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I feel like the worst owner...

Sherleelee

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I bought a new wild axoltol 2 weeks ago now. she is still young I reckon only a few months old. I bought her knowing I was going to be upgrading my tank to a 4ft tank in the next couple weeks and just feel in love with her at 1st sight. I currently have one axolotl named Bubbles who I have had for over 2 years. The tank he is in is a 60L and I bought Spot knowing it is over stocking as its 15gal but would do water changes every other day till I got my new tank and cycled it. Now when I 1st got her she ate relativity well she had a few feeder fish and some axolotl pellets. Now in the past 5 days she has not eaten at all, I even went and bought some good worms ect and she just has not wanted to eat them.. she attempted at 1st but it was to big to fit in her mouth and spat it out, I of course cut the worms in 3 parts so she could eat them and she just wouldn't.. she is now really skinny and just not doing much. I have moved her to a 30L bare bottom tank that I will be doing water changes on every day till she is better. I feel horrible as
1. I shouldn't have bought her till I had this tank setup , but knowing my local pet stores reputation she would have ended up sick and eating gravel if she was there much longer
2. My other axolotl Bubbles seems to really like her company.. I know people say that they dont need companions but soon as i introduced her into the tank he has been smitten or something.. he is always on top of her and follows her around the tank, when I tried to take her out into a tank on her own just now he was very cautions and kept going in front of her so that I would end up putting him in the container instead of her.. Now he is moping around as well without her...
If she doesn't get better I dont know what I am going to do....
Sorry for the long rant.. just very upset about her being so skinny and not eating... have not had this happen since I 1st got bubbles but he ended up eating after like 2 days... and never was this skinny.. any tips on how to get her to eat?
 

auntiejude

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You are not a bad owner - just an over-enthusiastic one! Nothing wrong with that...

How big is Spot? If she is still quite small she may not be ready for worms - have you tried blood worms? Brine shrimp? Daphnia? More feeder fish? Having been put of by a worm she may not want to try another one just yet.

She may just be a little stressed and dazed from the move.

She may just have stuffed herself and just isn't hungry right now - remember they can go a fair few days without food.

Have you checked out her mouth? She might have injured her lips or mouth, even before you got her, and she's too sore to eat.

One of mine decided not to eat for a week or so - I eventually tempted him with waxworms, now he is back on the earthworms but he'll only take them tail first, preferably without my hand in view. Weird, but at least he's eating.
 

snuggly time

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Have you left the worms in there for any length of time? I would leave them in for a couple of hours and cover the tank so she's in darkness and see if she eats when she's in the dark. Or like Auntiejude said, try plenty of different foods to encourage her.
 

narny101

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poor thing, like everyone said it's best if you try some different food, she might be stressed... just wait and see and make sure she is in a good tank and not stressed :alien:
 

Sherleelee

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She has been in the 30L bare bottom tank with only a little plant and a sponge filter for almost a day now. I have been covering the tank with a towel so its nice and dark. While I was at work my husband went and fed her a worm and she ate a WHOLE worm on her own!!!! Apparently she took awhile to eat it but got it down!! I literally cried I was so happy when he told me!!! Will be changing her water and then putting the towel back over and will continue to do so till the new 4ft tank is cycled ect
 
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    with axolotls would I basically have to keep buying and buying new axolotls to prevent inbred breeding which costs a lot of money??
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