Please help my friends axolotol has something very wrong and i need help as i have no clue what it is.

[jenelle]

<font color="aa00aa"><font face="arial,helvetica"></font>Hi there, i have been looking on the net for some answers</font>} to what may be the problem with my friends axolotl}}}. he/she has something coming well from its bottom and looks like they are giving birth of corse its not that as they lay eggs but they have now stopped eating and the "thing" seems to be getting bigger.the pets shops around here cant tell us what it could be. can some one give me some help so i can help them.}}}}}}

 

[anne-marie]

How long has this been a problem? Is there gravel in the tank - if so, sounds like the axy is trying to pass some. ?Guess what I'm gonna say - Put Him In The Fridge, in a container with nothing on the bottom.

 

[jenelle]

yes there is gravel in the tank. will that help him? i was thinking that it might be worms of some kind but the owner of a pet shop he came from said they done get worms. if he is the fridge will that help him pass the problem if that is whats he is trying to do?

 

[anne-marie]

It sounds like that is the most likely cause. Gravel is not recommended for axolotls because they swallow them and then have troubles with passing them - from either end. Get rid of the gravel in the tank altogether or cover them up with big river rocks.

I advocate isolating the axie in a bare container so that you can see exactly if gravel has been passed and if that was the problem.

 

[nathan]

why do you put it in the fridge anne-marie? wont they get chilly

 

[joan]

The fridge is usually the best place for an axolotl with any kind of wound or problem because it slows down their metabolism and allows them to 'fix' what's wrong by themselves. It gives them a headstart on any infection. It could be a prolapse, especially if it's getting bigger... Fridge and saltbaths, the main course of treatment for anything!

 

[nathan]

have you ever heard about someone misunderstanding some one and
then Putting it in the Freezer and
killing the axie?

 

[jenelle]

i will ring my friend now and get them to do what you suggest. i have personally had no experience with axy's but with other aqua pets iv had, putting them in the fridge would do them harm, how are axy's different? how does it help them??

 

[nathan]

they can live in cold water. and as joan said in the post before my last one it slows down there metabolism.

 

[anne-marie]

No, never ever put them in the freezer. I have heard from a reliable source that the formation of ice crystals in the blood shreds them from the inside out

. I hope he knows this from theory only.

 

[joan]

Axolotls (and most salamanders) come from temperate climates. That means they're fairly cold. They're not like frogs in that when it gets cold, they get inactive. In fact, some salamanders are active even BELOW freezing. Axolotls like cold water. Cold = Good. Even in their everyday habitat (tank), the colder you can keep the water, the better.

 

[jenelle]

wow ... thanx everyone for all your help with this. im a horse person but have many other animals and i am really thinking about a axy now as they sound so cool!!!!!! he he. i have read so much on them looking for help and think that i would love one as a part of my family. plus this web sight were other axy people can chat together is a fab thing. just one thing , how do you tell the differences between boys and girls?? and is one sex better than the other??

 

[anne-marie]

Check out www.axolotl.org for answers to those question and much, much more! Admit it, you're hooked now.

Boys or girls, no difference in temperament, colour, anything. Most people buy axies first when they're young and only find out the sex of the axy later as it matures. Its all very equal opportunity .

 

[dot]

Has anyone considered the possibility of cloacal prolapse? I remember someone else had prolapse issues with their axolotl. A search may come in handy.

 

[joan]

I didn't say they were active in frozen water. And amphibians don't normally live in salt water. I remember someone (forgive me because I don't remember who) posting a thread long ago when I was a lurker about terrestrial sals being active at 30F. You yourself just said that some sals are fine in sub-freezing temperatures.

Did I also not say that the cold gives them a head-start on an infection?

 

[jennifer]

I think that the inaccuracies in Joan's original post here have been explained now. Any further discussion is going to degenerate into a debate about what it means to "have a head start". This won't be very informative.

If anyone has anything else to say to Jenelle's problem, go ahead. I'm not locking this, but I suggest that Joan and Mike drop it here.