03/24/2024
I saw a post suggesting that axolotls “enjoy” being cohabitated as adults and it didn’t receive any controversy, so I thought it was important to share my thoughts and observations on cohabitation. Cohabitation can be very negative for axolotls of all ages with no clear positive impact. Axolotls are very prone to bite each other just because something went by their face. If a bite hasn’t happened yet, it is just based on pure luck. Methods can reduce bites, but complete separation is the only solution that ELIMINATES bites. Without complete separation a bite is an inevitable tragedy. I can’t count the number of times I have seen posts from distressed owners crying because they woke up to one of their babies missing a limb as a result of a bite from another axolotl. It is important for there to be a proper source for information on topics like this so people learning how to care for axolotls do not make decisions based off of what information matches their ideals, instead of accurate information.
Axolotls do not enjoy cohabitation. It’s hard to really define if they can even process “joy” at all. It can be easy to tell what they want, like cold water and worms, but it is genuinely impossible to determine what they enjoy. When you are analyzing an axolotl’s behavior you shouldn’t define it in human emotions. This is an easy, understandable mistake to make considering we are humans making observations from our human perspectives. Nonetheless it is still inherently inaccurate to do so. Axolotls do not have the same cognitive spectrum as humans, so we can’t assume their behavior using human logic.
The two most misconstrued cases I see are when axolotls are ”sitting” or ”dancing” with each other, so I will address both here with my personal opinion. Axolotls have not been observed to be inherently territorial, and they tend to think similarly. So when you see two axolotls sitting on each other or touching seemingly unbothered, it is likely because they both think that the spot they are in is the best spot to be at the time, and neither are territorial enough to push the other out. When you see two axolotls “dancing” with each other, you are seeing a breeding behavior. This is almost always (in my experience, exclusively) two males doing this dance together, and they are only doing it in an attempt to breed. Each male cannot tell that the opposite male is indeed a male and not female, so upon contact, usually the first contact, they will try to breed thinking the opposite axolotl is a female. They are not dancing. They are not playing. They are trying to breed, it is as simple as that. Once they realize they are both males they will stop until they forget again.
To conclude this post, it is really important to have mounds of research, countless personal observations, and multiple perspectives, both human and axolotl, before creating a post with the intention to inform, especially if you are portrayed as a focal point of information, whether by breeding or simply being a member of an informative group. People still learning can run off with any inaccuracy and cause potential harm for the animals we are supposed to care about.
P.S. : If you disagree, please be cordial. My only offense is disagreeing with you, and expressing it with the intent to save animals. Please think of that before responding with unkind words.
Thank you.
feat. Skip the Legend; my first axolotl
