Axolotl not feeding

I've just tried to feed Axol....

Normally if he isn't hungry he will just ignore the food and walk off... but today he was taking his worms and trying to gulp them down but then spitting them out....

Since I've had them, Axol has been difficult to feed and eats a lot less than Lottie does, but I've never seen him do this.... He is already very skinny, and I'm not sure what to do for the best.... He is still very active and hasn't really had a change in character...

How big is he? What kind of worms are you feeding them?

Could be that he can't seem to swallow the worm, possibly to big? Or he just doesnt like it *Picky eater* have you tried feeding him other things?

Try cutting the worms to mouth width chunks - they might be better for him to chew on

What type of worms are you feeding as some types get a bitter taste to them (apparently... I can't say I'd notice if I did do a taste comparison of various worms lol) but so I am told! Some of mine are fussy eaters (spoiled rotten) & will only eat live blackworms so I've decided to order 500gms of blackworms to keep them well fed then I'll try & get them onto earthworms again after that - hopefully! Perhaps you could try blackworms if chopping the earthworm doesn't help.

Post a pic of the lotls from side & above if you're worried he's too skinny.

Good luck



<3 >o_o< <3

He's around 12-18 months old and 6-7 inches in length, according to his old owner he wont eat anything but wiggly earthworms. I have tried treating them with bloodworm but only managed to Lottie to eat some, Axol will only react to something wiggling under his nose and only if it's been wiggling for a while.

I've just tried to take some decent pictures of top and side but he wont pose for me, as he gone into one of his hides.... So I'll load up what I have of him...

I tried him on a few of the different worms I had of varying size right from little tiddly worms to a far sized worms... So dont think it's a size problem as two of them were less than an inch in length and 1 mm max in girth... Also he has eaten some fat worms in the past....

The frist pic is the day we got him and Lottie, which was 4 weeks ago... he is the skinner one... The second picture if from Saturday when I was sorting their tank out so had moved them to my temp tank....

Ok not fair other half goes to tank and Axol comes out and posses for some pics... They are dark as he only used the flash and not a light to show him up better....


http://www.caudata.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=28900&stc=1&d=1363043714

http://www.caudata.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=28901&stc=1&d=1363043714

I'm pretty new to axolotls, but could their size/shape difference just be a sex difference? Lottie looks rounder, and I'm assuming she is a female? I've learned on here that females are much rounder than males.

He still needs to eat--obviously......but maybe his size isn't as bad as you think??? What do others think?

Oh I know Lottie is a little fattie girl.... I really do try to stop her at three worms every two day but today Axol spat his worms half way across the tank and Lottie decided she was eating those worms too.. So she has had three large worms one medium and a tiny worm.... And had the cheek to ask other half for a 6th worm when he went to take picture of Axol....