time of day)
PH: 6.6-6.8~
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 10-20ppm
Water changes are once a week (20-25%)
Feedings:
I feed them half a night crawler 2x a week, and sometimes will add pellets that are bought from the breeder (NorthernAxolotls). I did a transition from feeding them once daily when they were a juvenile and in the last month to feeding twice a week as they were primarily on pellets then shifted to red worms (which they grew to hate) and finally night crawlers which were cut into fourth's to now halves as they've grown.
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Overall they haven't had a huge change in personality, if anything maybe starting to slow into the general axolotl dopey self (they used to be at the glass all the time to see people and would get "upset' if they couldn't see/something was blocking their view but now seem to chill in one of their hides during the day, come out at night) and that their appetite is still good, its just not seeing them poop is making me worried a little since this is a bit out of their usual norm.
I can post pictures if needed of the tank and axolotl, but wanted to get an idea before stepping any further as I've never done fridging before and is suggested as a last resort and I don't want to cause any stress when I didn't need to in the first place. Would it be safe to fridge them incase I suspect it to be constipation or would it be best to let it go for a bit longer to be better safe than sorry?
Thank you for your time in reading my ramblings!
Wanted to ask and get a general consensus of what to do and wondering if I'm just being a worry wort or should tackle this as this is the first time I've considered fridging. (Also apologies if this is posted in the wrong section of the forums) I currently have a one year old axolotl (who is actually turning 1 tomorrow the 25th) and have had them since early February of this year, so in a sense grown a general idea of temperament and behavior of them. I've begun to notice that they haven't pooped recently and am starting to get a little concerned seeing it has been a good two weeks and normally I see a poop from them once a week at most and upon reading other forum posts that say fridging is a good thing to help with healing but also slowing down appetite and allowing them to pass stool/stones/etc. as well.
They are not floating or struggling to get around, they like to swim (I call it zoomies) at night/early morning then immediately stop when they notice someone before just wandering off again and exploring. I've seen their back legs forward at times but nothing that points out that they're constipated/impacted and I've never seen them with their rear in the air and struggling to sit on the ground. In addition to that, they haven't lost appetite as I've dropped a pellet in and they'll eat it with no signs of spitting it up so they're still interested in food.
----
They're about 9" long, wild/copper and most likely female
Tank parameters:
Size: 20G Long
Substrate: Sand, has live plants that are mostly floating with a few buried in the sand/tucked behind hiding spots (2 hiding spots)
Sponge Filter attached to air pump and Fluvial Canister filter (flow is turned down to half to reduce current and is facing wall)
Temperature range: 64f to 69F (depending on when we have AC on/time of day)
PH: 6.6-6.8~
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 10-20ppm
Water changes are once a week (20-25%)
Feedings:
I feed them half a night crawler 2x a week, and sometimes will add pellets that are bought from the breeder (NorthernAxolotls). I did a transition from feeding them once daily when they were a juvenile and in the last month to feeding twice a week as they were primarily on pellets then shifted to red worms (which they grew to hate) and finally night crawlers which were cut into fourth's to now halves as they've grown.
-----
Overall they haven't had a huge change in personality, if anything maybe starting to slow into the general axolotl dopey self (they used to be at the glass all the time to see people and would get "upset' if they couldn't see/something was blocking their view but now seem to chill in one of their hides during the day, come out at night) and that their appetite is still good, its just not seeing them poop is making me worried a little since this is a bit out of their usual norm.
I can post pictures if needed of the tank and axolotl, but wanted to get an idea before stepping any further as I've never done fridging before and is suggested as a last resort and I don't want to cause any stress when I didn't need to in the first place. Would it be safe to fridge them incase I suspect it to be constipation or would it be best to let it go for a bit longer to be better safe than sorry?
Thank you for your time in reading my ramblings!