A handy guide for those who are just curious or experiencing a morph themselves
SURVIVING THE MORPH
Your six-month-old axolotl has lost his gills and now he is trying to stick his head out of the water for a breath. What is going on? Is he sick? You checked your water parameters and nothing sticks out...everything was going great! What did you do wrong? The answer is...absolutely nothing. If your beloved axolotl fits the description below, he's going through a painless process known as morphing - And he will soon emerge from the water as a terrestrial, air-breathing salamander. Oh, and he's going to have eyelids now.
One of the first things that most people notice is the lack of gills. They will look like they are shrinking, disappearing into the head even! The difference between the gills of a morphing axolotl vs. a sick one quickly become clear when you take a closer look. When morphing, the gills don't just shrink. They begin to curl and tuck into the gill slits. Pretty soon, the gills will completely recede into the slits and the skin will grow over, leaving nothing but a neat little line in the place where the fluffy stalks used to be.
You will also notice that his legs are stuck straight out to the sides, usually quite stiffly. This can be an alarming change because it looks like your salamander is in a lot of pain! Don't worry, he's OK. The bones in his legs are changing shape, shortening and thickening so that he can bear his own weight on land. He is also growing strong muscles, so his legs will begin to look thicker!
By this point, his dorsal and caudal fins (the clear ones on his back and tail) will have receded. His tail should be thin and "lizard-like" now. The webbing between his toes will have disappeared too, and the toes will probably look much longer than they did before.His eyes will now be bulging with a ring of skin around the eye. These are his eyelids. At this point, if he encounters a bright light, he will probably blink. It can be quite shocking to see this for the first time!
You might also notice that his skin appears to be peeling. He is losing his slime coat. He doesn't need it anymore.
Once you realize that your axolotl is morphing, keep him in a tub of shallow water with something to crawl out on, or at the very least prop his head up on while you prepare a transition area for him. A large stone or a plate turned upside down in the water will do just fine. With our rescues, we have plastic turtle "habitats" that make excellent reusable transition bins.
Handling should be kept to a strict minimum during the transition, and if you must move them, do so with very clean hands (no soap!) and even consider using gloves. Many amphibians, morphed axolotls included, become immune deficient during their transition. Their immune system is actually torn down to make room for a new one. During this time, they are extremely susceptible to infection and disease and have no way to fight it off. Keep their environment clean and don't handle them unless absolutely necessary!
For his transition onto land, you should place a Tupperware or decently sized container of damp substrate like cocofiber in his water area with some form of ramp for him to climb out on. Some salamanders take longer than others to decide when it's time to make the move, but it should be his choice in the end. Never try to force him out of the water or place him onto land before he is ready. Even when his gills are gone, his skin and bones are making some very drastic changes to prepare for life on land and he might just not be ready yet.
One day you might peek in to find that he is no longer in the water, but instead looking like a confused, beached seal on land for the very first time. Congratulations, you now have a terrestrial salamander. You can now start building him a permanent habitat.
FEEDING
You might be alarmed to find that your axolotl isn't eating during the transition. Don't panic - This is very normal. While some axolotls eat throughout their entire metamorphosis, many do not. To put it into perspective, there are a lot of changes going on inside of his body too! Before morphing, he didn't have a tongue - Just a broad, flat pad fixated to the bottom of his mouth that he couldn't move at all. During the morphing process, he starts growing a real, moveable tongue.
His digestive tract and intestines are also shortening. Some sources say that it shortens as much as 70 percent. I wouldn't feel like eating either! That being said, within a week or two he should start feeling hungry. Continue offering him food through the process regardless.
He should be fed a staple diet of earthworms like these, much like an aquatic axolotl. Earthworms should be chopped in half to prevent the risk of intestinal perforation as the wiggling worm tries to make its escape. Beyond that, gut loaded crickets, dubia roaches, and even an occasional waxworm add a nice variety to the diet. Josh's Frogs has a great selection of all of these treats.
Many new morphs have a hard time adjusting to their new bodies and mouths after morphing, and starvation is a common risk if they don't start eating within a few weeks. A trick that seems to work in many cases is to put them in a small tub with a tiny bit of water, just enough to cover their feet. Chop multiple earthworms into small bits around them. The vibration of the worms thrashing in the water and the strong smell of blood often triggers a feeding response.
From this point forward, you can either continue bin-feeding your metamorph or you can hand-feed them. You should never drop live food into their "normal" enclosure and expect for it to be eaten. Morphed axolotls are not hunters. They will not chase down a cricket or dig a worm out of the dirt. Expecting them to eat on their own will surely result in starvation.
HOUSING
Many sources recommend that the morphed axolotl be kept in a habitat akin to that of a tiger salamander. While there is no harm in using tiger salamander care as a guide, some differences should be noted. Many morphed axolotls still have an attraction to water. Some of them have even been noted as spending most of their time swimming! Great care should be taken to provide them with access to both substrate to burrow into and water to swim in. A paladarium style build is highly recommended, and if you can't provide this, be sure to offer them a large dish or tub to soak in when they feel the need. This is a nice one with an easy slope to help them out of the water.
Axolotls are a member of the mole salamander family. They spend most of their time buried in soft earth or hiding out in pre-made caves or burrows. It is common to see them peeking out of the mouth of a cave or buried beneath the soil with just their nose sticking out. A mix of cocofiber (like this one) and organic topsoil makes a great bedding choice for these guys, moistened just enough that you can pack it into a damp ball without it dripping.
Remember that excess moisture can cause fungal infection and stress and reduce the life of your salamander.You should never keep them on a course or dry bedding like bark or ABG mix. The bark can scratch their skin and lead to infections, and they will not be able to follow their instincts and burrow into it. Acidic mosses like peat or sphagnum moss should be avoided. They can lower the PH of your water and soil to dangerous levels, deplete calcium and vital nutrients from the soil, and even burn your metamorph's delicate skin.
HOUSING METAMORPHS TOGETHER
In the event that you end up with more than one metamorph, you might be wondering if you can house them in the same environment. In most cases, the answer is definitely yes! Morphed axolotls can be quite social with one another, engaging in greeting behaviors like sniffing, nose touching, and cheek rubbing. Many will even share the same burrow, and in at least one case, having more than one in the same feeding bin has encouraged a reluctant eater to take food. There are multiple reports of two or more salamanders following one another around their habitat.
Despite their social tendencies, care should be taken to make sure than every metamorph has their own place to hide if they want to spread out and be alone. You should always watch for nipping or bullying and make sure that every salamander is getting enough to eat and isn't showing signs of stress or injury.
And lastly, if you bring home a new morphed axolotl, be sure that it is quarantined for at least 60 days before introducing it to your resident salamander. Never share feeding utensils or try to share uneaten food between the two until the quarantine period has passed. Due to the temporary weakened immune systems that amphibians experience during and after morph, diseases could easily be spread between the salamanders.
Different sexes should absolutely be kept separated. While breeding is rare, eggs can happen in an ideal environment.
CONTACT YOUR BREEDER ASAP!
Now that you know how to take care of your new metamorph, it's time to contact the breeder that he came from. This is a very important step that will prevent future owners from ending up with an unexpected surprise like you just got! The breeder will need to retire the parents responsible for passing on the genetic morphing trait.
Your morphed axolotl might be cute, but this is a bad trait to pass on. The person who buys them expects a fully aquatic pet, and ends up with a fully terrestrial salamander instead about 3-4 months down the road. They are not easy to care for. They are delicate, high stress, and often very difficult to feed. Many die because their new owner can't find a care guide for them, or the person just wasn't prepared at all for this animal that they most certainly did not buy.
It's bad for the breeder because they are selling the animals with the promise that they will be fully aquatic, and then they have to offer refunds or even take the animals back. A solution would be to keep them until they morph, but then they have to raise them for up to a year to make sure that they do or don't, and axolotls can have hundreds of babies at a time, so that isn't very practical or affordable for anyone.
All in all, it puts the breeder, the salamander, and the buyer in a bad situation that no one was prepared for.
That being said, if you are aware that a breeder is knowingly breeding axolotls with morphing genes, or even selling hybrid animals to people without full disclosure of what's going on, it is imperative that you share this information with the public. It is an extremely unethical practice that should never be supported.