Photographed by an observer on iNaturalist and published under a Creative Commons licence; the photographer and the licence are named under the image. It is not an animal of ours, and no animal was handled by us to produce it.
The numbers
Temperature
One ambient band, 16–18°C. This sheet states no warm side, no cool side and no night figure, so none are shown. Same scale on every sheet here, so two species compare by eye.
The sheet statesWater 16-18 °C optimum; tolerance 14-20 °C; never >22 °C (fatal heat stress); aquarium chiller or fan mandatory in Thailand
UVB
Not needed for this species
Stated in the sheet, not inferred.
The sheet statesMinimal lighting (no UVB required); 12 h light / 12 h dark cycle; axolotl has no eyelids — provide shaded areas
Identity
Adult size
The size the sheet states for a grown animal.
Why
Two drawings, because they answer two questions. The silhouette is at true scale against a 1.75 m person: it says how big this animal actually is, which no number does for someone who has never seen one. The bar under it is logarithmic and shared by every sheet here, so a 2 cm isopod and a 4 m python both stay readable on the same axis and two species can be compared at a glance.
How common this animal is
NOT a measure of how many are kept. These filings count animals shipped for any purpose, including the food trade and laboratory supply, and they are United States records only. The three largest volumes in the source belong to a food frog, a bait species and the standard laboratory amphibian.
US Fish and Wildlife Service LEMIS declared wildlife import and export records, as compiled in the received dataset
Enclosure and conditions
What your climate adds
This sheet states a range to hold. Your local climate decides how much work holding it is. Pick the nearest city: nothing is sent anywhere, the choice stays in this browser.
Reproduction
Life course
Read from the lifespan and maturity the sheet states, for animals in care and not in the wild.
Why
The minimum commitment is the low end of that lifespan, and the reproductive window is what is left after maturity: both are subtractions on stated figures, not figures of their own.
Common health problems
Good to know
- Obligate neoteny: the axolotl is incapable of natural metamorphosis: do not administer iodide (T4 injection) without strict scientific supervision
- Water cooling essential in Bangkok (ambient temp 28–35 °C): aquatic chiller or fan above the surface; monitor temp daily during the hot season
- Remarkable regeneration of limbs, gills and even part of the heart: do not confuse a regenerating limb with an infected wound
- GFP (Green Fluorescent Protein) morph: fluorescence visible under UV light: no impact on care, purely aesthetic
- Obligate neoteny: the axolotl is incapable of natural metamorphosis — do not administer iodide (T4 injection) without strict scientific supervision
- Remarkable regeneration of limbs, gills and even part of the heart — do not confuse a regenerating limb with an infected wound
- GFP (Green Fluorescent Protein) morph: fluorescence visible under UV light — no impact on care, purely aesthetic
Common questions
Does it stay in water all the time, or does it need dry land?
Fully aquatic for its whole life, so no land area is needed. Just a wide tank with gentle filtration; adults reach roughly 25 cm.
Do I really need a chiller here in Thailand?
Honestly, yes. Axolotls need genuinely cool water and our room temperature is too warm for them year round, so budget for a chiller from the start.
Can I pick it up and hold it?
Better not to. Their skin and external gills are very delicate, so move them with a soft net or scoop them in a container of water instead.
Can I keep two in the same tank?
Only if they are a similar size, in a big tank, and fed separately. A smaller or hungry one will get its gills and legs bitten.
What it needs
Every line above is deduced from a value this sheet states, and names which one. Nothing here is a general recommendation. What the sheet does not state is listed too, rather than left out: a kit that looks complete is worse than one that names its gap.
Sources
Others in this group
What this sheet states
This sheet states 4 of 7 of the fields this product runs on. What is missing turns something off: humidity instrument and audit, day/night engine and awake count on the globe, the diet section. We show the gap rather than fill it with a plausible number.
UVB is measured but does not count: it is absent from 421 of 678 sheets, and on most of them that is not a gap, since a nocturnal snake's sheet has no reason to state a UV index. Counting it would call the library incomplete without cause.