Question: Not Eating Dead Food Still

Hey!

Firstly I would like to thank everyone who has helped me raise some axolotl eggs I bought a couple of months ago (http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...rvae-breeding/67538-advice-axolotls-eggs.html). I would like to thank Mel especially as she has helped me a lot

Now I have only two of the axolotls I brought up. One died as a baby, one I have given away to my flat mate as it was slow to grow (and hence got the name "Fidget") and one jumped out of the aquarium I had them in for a bit while I was out of my flat .

But now they are around two inches big and doing well, I want them to start eating dead food. I have been using live bloodworm which they are eating fine, but I have also got some frozen bloodworm cubes. Today I tried mixing some live bloodworm with a bloodworm cube in the hope they might start eating the dead bloodworm, but unfortunately they only seem interested in the live bloodworm still.

I feed them every day with live bloodworm so maybe I need to cut that down? Although I'm not too sure. I have also got some small sinking carp pellets which they are not keen on either. So mainly I just want to know any tips you have to offer me on drifting them away from live food, and I would be most appreciative.

BTW, I also got a Melanoid baby from Mel, and thought id take a picture of that too!

Hi,

mixing the dead and the live bloodworms is a good way - you should go doing so. In the beginning they will mostly eat the live ones, but soon they will eat the dead ones, too.

Tina

That seems like A LOT of bloodworm to be offering, just try to feed them 1 bloodworm at a time, but try dangling it and wiggling it to make it seem lifelike. I am sure there must be a difference in taste, so just get them accustomed to the dead worms using that method.

Hey Eric,

Yeah that's what's in one cube, usually I don't offer them that much. I grabbed one with tweezers and managed to get one axie to eat one, so that's a start I'll try again later.

How would you go about getting them to eat pellets however? Do they have to be a lot bigger?

Good News!

Managed to finally get them to eat dead bloodworm I bought some axolotl pellets to try when they eventually arrive too.

Very good! Is there any reason you want to use pellets rather than earthworms?

Well the only way I can get earthworms is to go to a bait shop, I can't really dig them out of the garden because it isn't really mine. Plus they are only still babies, around 2 inches so they would be hard for them to eat maybe. I will get some though in due time!

Hi,

you can cut the earthworms into little pieces, so they can eat them.

Be careful in feeding pellets for that your axies don´t eat too much. Pellets are very nutritious and the axies could become fat.

Tina

Hey,

I got the pellets today, having trouble getting them interested in them. One of the axies has eaten one when it was floating. As soon as they sink they seem to nibble now and again but not really eat them.

Also got a 3ft Aquarium for them today which I need to clean out but it looks quite nice

daniellog said:

Well the only way I can get earthworms is to go to a bait shop, I can't really dig them out of the garden because it isn't really mine. Plus they are only still babies, around 2 inches so they would be hard for them to eat maybe. I will get some though in due time!

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Yes, I'd guess they are still too small for earthworms yet. You could grow your own worms, though, in a bucket.

Pellets come in different sizes; you should be able to find one small enough for your axolotls. You would introduce them just like decribed above for dead food - mix them with something they know. Please also note that they require a LOT less pellets, as pellets are fatten 'em up foods.

-Eva

Growing them in a bucket sounds quite useful actually, is it easy enough to do?

The pellets are around 2mm - 2.3mm in size. One of my axolotls has eaten some but only when they are floating, the other isn't very interested and both are not when they sink to the bottom. I'll try mixing some with some live bloodworms tomorrow.

Yes, raising your own worms is very easy. You can google "worm farm" or even this forum. Here is another thread on the subject: click.

-Eva