Axolotls New Zealand

25/08/2024

Our low grade mosaic listing closes later today 😃

LOW GRADE MOSAIC Relisting due to muck around I have a low grade mosaic female here looking for new waters. This is a very rare opportunity for someone ...

25/08/2024

Coming into frog season we’re on the look out for some more bell frogs to add to our natural outdoor enclosure.

It is currently home to one male albino frog that we are hoping to bred to produce more and felt building this outdoor enclosure would be the best way to achieve that and hope eventually we will produce enough albino frogs to share with others 😃

We’re looking for bell frogs/tadpoles from anywhere in the country to keep our gene pool large

If you have bell frogs either in your gardens, or to rehome please reach out we would love to buy them! Will pay top dollar if you have albinos or any albino het but will be happy with any normal morphs 😃

Bare in mind these will need to be shipped to us (we will pay for any shipping costs and can talk you through how to safely ship).

20/08/2024

So many people irresponsibly breeding their Axolotls and it needs to stop!

If you have a male and female Axolotl together that
1. aren’t at LEAST 18 months old
2. Aren’t in top condition.
3. Either of the Parents hets are UNKNOWN
4. can’t afford to feed 500+ babies
5. Won’t be able to find homes for 500+ babies
6. Don’t know if they are related.
7. Don’t know any family history.
8. Don’t understand basic genetics

Then you NEED to seperate your axolotls now!

Breeding takes careful planning, and dedication by a passionate breeder, it is not just putting a male and female Axolotl together, waiting for eggs, and then raising them, this kind of unethical breeding needs to stop!

Axolotls across the world are already severely in**ed, all living things actually are but axolotls are worse, for example an organism is only considered “in**ed” if it’s parents were closely related (first cousins, or closer) in that case it would result in a minimum inbreeding coefficient of 6.25%, If the parents were brother and sister, the inbreeding coefficient would be 25%, with axolotls breeding two that are “unrelated” the breeding coefficient would already be 35% which means axolotls have a higher inbreeding coefficient then you have if your parents were brother and sister.
Can you start to see why we’re worried?

Signs of genetic problems.

* Your babies are growing at different rates
* Extra limbs and gills
* Twisted spin
* Short gills
*dwarfism
*short toes

Bare in mind these are all health and genetic issues you can see, when you breed an Axolotl irresponsibility they will likely have all kinds of health issues and genetic problems that you can’t see that will end up killing them later on like extra, out of place, deformed or missing organs/intestines.

It’s also not hard to pick out someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing breeding wise compared to reputable breeders because you have clutch’s and clutch’s of wildtype Axolotls which are the result of not matching your heterozygous.

It only takes one person to breed irresponsibility for genetic problems to occur but takes years for us to breed these genetic problems out of the population, because of this most of our Axolotls in NZ are severely deformed.

If you do have eggs that have been accidentally laid please do the responsible thing and cull them, (you can do this well they’re still cells by putting them in the freezer).

Male and female Axolotls can also not live together permanently breeding or not your male Axolotls will continue to harass your female Axolotls until they lay which will overbred them and cause many health problems with your girl and her offspring, not to mention it’s extremely harsh on the female laying hundreds of eggs at a time and can kill her.

All exotic rescues are FULL of Axolotls currently, trade me is full, pet shops aren’t struggling to find any, many people on the axolotl group are struggling to home there’s, and our rescue has hundreds. There is NO market for these Animals so please stop your bad breeding!

19/08/2024

Due to being ghosted we’ve had to relist our low grade mosaic. She’s now on trade me if you’re interested

LOW GRADE MOSAIC Relisting due to muck around I have a low grade mosaic female here looking for new waters. This is a very rare opportunity for someone ...

19/08/2024

Before and after of the golden albinos that came into my care a few weeks ago, didn’t really notice until I looked back,
Some were sooo green it was concerning
(I remember placing them into this dish at my expo to separate out the greeny ones because my first thought was they’re GFP),

later found out they were green cause previous owners did methylene blue baths on them and since they’re a bit transparent you could see it stained their insides.

(After I put the greeny ones in the dish to separate them out to take a picture, a member of the public snapped one too then went around telling everyone I had them permanently housed in a dish 🙃 thanks for that)

17/08/2024

I just wanted to share the complaints I have received over the years being an exotic rescue, and things the spca have personally said to me. Spca can be great but when it comes to exotic pets Dunedin SPCA know NOTHING. I laugh at these now but at the time it was actually a fricken joke, I felt like I was being pranked.

1. Complaint - Axolotls you have rescued are missing limbs
SPCA response - take them to a vet
Our response - haha what? Axolotls grow their limbs back, what will a vet do? Tell us our axolotl is missing a limb and then charge us $60 for the consult. No thanks

2. Complaint - Your Red Eared slider turtle tank is too hot
Spca comment - Your turtles have heaters in their tank, given they are from the ocean they need cold water.
Our response - you need to go away and do your research these are fresh water turtles, they don’t live in the ocean, recommend temperature for them is anywhere between 23 and 28 degrees c.

3. Complaint - your leopard geckos cohabitate
Spca comment - * reads something off google around why cohabitation is bad
My response - although that is partly true there are mixed thoughts on cohabitating leopard geckos, I wouldn’t recommend anyone cohabitate their geckos but it can be done without issues, I have been cohabiting for years and know many other reputable breeders who do the same without issues.

4. Complaint - your Axolotls are dead
Spca - we had a complaint your Axolotls looked dead at a display you had over the weekend, given last years talk we had with you we’re sure this wasn’t the case.
My response - Axolotls aren’t active animals, they do basically nothing, and only move their gills when they’re taking in oxygen, given we had not long changed their water there would of been lot of oxygen in their water so they wouldn’t of moved their gills much.

5. Complaint - your mice had no hiding places & people were complaining their hiding places were being lifted to often.
My response - which is it? Seems a bit contracting?

6. Complaint inadequate heating for Your blue tongue skink
Spca comment - your blue tongue skink needs under floor heating
My comment - blue tongue skinks burrow to get away from heat, under floor heating is extremely dangerous for them, and may cook her.

6. Complaint - your Axolotls are yellow
Spca comment - your Axolotls shouldn’t be that yellow colour, they look sick
My response - Axolotls come in many different colours, these particular ones are golden albinos, they’re not sick that’s their natural colouring.

7. Piglets that only drank milk needed access to water (even tho they had access to milk)

8. Gave me a care sheet on Axolotls that said
* Axolotls need a minimum of 40litres (my comment* it’s 60litres but ok)
* Axolotls need a temp of 22-24 degrees c (my comment* they’re cold water anything over 20degrees c will cook them)
* Axolotls can’t live on earthworms because it causes vitamin deficiencies (my comment* earthworms are actually the most nutritional and best food you can give to an axolotl)
* A good diet for Axolotls is bloodworms, chicken heart and beef. (*my comment* All are crap foods, Axolotls are fully aquatic, they can’t digest any kind of mammalian meats or chicken, and feeding those foods will cause health issues down the line).

9. Complaint - a child was bitten by a Red Earred slider turtle at one of your events
My response - if someone was bitten by one of my 25cm plus long red earred slider turtles they’d be screaming and crying, if it was a child they’d be in hospital, those turtles aren’t something to mess with and frankly I call bu****it, if someone was really bitten EVERYONE would of heard it.

10. Complaint - your shop and events smell
My response - they’re animals who are cleaned out daily, they’re going to smell, it’s not a soap shop.

11. Complaint - your Axolotls were housed in containers
My response - it’s called tubbing which is very common practice for all aquatic animals, and their housing at our event is temporary.

12. Complaint - your reptiles don’t have lighting
My response - just because ceramic heat bulbs don’t light up like the Karen’s want them too doesn’t mean they weren’t on and going.

List goes on I might have to start a YouTube on it 😂

17/08/2024

I just wanted to address this, firstly to make a post of any kind to hate on our rescue is disgusting. I take pride in the work I do around Axolotls, I not only take in hundreds of unwanted Axolotls every month, but i take time out of my day to video call, and chat with keepers across NZ when they are struggling with their own Axolotls upkeep, or have an health crisis.
I have written pages and pages of care info and proper husbandry that I provide and share to all keepers willing to listen and learn. Not only that but every single axolotl that leaves my care I ensure their new owners are properly set up, and have fully cycled set ups, if their tanks aren’t up to my standard I spent months talking owners through how to cycle and set up their tanks well I HOLD the axolotl they were after in my care until they are ready.

It is a massive assumption to assume I don’t know what I’m doing when I am one of few reputable breeders in this country and the ONLY axolotl rescue.

As for shipping it is not illegal to ship axolotls or other animals, it’s actually very common practice and if you did your research you’d know that.

All of our Axolotls are packaged in fish bags with water and air, and then put into boxes and send via plane so they arrive overnight. In my 16 years of shipping live animals I have NEVER had an animal arrive dead.

As for the action I’m currently holding again this is very common practice in the axolotl world, breeders right around the world will action off their mosaics because they are a rare morph and you can’t put a price on them, it isn’t disgusting, and definitely doesn’t make me a bad keeper for doing so. Those who bid on a rare animal and are willing to pay top dollar for an animal that is rare clearly aren’t going to be new keepers, they know what a mosaic is and know what they’re doing.

Enough said. Next time Kim message us or go educate yourself on these animals instead of posting your hate on Dunedin new uncut that we can’t defend ourselves on, and stop making big assumptions about these animals that you clearly know NOTHING about.

12/08/2024

Go onto Axolotl Keepers New Zealand and vote for how many Axolotls you have, we’d love to know rough numbers of how many are in nz

04/08/2024

We have lots of Axolotls here ready for forever homes, baby golden albinos and adult wildtypes (black/brown colouring). We will also have leucistics ready in a few weeks (just waiting for some limbs to fully heal over). Adults are all female

These axolotls are all rescues so can never be bred from, they have unknown heterozygous and likely from in**ed clutch’s. they can only be housed with Axolotls that are the same gender.

These are located in Dunedin but we can safely ship them across NZ.

Basic care:
Axolotls require a 60cm long by 30cm wide tank for one, and an additional 30cm length per axolotl you add (floor space is more important then tank height to axolotls)

Axolotls require a low flow filter that is cycled, (canister filters, internal filters, or sponge filters). Cycling is a over 4 week process of creating a beneficial bacteria in your filter (nitrates) that feeds on bacterias that harm aquatic animals (ammonia and nitrite), to do this you will need dr Tim’s pure ammonia (from holly wood fish farm), and a fresh water master test kit.

Axolotls don’t have eyelids so are extremely sensitive to light, it’s best to have no lights in their tank and lots of hiding places.

Axolotls are solitary animals so can NOT be housed with other animals such as catfish, goldfish, tropical fish, snails, or other amphibians, doing so will stress out both species and likely cause health issues you may not pick up on until it’s too late.

An Axolotls diet should be fish and bug based, absolutely no mammalian meats or poultry (Axolotls can’t digest red meats, or poultry, and feeding those foods will cause health issues such as renal failure, obesity, and vitamin A toxicity.

The best diet for an axolotl is Repashys Grubpie, earthworms, and shrimp pellets.

Axolotls are very different to fish, they breathe through their skin and gills so a lot of fish protects are toxic to them, and they are a lot more sensitive.
Prime is the best water conditioner for Axolotls, other protects you pick might be toxic.

Please join Axolotl Keepers New Zealand for more care info

13/07/2024

We have adult wildtypes, and baby golden albinos ready for forever homes now,
Before homing we do require a photo of your tank set up

Bare in mind these are rescues so can not be bred from, these babies in particular came from in in**ed clutch

07/06/2024

❤️

16/05/2024

Hey everyone, a friend of mine is travelling from Nelson to Dunedin in his bus and has offered to pick up surrenders and rescues to bring down to our rescue, if anyone between Nelson and Dunedin is stuck with their pets please reach out,
Can take in fish, Axolotls, newts, frogs, geckos, bearded dragons, water dragons, blue tongue skinks and turtles

Pic of our newest arrivals ❤️

21/03/2024

We are desperately looking for someone in Geraldine who can collect 4 Axolotls for us and hold onto them until our car is fixed to get them, they’re come down from the north island and we were meant to collect them yesterday but our car broke down on the highway, we can pay you for your time and gas

07/03/2024

Sales thread of things we no longer need, prices and info in the comments, everything in the photo below and more as I sort it throughout the day.
Pick up Dunedin or can post, everything has been checked and works well 🙂

04/12/2023

If you have a spare moment please click on this photo and like it, wellington amphibian and reptile rescue are in the draw to win $250 towards their rescue and could really use your support

Wellington Amphibian and Reptile Rescue