Newbie with a silly question

SydneyA · Mar 21, 2016

Hello!

I just got my first Juvenile from a local breeder. She has been dubbed "Buttercup" by my 4 year old. We are doing well on temps. She's currently in a cycled 10 gallon on black aquarium sand, said silica based, since my 30 gallon I had planned sprung a leak. She will likely move to a 20 next week.

My questions are mainly food related. If I get night crawlers, how do I feed them to her? Can she eat a live one or do I have to cut it up? She's about 5 inches long.

I'm overwhelmed by the best pellet. I have heard softer is better, I have heard salmon pellets, shrimp pellets? Also how often.

I just picked her up on Friday and I had just gotten home from emergency surgery and could barely move, but managed to drag myself to get her. I have been waiting since I was 11 to get one, lol. My kids love to look at her. Can someone tell by the pic what exactly she is? I think leutistic if I'm spelling it correctly. Thank you and hope to learn a lot here.

Donna001 · Mar 21, 2016

Adorable, that's what your axolotl is. :happy:
I'd say it was a leucistic. As far as food is concerned, you can cut food up, I cut up earthworms for mine. Mine also eat pellets and prawns. Sometimes it's a case of trying different foods, to make sure that they get a varied diet.
Good luck with your new cutie, keep us updated with your progress.
:happy:

SydneyA · Mar 21, 2016

Just got some cute pictures.

SammyTheLotus · Mar 21, 2016

Your little guy is so cute! :")
Also, I think there's no such thing as a silly question! You're definitely in the right place to ask anything and I'm sure someone will be able to give you advice!

Like Donna001 said, you can cut up earthworms or just feed it sinking carnivore pellets! Mine are eating bloodworms right now but they're pretty young and bloodworms are not that nutritionally sound for an adult!
Good luck with little Buttercup! ?

Klakasharkie · Mar 21, 2016

What a picture perfect Leucy~! It looks like one of the axolotl stock photos that are the top results on google images^-^

Now is definitely the time you wanna be feeding nightcrawlers/worms and pellets. Since you're in the US, I can offer preeeeetty specific advice.

I don't know about petsmart, but petco, if you have one locally, sells Hikari sinking pellets. I have both crab cuisine and the carnivore ones. The crab cuisine pellets have a picture of a lotl on the back, actually, but they're really small compared to the carnivore ones, and I prefer to feed the carnivore ones (just make sure you suck out excess with a turkey baster!)

In addition, Wal-Mart sells live nightcrawlers in the bait section. Lotls tend to prefer nightcrawlers over red wigglers. Lift the lid before you buy though!!! At my local store, there are a lot where the worms are long dead and totally molded over, but you can find some good live ones~ I rinse mine off in a little bowl of water and feed them whole with tweezers. You should cut them up while Buttercup is that small, though!

I feed my adults one large nightcrawler a week and carnivore pellets in the days between and have never had issues keeping them healthy. As yours is still a juvie, you should feed every day or so. Shrimp pellets are the same thing as the crab cuisine I mentioned btw (I feed my shrimp the crab cuisine)

So!! Hikari carnivore pellets and live worms are what I recommend! ^_^ You can dig up your own worms alternatively, but be wary of pesticides and potential parasites. The walmart nightcrawlers are 3$/18 worms though, and theyre muuuuch bigger than CT earthworms, so I just buy them.

Buttercup is sooooo cute~

SydneyA · Mar 21, 2016

Klakasharkie said:
What a picture perfect Leucy~! It looks like one of the axolotl stock photos that are the top results on google images^-^

Now is definitely the time you wanna be feeding nightcrawlers/worms and pellets. Since you're in the US, I can offer preeeeetty specific advice.

I don't know about petsmart, but petco, if you have one locally, sells Hikari sinking pellets. I have both crab cuisine and the carnivore ones. The crab cuisine pellets have a picture of a lotl on the back, actually, but they're really small compared to the carnivore ones, and I prefer to feed the carnivore ones (just make sure you suck out excess with a turkey baster!)

In addition, Wal-Mart sells live nightcrawlers in the bait section. Lotls tend to prefer nightcrawlers over red wigglers. Lift the lid before you buy though!!! At my local store, there are a lot where the worms are long dead and totally molded over, but you can find some good live ones~ I rinse mine off in a little bowl of water and feed them whole with tweezers. You should cut them up while Buttercup is that small, though!

I feed my adults one large nightcrawler a week and carnivore pellets in the days between and have never had issues keeping them healthy. As yours is still a juvie, you should feed every day or so. Shrimp pellets are the same thing as the crab cuisine I mentioned btw (I feed my shrimp the crab cuisine)

So!! Hikari carnivore pellets and live worms are what I recommend! ^_^ You can dig up your own worms alternatively, but be wary of pesticides and potential parasites. The walmart nightcrawlers are 3$/18 worms though, and theyre muuuuch bigger than CT earthworms, so I just buy them.

Buttercup is sooooo cute~

Thank you! Exactly what I was looking for! Now come to my house and cut worms for me.

SydneyA · Mar 21, 2016

Amazon.com: Hikari Sinking Carnivore Pellets for All Carnivore 74g. By Carino: Health & Personal Care

These?

Klakasharkie · Mar 22, 2016

SydneyA said:
Amazon.com: Hikari Sinking Carnivore Pellets for All Carnivore 74g. By Carino: Health & Personal Care

These?

Yep, those are the exact ones I use. The bag is fairly big too, so it lasts quite a while especially when used in conjunction with worms. Theyre about that price at my local petco too, i wish they were cheaper.

Unfortunately I'm a poor worm-cutter-- I had to look up if they feel pain and even still I snip as fast as possible hahaha

SydneyA · Mar 22, 2016

I don't know what it is about earthworms. They are icky. I feed frozen mice to my snake, crickets to my other animals. I think it's something about how they stretchhhhh. Bleh, lol

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