Pet store rescues

[Dina836]

I just recently purchased a few pups from a pet store that looked poorly cared for. although two have been making wonderful progress, the third seems to be straggling. he was missing three legs and an entire set of gills on one side. the legs have been making very good progress but the gills arent developing as much as id expected. his appetite has been like the others but today he hasnt touched a thing while the others continue to pig out. also, his remaining gills show signs of stress but i havent made any changes to tank other then regular cleaning which he has been exposed to for almost three weeks now. am i worrying too much? is there any way to make him any more comfortable?

i have been feeding them bloodworm cubes which they all seem to love. ive tried blackworms and earthworms but they just ignore them so ive just been giving them the cubs. also ive been checking pH and temperature on a regular basis and everything is normal.

 

[Boomsloth]

Cold clean water and good diet is all they need to heal.

As for pet store rescues I know it's tempting but all that's happening is you're giving the store money and letting them know there is a demand for axolotls so they end up ordering more and subjecting them to the same conditions. If the care is that bad it's best to try and report or talk to them

 

[Dina836]

thanks for the common sense and negativity.....if anyone else out there has any suggestions please let me kno ^__^

 

[Boomsloth]

I'm sorry if I came off blunt but I was just stating the facts. Checking the pH and temp is fine but clean water also means no ammonia or nitrite and little amounts of nitrate. Legs heal faster than gills and gills can remain short and not as long as they could have been undamaged. A good diet would be pellets or earthworms because bloodworms are not nutritious enough. Bloodworms are like tasty treats and it might take a few days of not eating for them to finally eat the earthworms but they will.

 

[Dina836]

my fear with taking a few days for them just to eat the earthworms is that because they are still recovering from their experience at the pet store i might cause them more stress by not giving them anything at all. that, and them being so young id rather they stuff themselves on something. i have an entire water test kit and ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are all good. im growing live plants as well so ive been very diligent on making sure all levels are safe for plants and axies. i will continue to try the earthworms.

 

[lucyz83]

it took me a while to figure out how to feed my axie earthworms too, i started of with the bloodworms, if you have a container that you put the bloodworms in normally, that they already associate with food just put a dead earthworm (blast it quickly with boiling water while in a container and it'll die instantly from the shock) in the bowl, glass or whaterver you're currently useing for the bloodworms to begin with and they will eventually realise that "oh it's in the food container therefore it must be food", it took my axie about 20mins (i also cut the worm in half so it was a bit smaller and also that way they can smell the blood) then he never went back and i now feed him live ones by hand. hopefully this helps

(also with the conatiner i used for the bloodworms, it was a jar that i only put in the tank when there was food in it, making my axie more likely to check it out straight away, so if the bowl or container you currently use is in there all the time it might take a little longer for them to register that the worm you put in is actually food)

hopefully the little one gets better soon, you sound like your doing all the right things, just do your best to get them on a more nutritious diet