9 year old Axolotl not eating

I haven't been on Caudata for several years.

I have had my axolotl (Bill) since September 2005 and just prior to Christmas I have discovered that Bill is not eating. Bill still expresses interest in food, and tries hard to swallow the "Axolotl food" pellets, but spits them out. He has been eating these for about 8 years. Bill also seems to move about the tank in the usual fashion.

As it says in the title Bill is 9 years old and has lived in the same tank for about 8 years, alone with no other animals. Apart from the Summer temperatures going up and having to cool the tank with ice bottles (I have been doing this for years) there have been no other changes.

If I soften the pellets up by soaking them in tank water and am persistent I can get him to swallow a small amount of food, but the process is tiring and seems to stress Bill a bit. I don't think it is enough.to sustain him long term.

Can anyone provide some advice - and/or point to other relevant posts. I have seen the sticky on force feeding but I have never had to handle Bill in the whole 9 years. I also remember the cooling an axolotl down 14 degrees was often recommended.

I am going to try to find softer, smaller food.

Re: 9 year old Axolotl not eaiting

Has he recently had any visible swellings or marks?
Do you have a photo?
Has the water parameters changed recently, or the temp?

If we cant find anything obvious, I dont want to jump to conclusions, but most captive axies only live between 10-15 years and it may just be his time

Softer foods could be bloodworms/ blackworms/ earthworms/ waxworms

Re: 9 year old Axolotl not eaiting

Wow he's so old! Maybe its just that, he's turning old and things might not be working the same anymore.. Since you've had him for 9 years I would say you were doing everything right so maybe it's just nature taking it's course. Perhaps try him on some earthworms, they're softer. Maybe cut them up into small bits too so he doesn't struggle so hard also this thread makes me happy that axolotls can last on the ice bottle method to cool down tanks.

Re: 9 year old Axolotl not eaiting

Maybe a change of food would tempt him.
Try earthworms, bloodworms, blackworms, white worms, maggots, waxworms, freshwater shrimp, or crickets (with legs removed).

But he could just be old and fussy, and I agree with Layna and Hayley that he may just be an elderly axie at the end of his time.

Don't give up on him just yet though, try some alternative food, try cooling the tank if you can, and give him the best chance at another few years.

I agree with auntiejude. It could be age, but I think a change in food could be the simple solution. Don't axolotls live around 15 years anyway? Nature shouldn't be taking its course yet.

Sometimes my axolotls will get fussy about which kind of food I give them. I raised Misha on pellets, then switched her to earthworms when she was big enough. Every now and again, she refuses to eat the worms so I have to give her pellets again. Then she'll refuse the pellets and I switch back to worms x)

EmbryH said:

It could be age, but I think a change in food could be the simple solution. Don't axolotls live around 15 years anyway? Nature shouldn't be taking its course yet.

Click to expand...

It depends what temp its been kept at, a higher temp will increase the metabolic rate reducing life expectancy.

Thanks for the replies.

No changes in his environment other than the annual temperature increase that comes with Summer. Typically in Winter natural cooling has the water at 16-20 degrees, but in Summer that changes to 20-24 - hence the ice bottles to bring it back down to 20. The water has run warm though because the ice bottle method is not precise when you are away for long periods of time.

I suspected it may be age catching up with Bill, although 12-15 years is the lifespan I see quoted most.

Soft/small foods will be the order of the day I am going out this morning to see what I can find.

A rigorous program of tank cooling will be maintained.



Black on black photo above - Bill can be hard to see sometimes!

Update: water quality has been tested.

Temperature 18-20 degrees C

pH: as near to 7.0 as we can tell.
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0.25ppm
Nitrate: embarrassingly high.

So I've added some ammonia/nitrate detoxifier (this is the same chemical product I've been using to remove chlorine).

I think I will start doing some frequent water refreshes over the next week.

Also obtained some new food, should be able feed in smaller amounts.

Try getting the water quality perfect but this may just be old age. People tend to quote extremes for life expectancy and I've seen an article saying axolotls may show signs of senescence at six years. There is nothing wrong with the temperatures you have kept it at but those 15 year records probably relate to animals kept towards the bottom end of their temperature range.

I wouldn't try anything too drastic like force feeding and it sounds like you are doing everything right. My oldest axolotls are 7 years 10 months so you are still years ahead of me.

Re: 9 year old Axolotl not eating - Now doing much better!

Good news!

Water temperature has been stable 17-20 degrees regardless of ambient temp or time of day. I increased my collection of ice bottles to ensure that I always have at least 2 fully frozen.

Water quality - marginal improvement on ammonia, nitrate still poor. I am changing out some water everyday, and getting the siphon to clear out some of the muck which had settled into the substrate (I think I will gradually remove all of it). I will step up the water refresh as well.

Bill is now eating 3-5 softened pellets a day and is now acting almost completely normally, but clearly is annoyed by my constant interference with the tank. I tried some softened frozen shrimp/bloodworm/seafood mix for Axolotls - but he ignored it. I think Bills been eating pellets for so long nothing else registers as food!

I think that there is no longer any imminent danger of starvation, and if I keep a close watch on the tank conditions I get it back right, in about two months time I won't have to use ice or monitor the temp once we get to mid Autumn. Winter is always the happiest time for Bill.

Re: 9 year old Axolotl not eating - Now in excellent condition.

One year on, and Bill is as healthy and feisty as ever. He just attacked my tongs when I was feeding him.

The solution was all the basics of Axolotl care;

1) Water quality - fixed with regular partial water changes, and removal of the substrate which was retaining large amounts of waste.

2) Water temperature - manually controlled until the cooler weather arrived. I basically killed my second refrigerator keeping so many ice bottles frozen. At the beginning of Summer I spent a large amount of money on a Haliea aquarium chiller, and the tank temperature is always 20 degrees C (which is the best I can reasonably achieve).

3) Keeping things clean.

Hopefully Bill will make it to 10 years old this year.

That's great, I really enjoy reading about older animals that are doing well. Hope my two boys live as long as Bill!