FYI: I have a truly metamorphosed Axolotl - And I need advice? Pictures inside

R

Roz26

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Hello everyone,

I was recently in my local petshop looking at some new frogs and reptiles they had in as I was thinking of keeping some. One of the tanks looked empty except for a little pink head sticking out from the undergrowth! This was a completely terrestrial tank, except for a small bowl of water.

When I asked the man what it was he said it was an axolotl that had morphed into a salamander. I know that some people cruelly try to force their axolotls to morph, but this was a completely freak accident. She simply escaped from her tank and they couldnt find her anywhere, only to discover her several weeks later behind a section of fish tanks, completely morphed.

They actually thought she was dead, so when they picked her up thinking she was gone, she gave them a good bite to tell them she was alive! She has grown eyelids, and is completely air breathing. Although she moves slowly she appears healthy as she eats plenty of mealworms and even shed her skin last night.

She is a little miracle and I want to make sure she survives!! but I cannot find hardly any info online as to how to keep her. Below are some pics....tell me what you think!!

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I believe they require similar care to tiger salamanders...

In my uneducated opinion that story sounds ridiculous, I am not calling you a liar though!
 
No, I understand!

I am just going by what the pet shop told me. She definately came from a batch of axolotls. There have even been fishkeeping magazines that came to see her and did write-ups on her :happy: But yeah...thats the story I was told and they seemed genuine
 
Welcome to the forum!
Judging by your story i would guess that perhaps conditions were awful in the water, which forced the axolotl to morph and scape from the tank. Sadly, most metamorphosed axolotls have a shortish life. They are not meant to morph, it´s not natural, and so, it usually works out badly. If the axolotl was young when it morphed, the chances are better.

The set-up could be improved. They, like other ambystomatids, are borrowing creatures that love to dig themselves a nice hole. For that matter you need to provide a few inches deep substrate, i think most people use a combination of top soil and coco fiber. It needs to be moist but not wet.
The substrate you currently have could potentially cause damage to the skin it has rough edges.
Providing several hiding spots (bark, wood, rocks...) is a good idea, and also having a layer of moss or leaf-litter.

Mealworms are a poor choice and certainly no good as an staple. Get some earthworms, they are the best food, no contest. Waxworms, crickets (gutloaded), slugs, pillbugs, etc are good choices to complete an earthworm based diet.

Make sure to check this caresheet:
Caudata Culture Species Entry - Tiger salamander
The same basic requirements apply to morphed axolotls.
 
Some great advice, thank you :happy:

I can see why she would benefit from soil, and will get onto doing that ASAP. (I literally only got her on Saturday). I will probably plant some non-toxic plants in there too.

The setup is more of a temporary thing but at the moment she has some flat peices of slate layered up towards the end of the tank which she sort of buries under.

Also, is the fact that she shed her skin ok? Im hoping it's a good sign? She shed it and then ate it! I caught it all on camera so if i can upload videos I will.

As for food, would standard earthworms from my garden do or could they spread diseases?
 
Eating the Shed is normal.

I know this was mentioned before but that substrate is really terrible.... possibly dangerous as Azhael pointed out... and what kind of mulch is it?

Thanks for the pics and story. Very interesting. :D

If it's not too inappropriate... may I ask how much it cost?
 
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As long as your garden is free of any kind of chemicals, they are safe. You can also make your own culture for easy and constant availability, or get them from baitshops and sometimes petshops (you can storage them in the fridge).

About the plants, bare in mind that sometimes, with the digging activity they can dig the plants out, so either use plants that won´t suffer from this, or pot them (make sure that if you introduce plants, you don´t introduce any of the soil they came with unles you know 100% sure their origin is safe).
 
Mac,

Totally agree about the substrate. It was the one that they had in the setup at the pet shop. Its called 'Forest Floor' 100% natural cypress mulch.

And they sold her to me for £30 (roughly 50 USD), at one point the manager made a joke that It should be £60, because they are so rare.

And just if anyones wondering, I'm only calling her 'her' for a bit of fun...I'm sure it's impossible to sex them right?
 
Azhael said:
As long as your garden is free of any kind of chemicals, they are safe. You can also make your own culture for easy and constant availability, or get them from baitshops and sometimes petshops (you can storage them in the fridge).

About the plants, bare in mind that sometimes, with the digging activity they can dig the plants out, so either use plants that won´t suffer from this, or pot them (make sure that if you introduce plants, you don´t introduce any of the soil they came with unles you know 100% sure their origin is safe).
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Azhael,

Thanks for the advice. We have an organic garden so hopefully the worms would be fine until I could sort out something a little easier i.e somewhere I can purchase some.

Do you know how often she should feed as I feel I may have over fed her? She has eaten a few mealworms since i got her on sunday.
 
Well it depends on the size of the animal. As much as it wants to eat with gusto (probably 2-3 worms depending on size), every 3-4 days should be more than fine if it´s an adult.

As for the sex, if you could upload a picture of his/her cloaca (try not to handle it much, handling is not a good idea), and provided it´s mature, we should be able to tell you, no problem.
 
Azhael said:
Well it depends on the size of the animal. As much as it wants to eat with gusto (probably 2-3 worms depending on size), every 3-4 days should be more than fine if it´s an adult.

As for the sex, if you could upload a picture of his/her cloaca (try not to handle it much, handling is not a good idea), and provided it´s mature, we should be able to tell you, no problem.
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Will do, thanks :)
 
I agree you have a morphed leucistic axolotl and standard advice is to give it a substrate it can tunnel into like tiger salamanders.

Despite this advice my artificially morphed axolotl prefers sitting in a shallow pond totally choked with elodea rather than use the nice soft burrowing material in the box. It sits with its head half out looking like a crocodile waiting for something to turn up. It may be some morphed axolotls still wish to be semi-aquatic so consider including a bowl of weed filled water in the habitat and see if it uses it.

I'm convinced mine is a lot more terrestrial in the 1-3 AM slot but I don't feel like getting up for several nights to find out for sure.

Mine eats less than my non-morphed axolotls, one small worm twice a week, but it is probably supplementing this with occasional woodlice which inhabit the box and are in damp paper under a log. After morphing it had a period of about three months when it ate very little at all so do not worry too much if yours does not want to eat.
 
Roz26 said:
Mac,

Totally agree about the substrate. It was the one that they had in the setup at the pet shop. Its called 'Forest Floor' 100% natural cypress mulch.
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Ok...Cypress is safe from a toxicity standpoint.

Roz26 said:
And they sold her to me for £30 (roughly 50 USD), at one point the manager made a joke that It should be £60, because they are so rare.
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OK. at least he wasn't asking 3 times that much. This is a very cool thread Roz. Thanks for posting. :D
I'll enjoy hearing about this one as you go along! Keep us updated when you can!
 
As for life expectancy and stress. As I've understood it. If the morphing is natural the animal doesn't really have a shortened lifespan, but if induced unnaturally, especially when it is has matured there are a number of severe complications, and the animals really don't live very long. I don't think there is much evidence that a naturally morphed axolotl would not live as long as a naturally morphed tiger salamander. And surprisingly little is available about salamander lifespans. I think this is a point that should be clarified.
 
oceanblue said:
I agree you have a morphed leucistic axolotl and standard advice is to give it a substrate it can tunnel into like tiger salamanders.

Despite this advice my artificially morphed axolotl prefers sitting in a shallow pond totally choked with elodea rather than use the nice soft burrowing material in the box. It sits with its head half out looking like a crocodile waiting for something to turn up. It may be some morphed axolotls still wish to be semi-aquatic so consider including a bowl of weed filled water in the habitat and see if it uses it.

I'm convinced mine is a lot more terrestrial in the 1-3 AM slot but I don't feel like getting up for several nights to find out for sure.

Mine eats less than my non-morphed axolotls, one small worm twice a week, but it is probably supplementing this with occasional woodlice which inhabit the box and are in damp paper under a log. After morphing it had a period of about three months when it ate very little at all so do not worry too much if yours does not want to eat.
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Very interesting, especially the bit about night time activities...mine too! She was buried for most of the day, her tank light went off at about 11pm. Then whilst in bed (she is in my bedroom) I realised I must get up and check something..so at 1am the bedroom light went on briefly and myself and my partner saw her immediately pottering around the tank.

Also this morning when we woke she was having a nice swim in her bowl, only to run away and hide when the light came on? Why do you think she does this?

Finally, I beleive she may be blind? How can I check this?
 
dragonlady said:
Frankly, all I can say is that I hope this does not become a common occurrence...There was a similar thread about morphed axolotls in Australia not long ago.

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...xolotl-free-all/68521-6-morphed-axolotls.html

If it is proven that these are being artificially induced, I do hope the responsible parties are found and appropriately dealt with...
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I couldnt agree more. I think it's extremely cruel and selfish to attempt to morph an axie artificailly. I can assure you the pet shop I got her from did not try to do this. It was an honest accident, and when they found her still alive they had to do alot of research as to how to keep her.
 
Fantastic story Roz...I love your salamander. I want more pics please.. several new ones each day ....how about a video?... and daily updates as well?

Does she have a name yet?

And can we have more pictures please?
 
esoteric said:
Fantastic story Roz...I love your salamander. I want more pics please.. several new ones each day ....how about a video?... and daily updates as well?

Does she have a name yet?

And can we have more pictures please?
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Hey thanks very much!

Definately more pics on the way! I think I will go and take some now and put them up. Will put a video of her up when I can get it working too.

I named her Princess, a silly name I know but I just think it suits her because she is so cute!
 
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