Does anyone have any experience of axoltl?

[sanityawol]

Just that really... DD (12) has suggested that she might like an axolotl as a pet. There's no problem with her commitment to looking after pets as she's proved herself over the last 18 months with some small furrys. ( I wouldn't let her have anything that I wasn't prepared to take on either).

We'll obviously do all the research so that we make sure that we have the right setup, but I could do with some Mumsnet honesty about whether they're a good pet or a complete pain in the arse.

As for experience, over the last 25 years we've done coldwater and tropical fish (freshwater, not marine) and things like stick insects or giant snails but I've always avoided snakes, reptiles, spiders simply because I didn't want to do a bad job of looking after them and DH would leave home if we got a tarantula Not had any fish in recent years though

Long term commitment is no problem - we've got / had dogs, cats, horses so are used to that.

However, I've already said to DD that if they are difficult to keep then it is a 'No' as I wouldn't want to be unfair to the animal.

Many thanks for any help that you can give.

[Mogz]

They're on the same level f difficulty as some of the more tricky tropicals like puffers IMO. Very high water quality requirements and lots of live food (which can get pricey).
But they are gorgeous and interesting to watch, and it's great to have unusual pets.

[sanityawol]

Thank you. Doesn't sound too scary then... Lots of reading for us to do now before we rush into anything.

No promises made to DD yet, as I want her to do the research and tell me what we need (I will obviously look into it properly too) so that she knows what is involved. This has only come up in the last couple of days, so I won't be making any decisions for a couple of weeks yet.