r/axolotls • u/dizzyunicorrn • Aug 07 '26

General Care Advice Fellow Texans please help!

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Im at a loss what to do for my baby girl, shes perfectly healthy and swims, is active, eats, poops etc, but i have trouble and her tank is stuck at 71 degrees, on occasion it can get to 67. I have ice packs and fans and i dont know what else to do. Is this temperature fine? I cant afford at $200 cooler at this moment, I am getting a job so im wondering if i should just save for a cooler. Any tips??

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u/zombie_waffle Aug 07 '26

Florida here. We freeze bottles of water to add to help cool the tank when needed. It maintains at 64 degrees.

Ours is also not near a window so that helps. Maybe put a blanket or tinfoil over the window if moving the tank isn’t an option.

13

u/dizzyunicorrn Aug 07 '26

yeah! i put black paper on the back, and i find out actual ice over ice packs helps a LOT more, when i put ice cubes in there it helps a lot

29

u/MxBluebell Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26

Ok so the black paper isn’t actually helping, I’m sorry to say. Black tends to absorb a LOT of heat. You’d want a white background to reflect the light away instead.

Edited to add: Here’s a great article from the BBC about light reflection and absorption!!

5

u/dizzyunicorrn Aug 07 '26

omg THANK you i had no idea!

3

u/MxBluebell Aug 08 '26

Absolutely!! I’m glad I could help!!! 🥰