Question: Feeding by hand

Hey guys i was just wondering, is it bad at all to feed an axolotl by hand? also what would you recommend for a good food, he hates worms.

thanks!

Sean89 said:

Hey guys i was just wondering, is it bad at all to feed an axolotl by hand? also what would you recommend for a good food, he hates worms.

thanks!

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I love to feed my axolotl by hand. Never heard anything ba about it before he loves worms though

feeding my hand is great! the only problem is they might not want to go back to eating from the bottom if the tank if you decide to switch back!

Worms are a great staple, if your axie hates them you are probably feeding him the wrong type. The most common in AUST are red wigglers, and axolotls dont like them due to a gross substance they produce, they just spit them out again. Apparently you can soak them for a while and they will loose their gross taste, but that has never worked for mine they still don't like them.

Ty to find some nightcrawlers, i have had luck at fishing and bait shops. If you axie likes them, buy a hundred or so and start a worm bin - put them in a big container with some soil, some veggie scraps and old newspaper and they will multiply.

another good staple is axolotl pellets which can be found at any pet store. Its not very interesting though and mine get bored of them. You can give them the occasional treat of lean beef strips or bloodworm which you can get in frozen cubes from petbarn.

Feeding by hand is absolutely fine. I would stay away from meat that comes from cows though and keep their diet as natural as possible though. You don't see many cows at the bottom of the lake after all. Pellets are a great 2nd choice if you can't get them to eat the worms but are a bit trickier to hand feed with. It can be done though :happy:

The soak and rinse trick works for all my guys for the reds but you have to rinse them to get rid of the nasty slime or you're wasting your time.
If your after different worms and have somewhere to keep them, a worm farm for example, then you can get lots of different worms from Kookaburra worm farms compost worms, worm farm, delivered Australia wide The will post them all over Australia and they arrive in great shape. Haven't ordered any in the middle of summer though but they are the best source I've found since none of the bait/fishing/camping/outdoor stores near me sell live worms and no one else seems to be able to send them into WA

Thanks alot guys. I have always fed by hand. i will have to head out and look for some different kinds of worms though by the sounds of things. I have tried pellets shes just not interested guess taco is just a very picky eater.