What to feed my 2 month old axies

Hey everyone, I have three hatched axolotls that are all around two months old give or take a few days. I did have six but it seems im not a very good carer so please help me before the rest die on me. I feed them on instant baby brine shrimp as i am not allowed to feed them live feed. Before you all complain, they must eat it as they are still alive so please don't all have a go at me, unless you can suggest suitable long term alternatives. Due to a delay in my order, there next batch of food might not arrive for around two days after my current supply runs out. I was thinking of giving them egg yolk as is suggested for newly hatched axolotls if no other food is available, however im not sure if there to old for this now? None of them have began developing legs yet however two are very small so they may have begun without me noticing. So anyway, should i go with the egg yolk or is there anything better which isnt live and is immedietely available? Thanks everyone

Hello. I have some the same age. They should be eating frozen bloodworm at this age. I think frozen daphnia is ok too.

Some of mine are just starting to take pellets. The only ones they like are Zoo Med Newt Food which you can buy online, but frozen bloodworm will probably be a safer bet.

I agree, chopped frozen bloodworm is a good idea.

What is the weather like there? And do you have any ponds nearby? The truly best thing I would suggest is to go get a bucketful of pond water. Don't worry about including a certain amount of "muck" and plant/algae material. Include some very gentle aeration and put the larvae in there. Keep outdoors if possible (cold is OK as long as it won't freeze.) If you are too afraid of losing them like this, just put in ONE and see how it goes. There will be loads of microscopic live food in there, and this will sustain them very well for a few days. For longer term, you'd need to replace the pond water every few days and introduce larger foods as they grow. I know there are risks like this, but I honestly think those risks are lower than the risks involved in using egg yolk or pellets at this stage.

Thanks for the help guys, never realised they were old enough for the bloodworm yet. Im gonna pop out to get some as soon as possible, my local store sells bloodworm but not daphnia or brine shrimp unfortunetly. Thanks again

Just out of sheer curiosity, not saying it's wrong or anything like that, why can't you feed them live brine shrimp?
What I've done when I've been short on food is crush up some salamander pellets and put them in then swish it around so they go after the moving pellets. Maybe that will help

Im 16 and live with my parents. My mam made me agree i wouldn't feed them live food before I got my eggs. Thanks for the advice. Bought some freeze dried bloodworms today, gonna see how they take to them

That seems a silly thing to agree to when raising carnivores.

My guess is that your axolotls are not eating the food, and that's why they're so tiny. At 2 months old, they should at least have their front legs, and working on developing back legs. They should be 3+ cm. If they're not, there's a reason. In this case, I think it's because they're starving.

Freeze-dried food is basically void of nutrition. Even if they eat it (which is doubtful), it's about as nutritious as rice-cakes.

Unfortunately, these guys really do need live food, especially when they're tiny. They're sight-hunters, and if it doesn't wiggle/swim, they're usually not interested.

Kaysie said:

That seems a silly thing to agree to when raising carnivores.

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It might seem silly but it's something that I had to agree on and seeing as adult axolotl can live off pellets or dead food I never saw it as an issue. I was also told instant baby brine shrimp would be an suitable replacement to live food. One of them seems to be at least 2 and a half cm however he does not have any legs that I can see developing but I am new to this. Freeze dried was all they had available in the shop. If they were so starving then why haven't they died? Surely they are use to the baby brine shrimp by now, it has been their source of food since birth

IMO that was a horrible thing to agree too. Its like trying to make a cat a vegetarian! If they are not growing much, they are could be suffering from malnutrition from not eating the proper foods, or not eating those foods at ALL. Why cant you just feed them live for now and then feed them pellets or frozen when they are big enough to be converted to it? I mean, its not like you are feeding them a cow, you would be feeding them tiny tiny bugs basically.

Just curious, is your mom Vegan or something?

*edited*
they probably arent dead because cold blooded animals, even if they are born live, usually have a yolk that they take in and live off of in case pickin's are slim. I believe they can live off of this for quite a while. Not sure how long with axies.

No she isn't a vegan. And it's not the same as making my cat a vegetarian, I have no problem feeding them meat just not live animals. Seems like im going to need to change that now anyway, what exactly should I be feeding them then? Live daphnia seems almost impossible to get, so do I need to set up a brine shrimp hatchery? They can't live of their egg yolk for that long, I'm sure its only a matter of days not weeks they can live off it for but there's so many different answers online I'm not 100% sure on that one

They may be eating bits out of desperation, but not enough to thrive.

I would set up a brine shrimp hatchery. Or if you have a local source for blackworms, they're fantastic and will get them through until they're big enough for pellets.

Im going to set up a hatchery as soon as I can, i'll deal with my mam at a later date. Sorry if I was rude on here earlier, I was just annoyed because I was told my instant baby brine shrimp would be fine for the axolotl before getting my eggs and now all I have done is killed off half of them and starved the other three

lol i'm sorry if i came off rude too, i just am flabbergasted at the things people try and do their animals or make their kids do to animals just because they have a moral issue with what those animals eat. The cat example was just to show what crazy things people do in regards to what an animal NEEDS to eat just because they can.

We get in a lot of animals in the rescue group im in that are snakes being fed crickets or once a month etc etc, by people who didnt research to make sure what the pet store told them was true.

I'm not sure who told you that but if it was the pet store........ Pet stores are LITERALLY the worst place to get information from, because even a hobo on the street will at least tell you "i dont know" usually. And to most people, a pet store obviously has much more credibility than a hobo. A pet store will give you a best guess or a flat out lie. And animals die, because the new owners expect the petstore should know what the care is for the animals that they sell is! (and they SHOULD know, dont get me wrong, but they almost never do.)

Also, dont feel bad. It wasnt your fault, you were given faulty information. The fact that you are here asking questions and trying to fix it shows you are responsible. So buck up ! Dont worry

Unfortunetly it wasn't a petshop that told me that, it was a user on this forum that I purchased the eggs from. They seemed to be an experienced breeder so I trusted them. Just hoping they all survive now until I can get a hatchery going, it's not due to arrive for another few days though

To help get you some live food faster, I've found that the brine shrimp don't need aeration, just the salt water soliution. And they'll hatch in a day or two. I hope that helps some.
GOOD LUCK!