Mealworms

G

gentle

Guest
After almost a week of worrying, our new Axie ate a mealworm!

The Axie is 7 inches long...how many should we feed him each feed day?
 
Hi Gentle, welcome to the forum.

I would recommend that you not feed mealworms as a staple but perhaps an occasional snack.

You want to feed a variety of foods; earthworms, crickets, axolotl pellets, salmon pellets, frozen bloodworms, frozen brineshrimp, fresh fish fillets, and there are other ideas in this forum and the site listed below.

Axolotls differ in how much they eat and owners differ in how often and how much they feed. My axolotls are offered food every 2 to 3 days. How much they eat varies by what I am feeding them (they each have their favorite item). When fed earthworms they consume an average of 3 worms that are about 3" long.

If you haven't found it already you may want to check out caudatas sister site http://www.axolotl.org/ it is full of must read info for new axolotl owners.


From: http://www.axolotl.org/health.htm
Some physical problems are related to nutrition. Caudates (a term used to describe newts and salamanders) tend to have difficulty dealing with large quantities of fats and oils in their diet. White worms and tubifex are the most commonly quoted high fat foods. Dog food can also contain a high proportion of oils and fats. When fed exclusively on these foods, occurrences of sclerosis of the liver increase. Other foods, such as mealworms, are quite low in calcium, which can lead to a number of problems. They also have a lot of chitin (a structural protein in insects and some crustaceans) which axolotls can't digest, and this passes through their guts intact. Again, these shouldn't be fed as the sole food but rather as an occasional treat to avoid health problems. Mealworms present an additional danger: they have poweful jaws that can damage an axolotl internally. If you must feed mealworms, it is advisable to crush the jaws of the mealworms prior to feeding. This can be accomplished using a strong forceps or tweezers.

From: http://www.axolotl.org/feeding.htm
I've fed mealworms to my axolotls, but the chitin (the protein that makes up the hard exoskeleton in insects) is undigestible to the axolotls. Even though I didn't feed many, the filter in-take actually started to clog with little pieces of chitin and I was still picking bits of chitin out of the filter media months afterwards. Apart from this little inconvenience, they're not a complete food, so I would only recommend them as a treat.

Also if you do not know about tank cycling or did not cycle your tank you may be interested in this article http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml

(Message edited by cynorita on October 29, 2005)
 
Okay - it's just that he hasn't been interested in the bloodworms at all since we got him...we plan to get a few things for variety, most readily available are feeder fish and tadpoles...

I've read here that the bloodworms should be thawed before we give them to the axie, but how are we to get it near it's mouth? tweezers/chopsticks are inadequate, should I just use my hands?

Thanks for the links, I'd perused the pages before but this helped me zone in on the crucial stuff.
 
Gentle - Feeder fish from the pet store could have parasites and other problems that could be passed to your axolotl. I would recommend avoiding them. If you feel you must feed live fish, it would be better to grow your own at home.

I do not know if tadpoles are safe, perhaps someone else could comment on using them as food.

There are people here who say they feed the bloodworms frozen with no problem. Some of them said they cut the cubes of bloodworms in half before feeding them.

I do not feed my adult axolotls bloodworms because of the mess they make. Earthworms are much easier to feed and do not make a mess in the water.
 
Amphibian larvae are not proper food (morally or nutritionally) for other amphibians. Because tadpoles (the term for frog/toad larvae) are SO closely related to caudates, the risk of disease transmission is relatively high. I'd stick with earthworms. The frozen blood worm cubes I usually cut in half, rinse so some of the outer worms come 'unstuck' and drop it in. They catch it as it falls.
 
Hi Joan,

Do you have any data to support the statement that amphibian larva are not a nutritionally proper food?
Tadpoles and other amphibian larva can constitute a major portion of the diet of aquatic amphibians. (for example in some situations with Xenopus, the entire local ecology is based on the tads eating algae, the adults eating the tads and those tads that do not get eaten metamorph into adults. There is even a sci fi book based on this situations (see Legacy of Heorot by Niven/Pournell))

Ed
 
I am having the same problem. i only got my axie yesterday and he's freaking out. its pretty warm atm, and he wont eat anything. i know thats probably caus he's too hot, but it there anyway i can try to get him to eat? what would be the idea thing to feed him, cause he is rejecting the mealworms.
 
Thanks for that. I have already testes all the levels and they are fine. He is still sitting at the back of the tank in the dark, and hardly moving. The scary thing is that he was really active in the pet shop where I got him and for the first few hours when I got him home. The temperature has dropped today cause its raining, so it isn't as hot anymore. Is it that he is just scared and there is nothing else wrong with him?

Any further suggestions?
 
Yeah, and he got freaked and swam away! I think he's a bit backwards. I mean, he loves it when the light is off, and starts to move around, but when I turn it on, he goes and hides is the darkest corner in the tank and doesn't move until I turn the light off again! Weird huh?!

Is it true that axies are totally blind?
 
Thats not weird at all, axolotls very much dislike light. Some are blind, but most aren't.
 
Gees...I really hate it when people at the pet shop tell you one thing, and then the reality is the complete opposite. I was told (on several occasions by different people) that they are completely blind (thats why you have to hand feed them) and that they love the light and you should leave it on all day (unless it makes the tank too hot). These people really should learn about the animals they are selling (and looking after) before they pass their "knowledge" onto customers!

Thanks for all your help, I think ill let him rest with the light off for a few days.

smile7.gif
 
thats good, i also hate it when petshops give out false advice.
 
Laura, I'm sure after he settles in, he should be okay and eating. Try earthworms as a staple. Also, if you have a light specifically for the tank, get rid of it. Ambient room light is adequate. Make sure he has little places to hide (we use PVC tubes around here), and can get away if he's feeling 'freaked out'.

They're not blind, and actually have pretty good eyesight, in comparison. If you handfeed, they will get spoiled and 'forget' how to hunt their food. Mine will just wait until it gets shoved in their face. I'm having a hard time teaching them how to find their own worms. They mainly go after whatever moves, as they usually hunt by movement and smell.

Also, have you read www.axolotl.org yet? If not, that's a great place to answer a lot of beginner type questions.
 
He ate! Finally, Albert ate one of the little pellets that you buy from the pet store. It's not the ideal thing for him to eat, but at least it was something.

He has been in the dark for a few hours now, and was much more settled when I made the attempt. I'll try to feed him some frozen blood worms tomorrow morning before I go to work.

Thanks for the advice. I have read the site and its pretty good. I think the hardest thing is having contradictions between what people were telling me, and not having done this before, I didn't know what was 'right'.

I have created some really good hiding places for him with weeds and a pretty cool piece of drift wood, which he seems comfortable with.

Will keep you posted on how he goes.
 
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