Fox
New member
I've been preparing to get an axolotl for a long time now, but now that my tank is finally fully cycled / established I'm having trouble actually finding one. I've been looking for a reputable breeder in the area. Unfortunately, there are none. So instead I looked into Caudata's "for sale" forum but if I buy one from there it'll be a difficult process because I don't have currently have Paypal. Whenever I try to open up an account there something goes wrong. I also worry about the relative ambiguity and anonymity of online purchases. Despite that, I've checked Craigslist, other salamander forums and even Ebay to no avail. So buying an axolotl outside of a pet store has proved to be a difficult task.
The reason I haven't just bought one from a pet store is because the only pet store in my city that sell axolotls is awful. I bought three hermit crabs from there once, and two of them were dead upon purchase! I couldn't tell they were dead in the store because they were tightly in their shells and the store's dry conditions mummified their bodies, but when I got home maggots crawled out of them! They'd died in the store, clearly, because of their horrible conditions. They put the poor things on a shallow layer of blue gravel with a mesh lid so there was no humidity at all, there was no thermometer / hydrometer, one small water dish, dead crabs and there a ton of crab limbs strewn across the enclosure. Then when I called them to be like "hey, the hermit crabs you sold me were dead," they had the audacity to tell me it was my fault! They weren't even trying to sugar coat it, which surprises me considering how nice I was being and how young I am. They were just like "well, hermit crabs need to be warm and you obviously didn't make their tank warm enough. That's what happens when you don't give them a heater." and when I told them their tank did have a heater and was at 80 degrees with 80% humidity, had proper substrate, etc, they kept coming up with excuses, saying I must have done something wrong.
Anyway, sorry for ranting
. The point is that this store has a couple of juvenile axolotls. They are in extremely tiny plastic containers (about 2.5" x 2.5" x 2.5") in murky water, and they are very small. I would say they are about 2 inches long, possibly less. After the hermit crab fiasco I decided to never shop there ever again, but since there's a 90% chance the axolotls are being horrifically mistreated there and possibly close to death I'm tempted to buy one. I'm very conflicted, though... I don't want them to think there's a demand for axolotls if I buy one from them resulting in them ordering and subsequently mistreating more axies, and I don't want to support their store. But I would also like to save one if I can, and it might be the only way for me to get an axolotl since I'm having trouble buying one online. I'm not sure which one is the morally correct thing to do.
So what's your opinion on pet store rescues? Do you think I should try to find another way to get an axolotl despite my circumstances, or do you think I'd be doing the right thing by buying one from the pet store equivalent of hell? Because it really is awful in there. I don't insult establishments lightly, especially small family stores like the one I'm talking about, but they are incredibly rude, have poor customer service and consistently mistreat their exotic animals to the point of killing them.
Thanks!
The reason I haven't just bought one from a pet store is because the only pet store in my city that sell axolotls is awful. I bought three hermit crabs from there once, and two of them were dead upon purchase! I couldn't tell they were dead in the store because they were tightly in their shells and the store's dry conditions mummified their bodies, but when I got home maggots crawled out of them! They'd died in the store, clearly, because of their horrible conditions. They put the poor things on a shallow layer of blue gravel with a mesh lid so there was no humidity at all, there was no thermometer / hydrometer, one small water dish, dead crabs and there a ton of crab limbs strewn across the enclosure. Then when I called them to be like "hey, the hermit crabs you sold me were dead," they had the audacity to tell me it was my fault! They weren't even trying to sugar coat it, which surprises me considering how nice I was being and how young I am. They were just like "well, hermit crabs need to be warm and you obviously didn't make their tank warm enough. That's what happens when you don't give them a heater." and when I told them their tank did have a heater and was at 80 degrees with 80% humidity, had proper substrate, etc, they kept coming up with excuses, saying I must have done something wrong.
Anyway, sorry for ranting
. The point is that this store has a couple of juvenile axolotls. They are in extremely tiny plastic containers (about 2.5" x 2.5" x 2.5") in murky water, and they are very small. I would say they are about 2 inches long, possibly less. After the hermit crab fiasco I decided to never shop there ever again, but since there's a 90% chance the axolotls are being horrifically mistreated there and possibly close to death I'm tempted to buy one. I'm very conflicted, though... I don't want them to think there's a demand for axolotls if I buy one from them resulting in them ordering and subsequently mistreating more axies, and I don't want to support their store. But I would also like to save one if I can, and it might be the only way for me to get an axolotl since I'm having trouble buying one online. I'm not sure which one is the morally correct thing to do. So what's your opinion on pet store rescues? Do you think I should try to find another way to get an axolotl despite my circumstances, or do you think I'd be doing the right thing by buying one from the pet store equivalent of hell? Because it really is awful in there. I don't insult establishments lightly, especially small family stores like the one I'm talking about, but they are incredibly rude, have poor customer service and consistently mistreat their exotic animals to the point of killing them.
Thanks!
