Meet Gertrude Mc Fuzz the Axolotl

Here's Gertrude today (May 9, 2007) attacking some pieces of her lunch. It's amazing how well that she can move around the glass nuggets in her tank. Here, she's using her head as a sort of battering ram. There's plenty of food in the bare areas of the tank, so I can only surmise that she enjoys playing with the nuggets. The original plan was to use river rocks in the tank but I was afraid that one might tip and hurt her. The tank was bare bottom for a few days but I found that look too blase', so added some glass nuggets for variety. Although she's only been with me a short time; already I've become very fond of her.

I had always liked mudpuppies but wanted something that would remain in the larval stage. A few weeks ago, I saw some information about axolotls on the Internet and after reading their care requirements decided that this was definitely a pet for me.

http://www.axolotl.org/

Being that the name translated means "Water Doll" or alternately "Water Dog" fit right in too. Everyone liked the albinos, so I ordered three and Getrude and her entourage arrived May 1, 2007.

They were a bit smaller than we had expected at around 2" from nose to tail tip. However; we were soon to discover that they had a hearty appetite and seemed to grow almost before our eyes.

There is conflicting information about whether axies should be housed together. We had set up three separate tanks in preparation but decided to try keeping them together since they were shipped together and were small.

I observed the smallest (Aurora) being nipped, so she was moved to her own tank. Then one morning, Gertrude was missing her front left foot. At that point, Pinkie was moved to his own tank and all three now have their own little domain.