Leviathan-41

Have separated them - the axie is in another container with no stones. I've put ice packs in his water rather than putting him in our fridge, as I'm not sure where the temp control is for it or it's actual temp and I don't want to risk it getting lower than 4 degrees. Hopefully he'll pass anything he needs to now, and at least he's not with the fish anymore.

Thanks Carlos - the axie does have a snap at the fish sometimes. His previous owner said he'd eaten two other smaller fish she'd had in there with him. I haven't seen the fish have a go at the axie yet, it just seems oblivious to him, but then I've only had them for four days so far. What about keeping axies together? I have four other axies in another tank and sometimes they nip at each others' gills, legs, toes etc, and as a result some of them have shorter gills now. They grow toes back, but don't seem able to grow gills back that I've seen. Obviously people keep axies together in the same tank, especially to breed them, and one axie in a tank by itself seems so lonely. I'll have a go at fridging him to see if he passes anything, but if he has ingested one of those big glass stones as I suspect, I really doubt he'll be able to pass it as it looks way too big for him to pass. The only way to get rid of it that I can think of is to have it surgically removed - but I strongly doubt that axies can have surgery done on them or that I could find a vet who would do it.

Yeah, we had noticed his gills are quite stubby. The goldfish came with him when we bought him off his previous owner - they've apparently been "mates" for several years. Is it not recommended for fish and axies to live together in the same tank? (I'm a newbie when it comes to fish, never having had a fish before - only axies.) We reckon that the lump in his belly is the same size/shape as the blue glass stones in his tank, and think he may have ingested one of them. If this is the case, apart from removing the glass stones, I don't know what to do for him as there's no way he'll be able to pass it and I don't like to see him with it stuck in there for the rest his life Is there any way I can get him to regurgitate it? As far as the other stones in his tank are concerned, the stones he came with (apart from the glass ones) were much smaller and gravel-like. We removed them and put in some larger ones from our other axies' tank. We've never really had an issue with having stones in our axy tanks - they do ingest the smaller ones sometimes, but manage to poop them out again. According to other websites I've read on axy care, they say it's normal for axies to ingest the stones in their tank sometimes, and it shouldn't harm them as long as they can pass them again. I'm really pleased I've acquired this axy off his previous owner, as I could tell her attitude towards caring for him properly wasn't the best, and I think I'll be able to give him better care than he's had. Should I start by taking the goldfish out of his tank??

These are some photos of the wee guy - "Aristotle" as we've named him. His belly's not as easy to see in the photos as when viewing him in real life, but it's about the best I can do.

Well yeah...I'm sure with wild mice the rules of breeding are very different! Wild mice are much hardier and more durable than those bred in captivity. I was just stating advice I've read from other experienced mouse breeders - that mice bred in captivity shouldn't be treated as breeding machines. Though in saying that, my male mice wouldn't complain if I let them breed all the time, being the horny little devils they are!!

I breed mice to sell as pets, and a guy once bought one of my males to breed the babies for his water dragons. I was pretty horrified when he told me, and I got him to assure me that he would only feed the dragons the babies, not the adults. I don't really have a problem with newborn mice being used as a food source, as they are less aware (though personally I don't think I could ever do it, as I'm too fond of mice!) but I would consider it cruel to use adult mice or older babies (eg furry babies) for food. It is however definitely cruel to be constantly breeding from one female, as previously stated by BigBossPants. A female mouse should not have more than three litters in her lifetime - she should be allowed to retire once she reaches three litters, and should not be bred from once she reaches one year of age. She should also be allowed at least a couple of months break between litters. It is important to separate her from the male before she gives birth and while she's nursing the babies, otherwise she'll get pregnant again straight away and it's not good for her to be pregnant when she's just had a litter or still nursing.

I just bought a new axy off a girl on Trademe yesterday. She'd had him for five years, and from what she told me it sounds as though he hasn't been fed the healthiest of diets or kept in the best of conditions. She'd been keeping his tank outside her back door since the earthquake, and when I got it home I could see that it's quite dirty and probably hasn't been cleaned that often. The girl said she'd never had a filter for his tank and that he seemed ok without one, as he's stayed alive for five years without a filter. She also said his normal diet was sausage, mince, ham etc. The axy's lower belly appears to have a nasty and painful looking bulge in it - it just doesn't look natural. I'm not sure if this is a result of his diet, or something else, and I'm not sure what to do to make it better. I'm worried it might be cancer (I have no idea if axies can get cancer??) and might not be curable. I'll try to get a photo posted on here so people can see what I'm talking about.

I'm needing to buy a new tank for my axies, as I recently had an accident with my current tank while cleaning it and put a crack in it :facepalm: I'm looking at tanks on Trademe and there are not all that many available in Christchurch in the price range we can afford (and the cheaper ones already have a lot of bidders). There's this one seller with a tropical tank selling for $60.00, and I was wondering if I could use it for my axies if I didn't put the heater in it? (I know that axies definitely have to be kept in cold water.) Basically I'm wanting to know if a tropical tank could also be used as a cold water tank, or are they only designed to function as tropical tanks? Can anyone enlighten me?? -Thanks.

We live on Edgeware Rd, St Albans area. My parents live in Mairehau area off Kellys Rd, fairly close to Philpotts Rd, and I'm around at their place quite often. I think there is someone living on Kellys Rd who has a well, as the first few days after the earthquake when there was no tap water, there was a man standing outside his place with a sign saying 'fresh well water'. So I might try asking at his place when next over that way, if they'd mind us having some. If we're ever over in the area where the school on Selwyn St is, we'll definitely have to stock up on some of the well water there. It's just a bit out of the way for us, especially since we can't go through the CBD at the moment. We will have to look at getting some of that water conditioner - I presume all pet stores stock it? Thanks BigBossPants

Thank you everyone for your helpful suggestions. I moved my axies back into their tank yesterday, as I think they'd had enough of their cramped traveling box and were possibly a bit depressed (if axies can get depressed?) I used a bucket of the rainwater I'd collected and a bucket of tap water that had been sitting out overnight. The rainwater is a bit discoloured, and we don't have an airstone, but I've been keeping an eye on the axies and they seem happy enough for now with no signs of ailment. We'll look into getting some artesian well water from one the suggested locations, or from someone's well if there's someone close by to us who has a well, and the suggested equipment - dechlorinator, airstone etc. I'm not sure whether or not our water supply has started being chlorinated yet, as I can't taste any chlorine when I drink it - it still tastes the same - not like Auckland's or other cities' chlorinated water.

I bought my dad some tadpoles for Christmas, so by now they would be at least three months old. He started off feeding them on pond weed and bits of boiled lettuce leaves, which my mum had heard was a good food source for tadpoles, but they just didn't grow much at all. It looked as they were never going to get any bigger or start growing legs or anything, so I thought the lettuce might not be enough and bought some goldfish food for them. They started growing pretty much as soon as they started having the goldfish food, and they're now quite huge, but their legs just aren't appearing. Funnily enough, the smallest of the three tadpoles has the biggest legs, the other two are a lot bigger but they have virtually no legs - only the tiniest little buds of hind legs are visible if you look really closely. I would have thought that they'd be well on the way to their metamorphosis by now, and am wondering if it will even happen at all, or if they'll just stay in their tadpole form for the rest of their lives. Can this happen with tadpoles if they have not been getting sufficient food for a period of time, or is there still hope for them? Is there anything I can do - can anyone help me out please??

Hi MarkLB, yeah I filled a couple of buckets from a steady stream of rainwater coming off the roof. (Incidentally, while I was standing in the doorway filling a bucket, that huge aftershock happened, which kind of put me off the rainwater collecting as I find that whatever activity I'm doing when there's a quake, I associate with quakes from then on! Still, in the doorway was probably the best place to be at the time!) The water I got will need quite a bit of straining, as it has a lot of bits in it and doesn't seem the cleanest - the roof probably isn't the cleanest place to collect it from - a downpipe may be better, thanks. Hi Robyn, we will have to check out what some of those pet shops have in stock - thanks.

Hi Jennifer, we are Rebecca and husband Jason - we've been to your place in Halswell a couple of times for the Totally Tanked meetings (I presume you are the same Jennifer - it would be a bit embarrassing if you were someone different!). Robyn emailed us to say tonight's meeting was canceled though because of the quake. She said your stand of tanks held this time, but that Alan and Rodney had both lost a lot of their tanks Around how much do you pay for a dechlorinator, and how big are they? Jason says he has also heard of dissolving tablets that are chlorine-neutralizing, do you know anything about these? We are giving the axolotls' water a partial change at least every two - three days. Does it need changing more often? We have sometimes done it daily, on days when it's gotten really bad. I've also been removing large waste matter, either with tweezers or just with my fingers, to try to help slow down waste buildup.

After the recent Christchurch earthquake, the city's water supply is now being chlorinated. Us living here in Christchurch are very spoiled with our water, and are used to it being pure and chemical-free, so I'm not sure what to do now about making the water safe for my axolotls. Since the quake, my 4 axies have been living in their rather small and cramped polystyrene traveling box. I know it's not ideal to keep them in there long term, but with water being somewhat limited and having to be boiled and then cooled to drink and use, the polystyrene box uses a lot less of it than does their main tank. Also I feel better about being able to keep them safe in their box under the table from the aftershocks. (In the September earthquake, our entertainment unit fell onto and smashed one of our tanks. We saved the one axolotl resident and she was alright, but I'm now extremely protective of my axies with the quakes happening!) But the non-chlorinated water supply we have saved is going to run out soon, and I need to find a way of making the chlorinated water safe. I know for people in other cities, this is a usual thing to have to do, so I'm hoping someone might be able to give me some advise on this?? Thank you.