Axolotl, The Best Pet Amphibian?

[Music] well hi there this unusual creature is an axolotl it isn't actually that unusual really it looks pretty much like a salamander specifically it looks like a juvenile mole salamander which it is these are closely related to other mole salamanders like spotted salamanders and tiger salamanders and wild juveniles they all look a lot like this they have the shape of a salamander except with big feathery gills protruding from the sides of their head making them very easy to distinguish from other juvenile amphibians like frogs that have internal gills so far everything looks normal the big difference is that while most amphibians eventually metamorphose lose the gills and move out of the water at least some of the time axolotls don't most of the time they grow up and mature but retain the gills and the fully aquatic lifestyle generally reserved for juvenile amphibians this is a condition called paetomorphism or neoteny the retaining of juvenile characteristics in adults so these guys do not go through metamorphosis this is what they look like as juveniles and they also look like this as adults though metamorphosis can be induced artificially by injecting them with iodine which simulates the thyroid hormones that would usually induce metamorphosis this is possible to do but rarely results in a long-lived terrestrial axolotl so axolotls are basically like lost boys you know that are girls half the time and they mature while looking like big kids you know instead of pirates unless you inject them with iodine in which case they will turn into pirates but they will probably not live very long also like pirates and they live underwater like mermaids they have the basic body shape of a crocodile and as it turns out thanks to science some of them even glow like tinkerbell so you have your choice of names i think i'll call this one rufio but the big question is are axolotls good pets and is the cast of hook encapsulated in the body of a salamander the best pet amphibian for you to help you figure this out we'll need to score the axolotl based on our five categories which are handleability care hardiness availability and upfront costs and if at any point during this video you find yourself enjoying it thoroughly please subscribe to our channel we have hundreds of awesome reviews just like this one and so much more when it comes to handleability we give the axolotl a score of three out of five which is a very high score considering i don't think you should hold them at all like most amphibians it's advisable to keep handling at least to a minimum they can absorb chemicals bacteria and other impurities that may be on your hands right through their skin this is a common issue with handling across amphibians and axolotls are just no exception but where axolotls are an obvious exception is that they live all of their lives underwater and have feathery delicate gills and the gills aren't so much of a problem because of respiration axolotls at least adult axolotls have lots of ways of breathing i honestly can't think of an animal with more the way that vertebrates get oxygen is by getting blood very close to something with a higher concentration of oxygen such as air or water that's what gills do but it's also what lungs do and adult axolotls despite being totally aquatic have lungs in addition to their gills but wait there's more that skin that they have that is damp and can allow chemicals and impurities to enter their body can also allow oxygen from air or water to enter their bloodstream and if that isn't enough the thin membranes in their mouth can do the same this is called bugle respiration and as long as they do not dry out about all of these systems will function so while i wouldn't recommend keeping them on land for an extended period it isn't because they're going to rapidly suffocate but it is probably pretty stressful for them to be on land for one thing those gills could easily be damaged which could definitely be an issue in the short term the good news is that axolotls are sort of like slow motion aquatic versions of wolverine or deadpool just in case you didn't find a name you liked and hook though i am unaware of them having the ability to drop their tails voluntarily some salamanders can so it wouldn't blow my mind but if it is lost they can grow right back which is pretty neat but it doesn't end there they can also regrow limbs if lost which is super cool but it goes even further because they can even regenerate neural tissue like portions of their spinal cord or even their brain it's nuts so if you do end up injuring one without killing it you can know that it will probably bounce back like the t-1000 while they have teeth they're not sharp or likely to cause any injury to you they don't have any claws what i'm saying is that all of the risk of handling an axolotl is to the axolotl they're easy to handle and can survive some time on land but don't do it for fun handle your axolotl like it was a betta fish and be careful with those gills it's not difficult to do but only do it when necessary when it comes to care we give the axolotl a score of three out of five this is a fish not only phylogenetically as i would consider all tetrapods to be fish at least if shark and trout are both fish but in terms of care there is just nothing about this animal that sets it apart from fish specifically a relatively cold water fish we're talking temperatures in the mid 60s fahrenheit that's around 18 degrees celsius or 291 kelvins that's probably colder than your home if you keep your home too much warmer than that it will place the health and life of your axolotl in jeopardy so what does all this mean well it means that you need to set up and run a fish tank and you will probably need a chiller that isn't the hardest thing in the world but it is definitely a bigger pain in the neck than what you get with most other mole salamanders and if i need to set up a temperature controlled fish tank there are a lot of other fish that are more fun to watch than axolotls keeping a fish tank means that you will need to understand things like the importance of dechlorinating and conditioning water how to cycle an aquarium ph and other water parameters we explain many of these in our video about freshwater stingrays and like freshwater stingrays axolotls make a big mess in terms of nitrogenous waste this means that you need a good filter and frequent water changes but be sure that the water flow is not too fast some things unique to axolotls will be your choice of substrate and the need for cool water axolotls like mini fish are suction feeders but they have a nasty habit of sucking in pieces of gravel larger than they can pass through their digestive tracts leading to impaction additionally their scaleless delicate skin can easily be damaged by rough or sharp substrates in general this means that fine sand is the best substrate for them rinse it thoroughly though or it will make a terrible mess of the water to keep the water cool your best bet will be a chiller given that they can potentially grow to be over a foot are messy and need their aquarium to be temperature controlled i would recommend an aquarium around 20 gallons for one axolotl you can get away with a smaller one but it's going to be more difficult to keep conditions right as for food axolotls are optimistic carnivores this means they will eat about any animal they can fit in their mouths so things like fish shrimp worms really any small live or dead animal commonly used as fish food these will all work variety is really the key and keep that in mind if you're planning to add any friends to the tank because they're optimistic and just be careful in general not to over feed them or leave uneaten food in the aquarium as that will really mess up your water i'd like to take a moment just to say thank you to our patrons at patreon and to draw your attention to the fact that every week for our patrons we have an entire extra video called patreon extras and i can tell you this week's patreon extras video is a doozy and you probably don't want to miss it so if you don't already support us on patreon maybe maybe go at least check it out and if you do thank you so much you are allowing us to do so much and i hope you enjoy that video when it comes to hardiness we give the axolotl a score of four out of five assuming that you give them proper care they should be pretty hardy problems are likely if you don't give them the correct substrate even no substrate can lead to stress also if you don't monitor and maintain proper water conditions then you can have all kinds of problems and if you keep them too warm well you can have problems also avoid overfeeding these things all factor into care but they are different than the needs of most reptiles and even other adult amphibians so don't mess them up for all intents and purposes it's a fish a fish with four ways of breathing that can regenerate parts of its own heart and brain if injured i mean they're hardy most of their health issues are just related to poor water quality too much heat wrong substrate or over feeding avoid these and your axolotls should live over a decade when it comes to availability we give the axolotl a score of five out of five which is a lot more than can be said of their wild populations these guys come exclusively from a few lakes near mexico city mexico water pollution and invasive fish have reduced the wild population down to somewhere between 50 and 1 000 individuals according to the international union for conservation of nature and natural resources it is not at all unlikely that they will become extinct in the wild in the near future that said they are thriving in captivity we've been keeping and breeding them in captivity for well over a hundred years due to their relative ease of care hardiness and incredible regenerative ability they have become a very popular subject for research genetic research has provided us with a number of interesting natural mutations such as albinism and leucism we have a whole video about color morphs if you want to understand more about that and recently we have been blessed with axolotls that are biofluorescent you know no big deal this is not a natural mutation at least not in axolotls green fluorescent protein gfp the protein that causes this fluorescence comes from the crystal jelly aquaria victoria and that's super cool but if you've seen our video on moon jellies you probably know that keeping jellies is a bit involved which is too bad but wouldn't you know it the instructions for how to produce this gfp protein are in the dna of the jellyfish and we now have the technology to identify which segment of dna produces it and you know who else has dna axolotls and if you remove this gfp coding segment of dna from a jellyfish cell and insert it say into the genome of an axolotl zygote you can guess what happens you get an axolotl that when exposed to blue or uv light fluoresces green like a scorpion or more accurately like a crystal jelly these are transgenic organisms combine that gfp with albinism and you get tinkerbell for sure what all this means is that axolotls are not only very common in captivity but they're available in a wide and in fact crazy diversity of colors and degrees of luminescence these axolotls all come to us from animal art in orem utah they have an impressive selection of healthy axolotls as well as a wide diversity of reptiles amphibians fish birds arthropods and basically all of the kinds of things we tend to talk about on this channel if you're ever in orem utah say as part of your trip to visit clint's reptile room then you should totally drop by animal ark and check it out but if you want to get an axolotl they're very available in pet shops expos and online they're doing well in captivity this means that while they may be lost in the wild they're likely to endure in captivity for a very long time what david and tracy barker have coined as the invisible ark habitat destruction is the great threat to most species on this planet and many like the axolotl may only be saved by captive husbandry when it comes to upfront costs we give the axolotl a three out of five i was tempted to go higher axolotls themselves are not crazy expensive though prices can glow higher in some cases this is not an appropriate aquarium for an axolotl but the aquarium you need is pretty inexpensive for a fish tank but it's still a fish tank and chillers will be around the same price as a heater which you won't need though some chillers are considerably more water conditioner sand and food are your main other costs a full spectrum light will be needed especially if you want to see your gfp do its thing and you will need water testing supplies and this is why overall we give the axolotl a score of 3.6 out of 5. if what you want is a fish but with legs and you wanted to have the ability to regrow those legs and also most of its other body parts and it wouldn't hurt if it could fluoresce like a jellyfish then the axolotl might be the perfect pet well non-amphibious amphibian for you as always like and subscribe we hope to see you real soon hello friend but the big question is yeah what the heck did you not install it on the entire air conditioner i should have i should have i just installed on the tortoise lights yeah now they're off i'm sure the tortoise appreciates that i've learned that uh a wood floor is not a good place for the clapper is our axolotls good pets sirens and a motorcycle train's coming don't worry yeah help we'll wait for that but the big question is are axolotls good pets and is this is that legitimately a train yeah views just like this one and so much more do that last one one more time i have a guy chained up back there that makes so much sense yeah that's us guys though prices can glow higher in some cases [Music] sometimes sometimes you need to process that will was disapproving immediately [Music] you

Channel: Clint's Reptiles

Views: 130,947

Keywords: Reptiles, Pets, Snakes, Lizards, Animals, salamander, salamanders, newt, newts, frog, frogs, axolotl, axolotls, tiger salamander, spotted salamander, water dog, Ambystoma mexicanum, paedomorphic, mudpuppies, mudpuppy, best pet salamander, axolotl care, axolotl aquarium, axolotl morphs, albina, leucistic, glow, GFP axolotl, green fluorescent protein, pet axolotl, the insane biology of the axolotl, Clint's Reptiles, Snake Discovery, Aquarium Info, Paul Cuffaro, Tik Tok, Regeneration, Gills, Lungs

Id: 6A_3SRAT87U

Length: 15min 14sec (914 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 17 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/ArtsyAxolotl]

Pretty good video! Makes me a little nervous that he outright recommends 20g, cuz that’s kinda small and results in a lot of water changes (I say that from personal experience, not just because this sub recommends min 29g). But over all he seems to have the important stuff down like the cool temps and how cycling is so important, other tankmates might get eaten, substrate, etc. it’s nice to see YouTube videos where it seems like some care was put into the info. You can tell this guy cares :3