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Care Sheet: Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum)

Common Name: Axolotl, Mexican Salamander, and Water Monster.

Scientific Name: Ambystoma mexicanum.

Distribution: The Xochimilcho and Chalco lakes in central Mexico.

Size: 20-30cm (8-12").

Life Expectancy: 10-12 years, although an age of 20 years is attainable.

Sexing: Males have more swollen cloaca, females are often plumper when viewed from above.

Varieties: The normal colouration (Wild Type) is dark brown with sooty brown to blackish blotches and spots. Captive breeding has created several colour variants including albino, leucistic, golden-albino, olive, melanoid, melanoid-albino and pied examples.

Wild Type

Leucistic

Requirements: These aquatic Salamanders are rather large and require a large aquarium. A 15-gallon tank would be adequate for 2 adults. They require a totally aquatic set-up with a substrate of gravel or sand. Furnishings such as large pebbles and aquatic plants can be arranged to provide a number of hiding places. The water should be clean de-chlorinated or spring water at a depth of 15-30cm (6-12"). The water will need to be filtered using a submersible power filter to avoid the build up of ammonia and bacteria in the water, and partial water changes should be carried out at regular intervals. It is also a good idea to lightly oxygenate the water with the use of an air-stone. Axolotl's require a water temperature of 10-25°C, and a low wattage fluorescent tube should be used as a light source.

Feeding: Juvenile Axolotl's should be fed daily with a mixture of suitably sized insects including Daphnia, mosquito larvae, brine shrimp, tubifex, earthworm and whiteworm. Adult Axolotl's should be fed every other day with a mixture of earthworms, slugs, mealworms, maggots, small fish,chunks of raw meat & aquatic amphibian pellets.