# My Axolotl



## PhilK (Oct 20, 2009)

This is my axlotl, Fungus. I got him a little while ago and he is awesome. Started off pretty boring and not moving but now has settled in and is often moving around the tank and eats like you wouldn't believe...



































































Hope you enjoyed!


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## Goomba (Oct 20, 2009)

Such hilarious little creatures!

How do you like it? How does it eat? etc..


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## PhilK (Oct 20, 2009)

I like it very much.

Eats well.. will accept roaches and mealworms off the long tweezers but at the moment I'm feeding it live tubifex worms. Just suck some up with a syringe and put them in the tank, he tracks them down and eats them.. cool stuff, and he's already growing nicely.


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## Rosey9596 (Oct 20, 2009)

I've never even heard of these guys! Pretty sweet looking though!


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## Finntroll86 (Oct 20, 2009)

They are super critters! Nowadays very hard to find, believing they made CITES list? Just think being neotenic a backwards evolution depending on environmental concerns, I think its awesome! they have done studies introducing the hormone which allows the "larval" stage to reach adulthood(which is not found in these guys, hence neoteny), they are just Mexican tiger salamanders. Congrats! I've always wanted some.


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## Galapoheros (Oct 20, 2009)

How can you tell these guys from the common Tiger salamander you can get at bait shops for $1.50?  I've also wondered how hard it is to get babies from these(?)


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## Teal (Oct 20, 2009)

*Very cool! I've seen albino and melanistic ones... but not green, it's cool lookin! *


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## kupo969 (Oct 20, 2009)

Nice Axolotl! I've been wanting to get one for a while. Where did you get him?


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## Finntroll86 (Oct 21, 2009)

Galapoheros said:


> How can you tell these guys from the common Tiger salamander you can get at bait shops for $1.50?  I've also wondered how hard it is to get babies from these(?)


That sir, is a great question....i don't know lol. I know that since they are native to Mexico(and nearby regions) they are the larval stage of a Mexican tiger salamander(the difference from Common and Mexican i cant distinct) but don't reach adulthood due to lack of thyroidal hormones, which benefit them in many ways then becoming amphibious(adult). I don't know if they have come across a neotenic version of Common Tiger, ill have to look that up, but i would assume for lack of knowledge these guys don't procreate they just branch from the progressive babies(only saying this because i would assume being in a indefinite stage of infancy they couldn't mate?). But then again ill have to research that, only a guess.


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## Finntroll86 (Oct 21, 2009)

After some perusing i was ultimately wrong. I see they do reach maturity to mate after a reaching a certain length(18cm or 7.2in).

Here is a website with lots of info on these lil guys
http://www.axolotl.org/breeding.htm


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## PhilK (Oct 21, 2009)

They _can_ reach maturity and metamorphose into the adult form (there's one doing so at my pet shop) but they mostly remain as this, the larval stage. They can mate and reproduce in the larval stage (very unique). They're hard to tell from other larval salamanders.

I can't believe they're so uncommon over there? I realise in the wild they are endangered but in captivity they are common as dog poo... my pet shop sells them for like $20. You can get dark ones, albinos etc etc - mine is the wild type colouration. Very common here as pets - used to have one in my grade 3 classroom


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## Finntroll86 (Oct 22, 2009)

PhilK said:


> They _can_ reach maturity and metamorphose into the adult form (there's one doing so at my pet shop) but they mostly remain as this, the larval stage. They can mate and reproduce in the larval stage (very unique). They're hard to tell from other larval salamanders.
> 
> I can't believe they're so uncommon over there? I realise in the wild they are endangered but in captivity they are common as dog poo... my pet shop sells them for like $20. You can get dark ones, albinos etc etc - mine is the wild type colouration. Very common here as pets - used to have one in my grade 3 classroom


Yea they are enigmatic Lil fiends, do you know where you LPS got them from? Are there native species of axolotl in Australia? Over here in the states I think the major source of these guys is from Mexico. But yes they are hard to find(at least where I am located). I have a friend who received one green morph from a science lab in his college, And the only other one I have seen was a greeny in a LPS for 35$ and was about 8", I may just have to get it!

By the way that is a great name for him! It just fits perfectly for some reason.


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## Galapoheros (Oct 22, 2009)

I was asking to see if there was a definite way to tell.  I just know you have to be careful at pet stores here in the US because I have seen many Tiger salamander larva for sale as Axolotls.  I've read in book I have that the Tiger sals in the US Midwest more often remain neotenic but not always, and the ones that do remain neotenic around there are the really big ones that can get around a foot long, though I've never seen one that big.  The true and few Axolotls I've seen were obviously more fattish and stockier than the local US Tiger sal larva I've had and seen.  I used to really want some Axolotls when I was younger but never did get any, prob because I didn't see them in the stores, but maybe some day I'll do it.


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## cbeard (Oct 22, 2009)

I believe I have seen the tigers in stores, I thought they were protected, but they seem so common, I assumed I was wrong. I remember them being surprisingly low priced as well.


I was wondering.. you mentioned feeding it mealworms, roaches and live tubiflex worms (i think) can they eat frozen thawed or canned instead, or a pelleted mix?

I ask because I think my daughter would love one, but getting a varried, live diet for the guy up here in nowhere land might be difficult.


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## blazetown (Oct 22, 2009)

I've never ever seen one available in Canada but I have a book that says they will eat pelleted fish foods...each individual is different i guess though.


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## Memento (Oct 22, 2009)

Very cute!  Axolotls are great little critters, and one of the best beginner salamanders around.  I used to have a pair when I was younger, and they were like little garbage cans - they ate anything, including pellets and scraps.  After a while yours should start to associate you with food, and become quite personable.

There are a few ways to tell an axolotl from a larval tiger.  Larval tigers tend to be more uniform in color, with pale, somewhat indistinct yellowish spots or patterns (if they have them at all).  They also have shorter toes than axolotls, and tend to be more slender overall.  Around here pet shops usually make the distinction easier by selling larval tigers as "waterdogs".

Axolotls are bred so commonly in captivity that it's usually cheaper to buy them from lab supply houses (that's how I got mine) than from pet shops - you also tend to find more color choice this way too, since they're used in genetics research


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## Galapoheros (Oct 22, 2009)

The more I look at the sal, the more it looks like A tigrinum to me and not mexicanum.  I've had a lot of Tiger sals, I'd get them at the bait stores cheap and raise them.  The dark mottling with the yellowish background, tall yellowish fin, ..just like Tiger sals I've kept.  I don't know of course, I've never had mexicanum.  Phil do you know for sure what sp it is?


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## PhilK (Oct 22, 2009)

Finntroll86 said:


> Are there native species of axolotl in Australia? Over here in the states I think the major source of these guys is from Mexico.
> 
> By the way that is a great name for him! It just fits perfectly for some reason.


No, no native salamanders of any type in Australia.. axolotls are from Mexico as you say.. up in the highlands I believe

Fungus is a good name hey haha dunno how it came up but it just stuck!



cbeard said:


> I was wondering.. you mentioned feeding it mealworms, roaches and live tubiflex worms (i think) can they eat frozen thawed or canned instead, or a pelleted mix?


When they are young, as Fungus is, a live diet is best for them. As they get older they can be put onto pellets or strips of beefheart. May also eat those little frozen brine shrimp pellets.. they're pretty well blind though so need the food very close to their snout to pick it up.



Galapoheros said:


> The more I look at the sal, the more it looks like A tigrinum to me and not mexicanum.  I've had a lot of Tiger sals, I'd get them at the bait stores cheap and raise them.  The dark mottling with the yellowish background, tall yellowish fin, ..just like Tiger sals I've kept.  I don't know of course, I've never had mexicanum.  Phil do you know for sure what sp it is?


Definitely an axolotl. Here in Australia it is illegal to keep or breed any exotic herps or inverts, except the axolotl.. the pet shop wouldn't have a source for any other salamanders and certainly wouldn't be stupid enough to openly sell illegal animals. Would have sourced it from an axolotl breeder.

Seems sad you guys can use these cute little fellas relatives as fish bait..


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## Laceface (Oct 22, 2009)

I love those guys! We have wanted one forever, but they are SO hard to find. Someday though!


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## zonbonzovi (Oct 22, 2009)

Y'all- check out caudata.org.  Axolotl's are commonly sold through independent breeders there.  If your in my neck 'o the woods, check out Seattle craigslist- they're found there every so often.  I got mine through Ed's Fly Meat(also sells great chow) & Swanee's Exotics.  Do yourself a huge favor & cycle the tank BEFORE you get your axy.  Great pets- I have 2 wild types & a golden in a 55 gallon.  Very curious creatures and good eaters.  I usually stick to frozen bloodworms & the nasty smelling chow(a more nutritious form of the stuff used in fish hatcheries?), but once you're recognized as 'guy with food', they'll take struggling feeders right out of your tongs, as the OP stated.  I personally find it difficult to tell the difference between A. mexicanum & other Ambystoma larvae, but the caudata.org galleries may be useful. 

Tigers for $1.50?!?  Sigh- only in Texas  Can I get a binful, please?


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## Galapoheros (Oct 22, 2009)

Yeah I didn't like the idea of people using them as bait either, so I'd go to the local bait shop, buy them and put them in a 120 gal I used to have.  Wow, no native salamanders in Australia!, ..new news to me.  Do you know if it was imported or bred there?  I'd bet your right but I do know that some people working with importing and exporting animals are ,not "stupid", but ignorant in screening out animals when they are imported or exported even though it's their job, it's pretty bizarre what some professionals claim, thinking Heterometrus are Pandinus, things like that.  And many people in the US regularly call tigrinum larva Axolotls, even some private store owners that have been in the biz for some years.  I didn't know the import laws were so strict there.  What did it, was it the toad thing?


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## PhilK (Oct 22, 2009)

Galapoheros said:


> Do you know if it was imported or bred there?


Definitely bred here.. no imported amphibians are allowed into Australia. All axolotls in pet shops would be many, many, many generations captive bred here in Australia.



> I didn't know the import laws were so strict there.  What did it, was it the toad thing?


Yeah they're extremely strict. We're allowed only native reptiles, with a licence. Some states aren't even allowed that and each state has different rules. Some states can keep native mammals but not my state, and some states can't keep any native inverts either but we can.

ALL exotic inverts and herps/amphibians etc are illegal.. Australia's ecosystem is extremely fragile and has been decimated by the introduction of 100s of feral species (foxes, cats, rabbits, toads, the list goes on and on). Toads are the best known example and responsible for the wiping out of many native frogs and frog eating snakes.. We are even starting to have trouble with bloody corn snakes and red eared sliders going feral.. the laws are there for a reason but some people think it's OK to breach them.. sacrificing our amazing ecosystem


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## Galapoheros (Oct 23, 2009)

Daaanng!, yeah that's pretty strict.  I just read more about it on the internet.  You've prob heard, maybe you even know the guy, ..Dr Godwin from Australia wants to make it legal to import Axolotls there.  But he said, "...from the US.."  So it sounds like he wants to be sure he gets "tigrinum axolotls" and is not sure of the genetic background of the ones in Australia.  It almost looks like the beginning of it scientifically being accepted to call tigrinum that maintain larval characteristics Axolotls too!  Are there two species they want to call Axolotls now?  Are they going that direction?  Maybe it was just the way it was written, the writer twisting it or something like that.


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## Animalia (Oct 23, 2009)

lol i feel quite dumb now :wall: :wall: :wall: i didnt know what a axolotl was so i was like oh let me look at the pictures...........

ya well since the first picture showed a plant and rocks and you said it name (wich i missread ) was fungus i thought you were refering to the plant

so i was thinking darn... this dude is stupid he has a pet fungus.

ya now im the stupid one


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## Pacmaster (Oct 25, 2009)

This is the best place to find info . . .
They are so cool!

http://www.axolotl.org/


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