Photo: My tank.

[Jenilyn]

You can see in the pictures that his toes are growing back on the one foot and that the other one still has no toes

 

[Bellabelloo]

Cute little axolotl, but to ensure a long and happy life, the stones should be removed. Axolotl , when they feed 'suck' in their food and are rather prone to taking anything near bye, this will result in the axolotl potentially becoming compacted with stones....and passing stones can not be much fun. In the worst cases this can cause death. The general rule regarding axolotl and stones/ ornaments is that if its anything close to the size of their head there is a danger of it being consumed.
Many of us use well rinsed sand ( play sand is cheep and cheerful) or even nothing at all.

 

[Jenilyn]

yep. i know well the sand rule and have said in other posts why at the time, sand is a no for smudge. at the time the stones arent a threat to him as he isn't able to get them into his mouth, i have seen him try. and we mostly feed live food either by hand or small fish he will catch, that he doesnt need to forrage in the stone. when the toes start to grow back and he has better traction in the sand i will be going back to it

 

[Kaysie]

You THINK he can't fit them in his mouth, but I can see quite a few in the photos that WILL fit in his mouth, and eventually, they WILL end up in his belly. This is regardless of whether or not you think he's foraging. I guarantee when you're not watching, sometimes he's foraging. It's a natural behavior, and isn't 'turned off' just because you hand-feed.

 

[John]

You take good axolotl photos. You should consider entering the calendar competition.

 

[Jenilyn]

I would love to. I should get the glass cleaned up on my tank its horrid looking right now Thanks for the complement, it means a lot.

 

[Dangergirl]

This axie has a rather cute expression on his face and his eyes have come out beautifully on the photo !

 

[AGreenDarkness]

Your axolotl is adorable! I have seen your other posts when you first got him and showed what bad shape he was in when you rescued him, he looks great! As for having gravel in the bottom of your tank I have flattened marbles in the bottom of mine and although they are small enough for Squishy to eat them I always make sure to hand feed her so she is trained to look up for food and doesn't suck up the stones, just a little help to keep your axie happy and gravel free haha.

 

[gr33neyes]

Its really best not to have any stones in the tank that an axolotl can and WILL swallow. Hand feeding makes no difference whatsoever to their natural desire to snuffle through the substrate looking for a worm or something tasty. I feed my dog from a bowl but it doesn't stop the little so and so picking up all sorts of dirt from my back garden....its natural behaviour....hunting. I have seen enough people come in here having added stones , feeling quite sure their axie will never swallow them only to find a month or so on, we are now getting posts from them "help my axie isn't well, not eating etc.....guess what? Its usually the stones.

 

[AGreenDarkness]

I am very sorry for the advice that I gave on hand feeding the axolotl so it won't suck up stones maybe it is best to remove all stones from the tank.