02/12/2023
A warning to people impulse-buying axolotls (or EGGS!) at trade shows:
I am told that there are currently many "breeders" trying to dump hatchling and very small juvenile axolotls right now due to the extreme shortage of blackworms and other small, live food sources. Several people have reported to me that bags of eggs are even being sold at trade shows! These vendors have over-produced babies or had accidental clutches and thought it was a good idea to hatch them, or don't have the sense to cull the excess eggs, and now find that there simply isn't enough food available to keep them alive without spending the equivalent of a mortgage payment for a 2-week food supply.
Before you decide to take home tiny babies you need to understand that you're going to have the same problem, just on a smaller scale. Babies need frequent feeding with live foods. They will not take frozen, dried, or otherwise preserved foods for the first 6-8 weeks, and may require direct hand feeding for non-living foods for weeks after that. This means you need a constant source of live, high-protein foods of appropriate sizes as the babies grow. If you don't have them, the babies will grow very slowly, be permanently stunted, or die outright of malnutrition.
As I've stated on this page before; You should never get an axolotl under three months old unless you are experienced in their care, and have the necessary resources. An ethical seller will tell you that.
Please be aware:
(a) There are many genetic and health issues that are not obvious before about three months of age.
(b) Hatchlings and small juveniles are very sensitive to water conditions that have little effect on an older animal. In other words, they're fragile.
(c) After three months of age axolotls can be trained to take a variety of prepared and preserved foods that are readily available at pet shops or online, and can eat small nightcrawlers, red wigglers, etc. without hand-feeding. In fact, most responsible breeders will have already trained 3-4 month juveniles on pellets, worms, or other foods that are easy to obtain. We won't sell them at all (other than to people who have the requisite experience) unless they are eating floating pellets consistently.
