6 ms·

It amazes me she chanced upon it at the right time and even knew exactly what it was.

culi 5mo ago
Axolotl's have become a global icon. First as an anti-colonial protest symbol for indigenous peoples. But now it's even a creature in Minecraft Edit: oh the article says as much > Axolotls as pets have seen a surge in popularity in recent years after they were introduced to video games such as Minecraft and Roblox. Also, the child seems quite familiar with the wildlife > She said Evie was "always finding things" like newts and bugs, but said the axolotl discovery was a surprise. What's even funnier is the mother's reaction who apparently didn't believe axolotl's were real > "I've been telling Evie all this time that those creatures she watches on YouTube, they're not real.
- Suppafly 5mo ago
  >Axolotl's have become a global icon. Sure, but odds are that if you think you've seen an axolotl in the wild, it's far more likely to be a juvenile salamander or one of the other more populous species of salamanders exhibiting neoteny.
- kasey_junk 5mo ago
  I stopped trying to correct my kid about wildlife facts when he turned 5…
- codezero 5mo ago
  Yeah, I didn't want to spoil the article with my comment, it was a good read, but it did immediately make sense why they were so popular now. I've met multiple people in passing who own Axolotl. I used to think I was super special that I met a guy who owned one, and I assumed it was because he was a famous neuroscientist, and had some special permission, but now they're relatively common as pets (to a degree).
- deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
- MBCook 5mo ago
  > Experts have warned axolotls should never be bought on impulse as they can "very challenging" to look after. > This is because they have the same environmental, dietary and behavioural needs in captivity as they do in the wild. I thought this was just odd. Don’t most animals that aren’t heavily domesticated like that? I mean that’s true of most all pet fish, for example.
  - macintux 5mo ago
    From another comment here: "you need to be able to keep the water below 24 Deg C, this means spending some money on chillers even in sub-tropical countries" I think people anticipate needing heaters for certain types of fish, but I'd never have expected to buy a cooling unit for aquatic life.
    - quickthrowman 5mo ago
      Yeah, adding in a chiller makes things way more complicated than just adding a resistive heater. A decent looking chiller for an aquarium is ~$1,000, plus you need temp sensors and control wiring to maintain the setpoint properly, and then you need to pray the electricity doesn’t go out. A 1/3rd HP chiller draws around 1kW including the circ pump
      - fragmede 5mo ago
        An aquarium backup battery for a simple pump is like $50 for something that'll last a few hours of outage, but for a chiller with that kind of draw, it's a bit more expensive.
        quickthrowman 5mo ago
        Yeah, you’d need a 1500 VA UPS to back it up, plus a decent amount of batteries (I don’t know the math on those, someone else figures that part out for me haha) Aquarium circ pumps can probably be powered directly by 12VDC? That would make sense if it’s only $50 for battery backup.
  - 5mo ago
- psychoslave 5mo ago
  First time I learnt about it was while reading The Book of Barely Imagined Beings. Fantastic book.
- Levitating 5mo ago
  They're also a symbol for asexuality, or at least they were where I grew up.
  - culi 5mo ago
    Is this because of Yolanda, the ace axolotl, in the show BoJack Horseman?

culi 5mo ago

Axolotl's have become a global icon. First as an anti-colonial protest symbol for indigenous peoples. But now it's even a creature in Minecraft Edit: oh the article says as much > Axolotls as pets have seen a surge in popularity in recent years after they were introduced to video games such as Minecraft and Roblox. Also, the child seems quite familiar with the wildlife > She said Evie was "always finding things" like newts and bugs, but said the axolotl discovery was a surprise. What's even funnier is the mother's reaction who apparently didn't believe axolotl's were real > "I've been telling Evie all this time that those creatures she watches on YouTube, they're not real.

Suppafly 5mo ago
>Axolotl's have become a global icon. Sure, but odds are that if you think you've seen an axolotl in the wild, it's far more likely to be a juvenile salamander or one of the other more populous species of salamanders exhibiting neoteny.
kasey_junk 5mo ago
I stopped trying to correct my kid about wildlife facts when he turned 5…
codezero 5mo ago
Yeah, I didn't want to spoil the article with my comment, it was a good read, but it did immediately make sense why they were so popular now. I've met multiple people in passing who own Axolotl. I used to think I was super special that I met a guy who owned one, and I assumed it was because he was a famous neuroscientist, and had some special permission, but now they're relatively common as pets (to a degree).
deleted 5mo ago
[deleted]
MBCook 5mo ago
> Experts have warned axolotls should never be bought on impulse as they can "very challenging" to look after. > This is because they have the same environmental, dietary and behavioural needs in captivity as they do in the wild. I thought this was just odd. Don’t most animals that aren’t heavily domesticated like that? I mean that’s true of most all pet fish, for example.
- macintux 5mo ago
  From another comment here: "you need to be able to keep the water below 24 Deg C, this means spending some money on chillers even in sub-tropical countries" I think people anticipate needing heaters for certain types of fish, but I'd never have expected to buy a cooling unit for aquatic life.
  - quickthrowman 5mo ago
    Yeah, adding in a chiller makes things way more complicated than just adding a resistive heater. A decent looking chiller for an aquarium is ~$1,000, plus you need temp sensors and control wiring to maintain the setpoint properly, and then you need to pray the electricity doesn’t go out. A 1/3rd HP chiller draws around 1kW including the circ pump
    - fragmede 5mo ago
      An aquarium backup battery for a simple pump is like $50 for something that'll last a few hours of outage, but for a chiller with that kind of draw, it's a bit more expensive.
      - quickthrowman 5mo ago
        Yeah, you’d need a 1500 VA UPS to back it up, plus a decent amount of batteries (I don’t know the math on those, someone else figures that part out for me haha) Aquarium circ pumps can probably be powered directly by 12VDC? That would make sense if it’s only $50 for battery backup.
- 5mo ago
psychoslave 5mo ago
First time I learnt about it was while reading The Book of Barely Imagined Beings. Fantastic book.
Levitating 5mo ago
They're also a symbol for asexuality, or at least they were where I grew up.
- culi 5mo ago
  Is this because of Yolanda, the ace axolotl, in the show BoJack Horseman?