14/11/2025
Hey y'all. I wanted to address something tonight. Many axolotl breeders will accept surrenders, however just as many axolotl breeders are ill-equipped to properly rehabilitate axolotls.
Any surrender that we intake goes through several basic steps, and this includes testing the water that they arrived in with a liquid test kit. Sometimes, acclimation will be different based on what the animal was exposed to, but this is mostly to provide a baseline for what the animal needs to recover.
The surrender who came to us today was exposed to inadequate water chemistry. In the supplies that were given to me, I noticed a pH acidifier. When I tested the water, I also noticed that the pH was 6. I also saw that nitrates tested off the charts.
We do not plunge axolotls directly into our water, no matter how exact our chemistry is, and this is EXACTLY why. If he had transitioned immediately from a pH of 6 to 7.6, and a nitrate level of 180ppm+ down to 0ppm, he likely would have passed from the shock - despite not priorly being on the brink.
All of our intakes are acclimated individually for a minimum of 30 days, as well as dewormed, medicated as needed, and weaned onto live food. We have taken surrenders to the vet, just not very frequently as we are generally able to treat illness directly in our rehab.
Many breeders are incapable of taking all of these steps, but are still willing to accept sickly axolotls, oftentimes resulting in a poor rehab process or even a deceased axolotl.
If you're in need of help with any exotic species, a reputable breeder is the place to go - however, make sure you ask about their intake process if you opt to surrender your animal, to ensure the breeder isn't trying to fill more shoes than they ought to.
This is not meant to shame anyone who needs to surrender an animal, but instead to encourage them to seek help before things get so out of hand, as well as to ensure that who is meant to help will actually do so.
