Illness/Sickness: Axolotal Not Eating :(

My Axle is Not Eating

Hi.

I am having some problems with my Axle who is and not eating.

I have recently set up a new tank for my two axolotals. 1 is roughly 2 years old the other is around 6-9 months. They were in seperate tanks, however i now have a 150L tank for them set up with plants, some hiding places etc.

They both seem to be getting along fine and i havent wittnessed either of them snapping at each other - both still have all their limbs and tails in tact

Before i transferred them over they were in seperate tanks and both stopped eating for roughly 4-5 days.

My youngest one has just started eating the beef heart again.

My older one, who i have fed beef heart to since i got it, has stopped eating altogether. After much research i have tried alot of things, i have tried feeding her the pellets, live guppie fish (i have now removed them from the tank) as well as blood worm. I have tested the water every couple of days and all chemical levels (PH, Amonia etc) are at their perfect level. The water is cycling fine, as in not moving the water rapidly or anytyhing and the temparature is constantly between 17-20degrees.

I dont know what else to try, any suggesstions would be greatly appreciated.

Hi sjr2388,

Sometimes axolotls top eating after a move while they try to get used to the new environment. If all things are fine, it may just take a bit more time, maybe a week in total? Is there a particular reason why you do not offer them earthworms? Worms are an excellent food for axolotls and their wriggling may stimulate your axolotls' appetites.

Good luck to you,

-Eva

Thanks for the feedback Albert, I will try earth worms...basically i can just dig them up from the garden, i read somewhere that someone suggessts crushing both ends of the worm - to ensure the worm doesnt bite the Axle - is this true....i dont use any pesticides/chemicals in my garden either...so all should be fine???

You don't need to crush the head of the earthworms, they can't really bite anything to be honest. You probably are mistaking earthworms with mealworms, because those little buggers can bite (and aren't worth feeding because they aren't very nutritious anyway).

Earthworms from your backyard should be fine if you don't use any pesticides or anything; I'd say give it a shot and see what your axie thinks.

Awesome, thanks all for the feedback. Im going to go home from work shortly and dig up the backyard looking for worms

Hey,

so i tried two different methods, i dangled an earth worm in front of her, she kinda raised her head then turned and swam the other way, i then tried the usual beef heart and she did the same thing, still hasnt eaten any of the blood worms either. the other axie ate a whole worm and half a square of beef heart.. I have no idea how to attach pictures to a thread/reply that has already started, so i started a new one, if yu can please check out the pics and let me know your thoughts..

thanks