Adopting Atlas

I brought Atlas home from Repticon in early February 2018. She was relatively calm in her clear plastic container during the ride back. After she had spent some time floating in her container so that she could acclimate to the water’s temperature, I released her into her aquarium, a 20 gallon long-sized tank that I had set up the day before. After a couple of hours of being shy and hiding, she began to explore, quickly discovering more places to hide, decorations to climb, and a glass jar used for feeding time.

When they’re young, it’s suggested that axolotls eat blood worms (midge fly larvae). These tend to make a mess and spread about the tank, so the technique I used was to place them all in the jar and let her eat. When she finished, taking out the jar containing all the remnants made for easy clean up.