Axolotls care in FNQ?

[Kristy86]

Hi All,

So the other half has said that for some odd reason he likes azolotls, and would like to get one at some stage, so i was thinking this would make a good chrissy pressent (as i am sure it will take me that long to organise everything) and get him off my back about my ever growing reptile collection!! So i have started looking into this but the one thing i keep comming back to with different results everywhere i look is the temp, we live in sunny cairns, so the water temp is always going to be around the 28-30 mark, i have wached the temps on the turtles and have yet to see it get past this in summer, but how would the axolotls go? I have read they need to be kept between 10-20deg, but others say they have been fine in warmer conditions? So if there is anyone up in the tropics who has owned these could you please give your advice and how you had them set up?

any advice is greatly apprecated!!

Cheers,
Kristy

 

[Waterrat]

Kristy, ask at one of the pet shops that are selling them. I think the aquarium in Hoar St., may have them or the Pets to Pamper on Mulgrave Road.

 

[chickensnake]

Im not too sure but whilst you r on this subject, my uncle had a bahemeth one (when i was little) and it lived in a 2 foot tank, it took up at least half of the tank lol. When he went on holidays the person looking after it couldnt figure out why it wouldnt eat but kept putting foodd in there every day and taking out old food. When my uncle returned he wanted to see if something could be visibly seen to find out what was wrong with it, picked it up and poof it desintigrated into nothing but a cloud.

 

[Scleropages]

You will need a chiller up there to keep the Axo cool.

When my uncle returned he wanted to see if something could be visibly seen to find out what was wrong with it, picked it up and poof it desintigrated into nothing but a cloud.

Heh same thing happened to me with a dog

 

[Jay84]

I have always thought they did better in colder climates. I used to keep them as a child, from what i remember reading they can tolerate slightly higher temps, but 28 - 30 degrees is very high. The higher the water temp, the less rich it is in oxygen.

My friend used to keep theirs in tanks under their pergola. This is in Melbourne! The temps would drop to single digits in winter, and max 25 in summer.

 

[chickensnake]

You will need a chiller up there to keep the Axo cool.





Heh same thing happened to me with a dog

Umm? how does a dog disintigrate? lol

 

[Waterrat]

You won't need a chiller.
Can you keep it in an airconditioned room?

 

[hornet]

those temps will be too hot, a cheap way to cool the water is a frozen water bottle. doesnt have to be as low as 20 just aslong as its not over 25

 

[Waterrat]

those temps will be too hot, a cheap way to cool the water is a frozen water bottle. doesnt have to be as low as 20 just aslong as its not over 25

Good idea but not very practical as you would have to change the bottle twice a day in mid summer and would still have no control over the whole thing. They will do alright in an airconditioned room, I kept them at the uni at 25 degrees and they did just fine, even metamophosed for me.

 

[hornet]

morphing is generally a sign of stress in axolotyls, they pretty much only ever do it to escape unfavorable conditions unless of course they are treated with hormones but then you get huge mortality rates and gnerally a much shortened lifespan

 

[Kristy86]

hey thanks everyone, i would love him to like frogs, i want a frog tank but he doesn't, always has to choose the obscure things!! I might pay the pet shops a visit during the week, and look in to getting a chiller,
thanks again!

 

[gemrock2hot]

hey i currently have 2 and i have also read that they like a temp around 18-20 but my tank sits any where from 18-24 and they seem quiet happy i dont have a chiller or anything i just half fill 2L bottles of water and freeze them i usually only have to change it twice a day. also they prefer sand tanks or tanks with large pebbles as they can swallow gravel. the sand tanks are a bit harder to clean tho

 

[richard08]

We got a one a few months ago, the tank was to hot all the time, frozen water bottles became a hassel when you are changing them all day, and in the end unfortunatly she died RIP.....

 

[Tsubakai]

Optimal temp is about 16C from memory. Air-con room can help. Chillers are expensive but if you were willing to fork out the cash would be the best way to go. Otherwise just try to keep temp as low as possible. They can be tough to get to thrive in the tropics.

 

[dottyback]

Do pet shops sell them up there? Temps over 24.c will knock them around. dissolved oxygen plays a part in this aswell.

 

[Tsubakai]

They can be bought quite easily up here but I'm not sure how many go onto a long and healthy life.

 

[cris]

Im not sure if it would work up there, but i have kept them in brisbane by keeping them outside in the shade in a large pond or on a concrete slab under the house. Keeping them inside a normal house that doesnt have aircon running constantly is asking for trouble IMO.

 

[PhilK]

I tried keeping mine in Brisbane and it died.. had fine water quality and a really big tank. Temperature is the only thing I can think of that did it... it just stopped eating and got thinner and thinner so I euthanased it in the end.

 

[SouthSydney]

I tried keeping one up in the Whitsundays before (not even as far north as you Kristy86, I was roughly 7hrs below you), it didnt work out too well, I was constantly changing ice bricks and even throwing in lots of ice cubes too coming up to summer and I could only ever get it to 24-25degrees for not even half hour...

When it got to summer, he just went down hill fast, went off his food and eventually died... As I still couldnt keep the temps low enough and I was changing the ice bricks and stuff every hour or so...
I got told they are still happy at 18degrees and 24-25 is probably their limits for heat... We did have air-con, but it didnt help as much as I'd like...

He survived escaping the tank and came back good too with a full recovery (before summer hit)... So they are relatively sturdy animals in that respect, but they just dont cope well with heat... After all that, I swore I'd never keep another one up there again... It's just too hard without a chiller... I'd only keep another one down south, where its heaps easier to keep them cooler... As much as I love them and would love to keep them, it's just not fair on them imo...

I kept him on large-ish river pebbles, and put in a couple of mollies so that they could breed and he could snack on the babies if he wanted, but he didnt survive long enough for that to happen... He was an awesome animal, ate out of my hand and everything...

I wouldn't recommend keeping them up there unless you had a good, stable and reliable way of keeping the water below 24degrees... Also, I'd get a cover for the tank if you were going to do it too... I made one after he escaped the first time...

Goodluck with whatever you decide though! Let us know how you go...

 

[Tari-Q]

Axolotls are best kept between 15 - 19 degrees. Any lower than 14 and they will go off the food, the same goes for anything much higher than 20. Being in an airconditioned room wont do the job unfortunately, your best bet would be to invest in a water chiller, but failing that, rotating frozen water bottles (which is what we do at the pet store I work at) works just as well, but is more effort.

They are quite cute. The ones at work will eat out of my hands

I had one a few years ago (before I knew about keeping them cold) and even though we kept aircon running for it, it still did not eat and sadly passed away.

Hope this helps.