Feeding axolotls food that isn't live- help?

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Velaria

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My babies were bown on November 6. I had them eating baby brine shrimp for about a month, and then I began feeding them live bloodworms. They're still eating live food at their age (approximately 3 months old) and I would like to start feeding them pellets instead of bloodworms. I got the smallest size pellets, which still seemed to be too big for them, so I chopped the pellets up into mouth-sized pieces. A few of the babies sucked the pellet food into their mouths, only to spit it out a few seconds later. Only one of the babies (one of my smaller babies) actually kept it down and didn't spit it out. Most of the babies totally ignored the pellet food.

Am I being premature with this? I thought that at three months old, they wouldn't need live food anymore. Or am I just being impatient? Maybe I'll discover a few hours later that the pellets have been eaten?

Thanks for any help.
 
you can feed your axies live earthworms (i would only suggest soaking them in some water first, then chop them up into small bit size bits...

a diet of only pellets is not sufficent.

I would suggest i mix of: pellet, earthworm, baby brine shrimp.

i think someone on here as a recipe for axie food, mix of worm, pellet, shrimp, into small little balls...

good luck


found the recipe...


Darkmaverick said:
......
It is best to continue offering a large variety of food. Do you know what type of earthworms you are feeding? Some type of earthworms emit a nasty taste/smell and can turn off some axolotls. Its still a good idea to soak them in water beforehand before offering. You can also try feeding it whole and live in its wriggly state. Wriggliness is a stimulus for axolotls to feed on them.

Continue offering pellets, earthworms, blackworms, bloodworms, bits of fish and shrimp, beef heart etc.

I sometimes feed my fridged/inappetant axolotls a mash. What i do is i blend the abovementioned ingredients in a food processor such that a doughy mash is formed. I roll the mash into pea sized balls and offer to the axie. It is nutritionally balanced, has a strong smell which attracts axies, easily digestible and can be easily stored. Give it a try and see if it works for you.

If your axolotl continues to lose weight. It might be worth bringing it to your vet who can take blood and faecal samples for analysis. Some parasites especially helminths can cause a protein losing enteropathy, as well as some other protozoan and bacteria microbes.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Darkmaverick hope you dont mind ;)
 
Hihi,

Boof meant well when he suggested feeding earthworms.

However i think you are doing great Valeria. Chopped or live earthworms, bloodworms, blackworms and axie pellets (Crushed into smaller pieces) are all nutritionally balanced to serve as staples on their oiwn. Occasional treats include things like shrimp, fish fillet, beef heart etc.

You can continue feeding live food for the entire life of your axie. In fact, feeding live food can often be a stimulus to feed because of their wriggly movements. Axies have mechanoreceptors which sense movement and thus prey.

It is also best to feed a variety, ideally a bit of everything above! Axies too have preference in food types so to best ensure they get all their nutrition, why not offer them a selection?

Cheers
 
Hi Velaria,

I have read about one or two people who were able to feed their (small) larvae dead (defrosted) foods, e.g. bloodworm. To do so, they gently swirled the water so that the bloodworms seemed to swim in front of the larvae.

In general, though, I would suspect that it might indeed be to early to attempt with dead food. The sense of smell - and therefore the bility to hunt, such as it is in axolotls - first develops around the time the back legs appear. Until then, you really need to offer live food.

If yours at 3 months already have hind legs, you might try more "natural" foods - frozen (defrosted) foods. These are usually quite easy to find at good aquarium stores. Once you defrost and briefly rinse them, they are soft to eat and certainly quite smelly, so the larvae should have a good chance finding them.

Pellets take some getting used to. Mine didn't start taking them until they were a good 10-12 cm long.

Good luck to you,

-Eva
 
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