How long to fridge?

[celticcrow77]

I've posted on here a few times in the past month about my axolotl Motley not pooping, and the general concensus was to pop him in the fridge and hope it helps. This is my first time having to fridge him, and I was wondering how long people recommend to keep him in there. He's been in there about a week, and still hasn't pooped. This whole time, he's still been eating, but nothing's coming out the other end. I'm baffled because at the moment there's no substrate in his tank for him to be impacted on, and I checked all of his tank decorations and plants in case he ate a piece, and I can't find anything missing. How long should he stay in the fridge before I call a vet?

 

[Kaysie]

The point of fridging animals is that ectothermic animals, when cooled, will generally try to rid the body of undigested food to keep it from rotting in the gut. If your guy is still eating, his digestive system is still active, and is not going to purge anything.

Try taking him out and warming him up. I imagine being in the cold has slowed his digestive system to a crawl. Warming him up might speed things coming out the other end.

What kinds of food are you feeding?

 

[hacelepues]

Totally agree with kaysie. Take him out, let him warm up, and as long as he's not floating or showing signs of distress, leave him out and see if he poops. It could take a day or two even, but if he's not stressed, he should be ok.

If he is stressed, put him back. He can stay in the fridge as long as needed with no issues as long as you perform daily 100% water changes.

Oh, and try to not feed him until he poops. He should be perfectly fine without food for a day or two.

 

[celticcrow77]

I just got home from work, and it seems he threw up the last worm I fed him on Sunday. Unless he pooped it out in obviously undigested chunks, which I doubt...

He gets fed earthworms, sometimes chopped in half if they're too big. Rarely, as a little treat, sometimes he gets little salamander pellets. Like a dog treat for doing a cute trick.

I'm just concerned that this has been going on so long- it took me a month of him not pooping to finally fridge him. And even after a week of being fridged, no poop. He hasn't seemed stressed by it, but he REALLY hasn't had one big poop in a wicked long time. If I take him out of the fridge, and not feed him until he poops, what if he continues not to poop? I continue not feeding him? I'm just so worried...

 

[Olivia97]

I found with my axie that he wouldnt poop in the fridge so i slowly warmed him up and sure enough he pooped

 

[celticcrow77]

HE POOOOOPED!!! Today was going to be his last day in the fridge since you're all suggesting I warm him up, but I went to change his water for the last time, and his bin had tons of poop in it! I never thought I'd be so excited by poop.

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[Brittanymurphy8630]

The point of fridging animals is that ectothermic animals, when cooled, will generally try to rid the body of undigested food to keep it from rotting in the gut. If your guy is still eating, his digestive system is still active, and is not going to purge anything.

Try taking him out and warming him up. I imagine being in the cold has slowed his digestive system to a crawl. Warming him up might speed things coming out the other end.

What kinds of food are you feeding?

So my axolotl hasn't pooped in like three weeks. I've taken her to the vet two times. They scanned her belly and said she looks good but is full of food. She also said she thinks she has an infection. So I was given some antibiotics to give her and was told to fridge her while giving the meds. She still hasn't pooped and it's been like four weeks now. Isn't interested in food either. If I warm her back up to regular Temps she swims frantically non stop for hours. So I've just been keeping her in the fridge in a smaller container to keep her from hurting herself. Plus her little legs are swelling up from swimming for hours on end. I have no idea what to do with her. She is on her second day of antibiotics. The vet has told me to bring her back in two weeks if not better but I am so so worried about her. She looks healthy though. Healthy color and her gills look great. Her body weight is still healthy. I just don't know. Any advice on how to get her to poop other than the fridge would be great. I'm still offering her food. She eats pellets. She used to eat worms everyday along with pellets but when she got to be 9onths old she just stopped wanting the worms. I give her bloodworms like twice month as a treat and brine shrimps once a month as a treat. She is one year old and a golden albino. Very healthy and spoiled female named Calypso. I'm just so worried about her. Seeking advice anywhere I can.