Maggots, good for axolotls or bad?

For the past week I have been trying out my axolotls on maggots, it seems to like them, eating them first before cut up earthworms and I was just wondering if it is common or not a good idea to keep feeding them or what!?

There is that idea that maggots can stay alive inside animals and eat their way out, I am not sure if this is true or one of those cats have 9 lives kinda things! But my axolotl doesn't seem to have any problem getting them down, and haven't had any part digested or whole maggots out the other end

If anyone else uses them I would be interested to know, and how you get on, or if it isn't really a good idea then please educate me!

I think maggots would be fine (not as a staple diet but as a tasty snack) as axies seem to eat pretty much anything insect or insect larvae-ey. Regarding the eating their way out thing I really dont know, i havnt seen a maggot up close for years so dunno what the jaws are like on em but if you are worried just crush the head end (if they have one lol) then they cant eat their way out of anything! It is recommended that you crush the heads of meal worms because of their jaws but Ive been reading looooads and cant find a documented case of it actually happening anywhere online (better to be safe than sorry tho!). Was gonna try maggots myself as you can get loads for cheeeeeeap but decided not to because they are sooo grim haha!

if you're worried about anything biting back at your axolotls as Ed has said - and I really echo this - crush their heads.

the only real issue with this happening has been meal worms though - which are not good for feeding to axolotls anyway.

Just for extra information - anything that goes into your axolotl's mouth alive - is most likely still alive for a while- until they're digested, as they don't get crushed/ripped apart on their way down.

Yeah thats a good idea, a bit of murder before hand and any issues if there were any are gone! I seem to be killing/chopping lots of things recently! I have been cutting earthworms in half before I put them in the tank - suprisingly enough they don't enjoy being cut in half and squirm about everywhere

I keep my maggots in a box in my fridge (to my girlfriends disgust, but she is too afraid of them to move them) and they last for ages! Do earthworms have more nutritional value than maggots? I am varying between the two and some bloodworms at the moment

Not entirely sure of nutritional values but I think earthworms seem to be the most balanced nutrition wise having pretty much all an axolotl needs in a convinient worm shaped package, other foods seem to be lacking in one thing or another (crickets lacking calcium for example). Theres nothing wrong with abit of variety tho the more varied diet the better I say!

I have never tried crickets, wouldn't they just float around on the top of the water? My axolotl only seems to eat things the either move/fall infront of it/ or lay on the bottom of the tank!

I tried small meal worms but they didn't work too well, also doesn't seem to keen on the pellet food you can get! What else do you feed yours?

Haha yeah crickets are good swimmers and stay at the top, doesnt take long for an axie to realise theyre there and will swim up and grab em! Can always feed with tweezer/tong things!

Most people stick to an all earthworm diet with occassional additions. I will feed my Axolotls bloodworms or brine shrimp every once in a while, but earthworms are the bulk of their diet.

Maggots, like all larval insects are high in fat and so should be used sparingly. Some varieties have tough skins which make them difficult to digest.

Two things to consider regarding digestive problems; stomach acid is around ph 1 or 2 and therefore fully capable of killing an insect quickly before it can cause too much harm. Secondly, consumption of multiple prey items in captivity is relatively un-natural. Amphibians are opportunistic and hard wired to eat whenever they get the chance. If you feed any live prey item excessively you're putting the capabilities of the stomach under some pressure. I'm sure wild axolotls come across larval invertebrates with formidable mouth parts (dragon fly larvae for example), the difference is they're not eating 15 in one sitting.

Everything in moderation is the best method - which also applies to doughnuts and alcohol.

I can't say much about the whole alcohol thing but I guess I get to choose to put in my body whatever I like so its my problem! As for axolotls I try to feed a variety of foods, mainly earthworms, maggots, and bloodworms - I have also bought myself a brine shrimp kit which I will experiment with when I have a spare moment to get it started! Oh yeah and some red cherry shrimp I have in a tank but they are only young and not too healthy at the moment, hope to get them breeding and put afew in with the axolotls sometime soon

I suppose it depends on where you get them from ... if you've bought them from a bait supplier they are likely to have been bred on decomposing animal carcases which you might not want to be putting inside your lotl.
On the other hand maggots bred on your own decomposing vegetable scraps would probably be fine!

Mark said:

Everything in moderation is the best method - which also applies to doughnuts and alcohol.

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No!! Why does it have to be so? Surely anything that doesn't kill me (straight away) will make me stronger?