Staples

Ok can someone tell me the staple they feed their axie? I need to know whats best for them to eat. Any arguments anyone has about other people's staples please tell me. Thanks

I feed mine mainly pellets, with worms, liver, and other wigglies as a special treat

where do you get the pellets? Are they at your petshop?

Hey Jordan, have you tried some pellets from the Axolotl colony?

http://www.indiana.edu/~axolotl/newsletter/newsltr.html

Also here is a page about nutrition for your axie pals.

http://axolotls.org/feeding.htm

A lot of people here at the forum use these pellets. I for one use them. They can be fed as a stable, nothing else really needs to be fed with these because they provide complete nutrition, but on the bad side of it is if your Axolotls gets completely used to these they might not except other foods.

Providing a variety is just the same as it would be with any pet Earthworms, Axolotl Colony Pellets, these things are good stables.

Earthworms are thought to be a complete stable for Axolotls, but earthworms also have to eat nutritional food in order to provide good nutrition to your Axies.

Adding bisquick, crushed, powdered egg shells, dried mashed potato mix, ground up potato skins and potatoes, these sorts of things can be added to the dirt that houses your earthworms so that they can have proper nutrition.

I don't know if it is either just the earthworms growing, or them getting big because they have good things to eat, but I noticed after I add these ingredients after a week or two the earthworms seem "Fatter". Perhaps the dirt becomes tastier and they love to eat more, but I am really not sure.

As in the second link I provided, bloodworms and black worms, Brine shrimp are also ok to feed as stables.

Now as for crickets, Mealworms, wax worms, these sorts of things have chitin in their exoskeletons (also mentioned in the link) which is hard for axies to digest.

Example: Crickets shouldn't just be fed to Gecko's alone. They have to be gut loaded with nutritious cricket food and also dusted with Calcium to provide balanced nutrition to carnivorous Geckos and lizards.

A better thing to use would be captive bred Cockroaches, but I am not sure if these can be fed to Axolotls or not. I haven't tried it as of yet.

I feed my Axolotls crickets as treats because I personally don't feel they should be fed as a stable. I try when ever I can to give my Gecko's a variety, and my Axolotls I do the same. I try and think of it as this. Would I want to eat just one thing for the rest of my life, lets say, rice and water, or would I want a variety, like a buffet of food before me to choose from.

If you are worried about good nutrition for your Axies, I would order the pellets. Most Axolotls readily except them, some don't, which is normal. Offer them the pellets, they come in three sizes, and also if you would like to provide a variety, give them earthworms and other things that I mentioned.

Avoid Tubifex worms as the article in the link mentions, these are not good to feed as they tend to be rather "fatty" and can cause problems later in life. If you would like to feed them tubifex worms, then I think once in a while should not pose too much of a problem.

Beef heart, beef parts, or poultry tend to be rather hard for Axies to digest the muscle tissues, but feeding these as treats are ok, as long as the proper nutrition is fed first.

Take in mind the human food pyramid:

http://www.bawarchi.com/health/diet.html

A small amount of fatty or sugary foods is needed to provide balance in a healthy human diet. I think that it can be safe also to assume this in an Axolotl diet, as it would be with any animal diet, (aside that Axolotls don’t eat vegetable matter ;) .)

What I conceder treats are crickets, tubifexworms, and anything that isn't highly rich in color. Something highly rich in color would be a bloodworm, or an earthworm, or even brine shrimp. The pinker, or redder something is, the more nutritious is going to be, but also take into thought if it can be properly digested (beef heart, etc).

It is really up to you what you decide you want to feed your Axolotls, but always try and keep in mind what a balanced diet for your Axie would consist of. Feeding schedule's vary from person to person. As long as not too much, or not too little is offered at meal time, then your Axie is getting what he/she needs for a properly balanced meal.

(Always) your Axolotl gets the proper nutrition first, anything that would be considered a "treat" or "fatty" should be offered second. Even though some foods aren’t well documented if they are nutritious or not, the ones that are well documented like Earthworms, Brine Shrimp, (others mentioned) should be fed first because these are known to be good stables.

If you had children, would you want them to eat a big slice of chocolate cake for dinner, or their green beans first? The Chocolate cake I would think should be dessert ;)

Wow Thanks Rheann! That was a lot of information. It took me forever to just read it! Thanks a bunch.

Not a problem, Jordan, I am happy to help

How much do the pellets cost?

I use earthworms, different varieties of.

Also crickets as a treat, like once a month.

what size crickets do you use?

Jordan - You can view an order form from the axolotl colony for pellets here:
http://bigapple.uky.edu/%7Eaxolotl/orderhobbiest.pdf

You can also buy the same pellets from Michael Shrom who is a member of this forum.

i've found someone to sell me the pellets, but thanks Cynthia.

Jordan, be sure these are the same pellets, or something nutritionally similar. Dry floating pellets (what are mostly sold) are mostly made of cornmeal and not nutritious to carnivores (axolotls).

im sure that they are the right kind, thanks joan