Question: Red wigglers question

Last night I bought my little axolotl his first tub of red wigglers from Petsmart. Rinsed one off and fed it to him live and whole (my axolotl is about 3.5 inches). He had no issues eating the first worm and I stopped there for the night as he also has some leftover black worms in his tank.

Today I decided to try feeding him 2 red wrigglers. Rinsed them out and fed them the same way and he ate them up after what seems like the normal thing where they spit them out a bit then suck them back in. It seemed like everything was fine and he even went for a black worm that I tried to feed him so I thought he might want another worm later. Unfortunately I looked in his tank after about an hour or so and noticed the 2 worms were spit out.

Should I be worried? Or did I maybe overfed him? The worms were about 1.5 to 2 inches long each.

Red wrigglers smell and taste awful, they're not harmfull in any way, but some axies just won't eat them because of the gross smell.

So it could just be that 2 were too much for him to handle then, maybe? He swallowed the first worm last night and it looked like he loved it.

Any idea how long I should wait before I feed him again?

If it's a new food they sometimes react like kids - they eat it one day, hate it the next.

And it's quite likely that 2 worms is too much - one worms at 3.5" is probably enough.

Thank you both for the quick response. I took the 2 worms out and I'll let him rest and possibly try a worm late tonight if he looks hungry. He still seems a bit plump so maybe he tried to eat them just because they were there.

I ended up having to feed him more black worms tonight. He seemed to really want to try to eat them, but it turns out that even the first worm must have been spit out at some point as I found it tucked in a corner under a sponge.

At the end of the night I cut one of the red wigglers in half and my girlfriend and I took turns trying to entice him to eat it. He came to check it out several times but would either just float there with his mouth against the worm not doing anything or just turn away.

Is it normal for them to spit out the worm a while after having swallowed it entirely? Is that what they do if they don't like it? I thought it was possibly when he struggled a bit, spit it out halfway and then tried swallowing it again, but maybe that's just trying to get it down.

I'll try starting fresh tomorrow with a cut worm from the start, and if not I'll start hunting down for some Canadian nightcrawlers.

I think that Ambystomas specifically detest worms of the Eisenia genus. I've tried feeding European nightcrawlers (which are supposed to be less bitter than red wigglers) to my tiger salamanders and they just cannot stand the taste. On the other hand, their bitterness doesn't even seem to phase my gold dust newts. It may have been that I began feeding them these worms since they were young, but this is the only food my tiger sals have refused after tasting (and they will grab anything in front of them).

I have never had any issues getting my axies to eat E Fetida - they gobble them up with gusto!
But I do think some axies just have to get used to the 'new food' concept - mine looked at pellets with curiosity several times before they decided they were food.

Keep trying with the worms - your axie will get the hand of them eventually.

I feed mine european nightcrawlers and they LOVE them. I do also have red wrigglers and a couple other varieties in my worm farm but I don't find any issues.

Mine detest red wrigglers. They won't eat them even blanched, vomit them back up if I trick them into eating one, and refuse to even try the trout worms for the next two days after they get one, even though they adore trout worms usually. So I threw mine on the compost heap.

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

I'll keep trying with the red wrigglers for a while, I have plenty of black worms if he doesn't want any until I can find some Canadian night crawlers to try (won't be too hard.)

I'm thinking of looking for some pellets for him to have as back up, do any chain stores sell any or is it all online?

Cacique said:

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

I'll keep trying with the red wrigglers for a while, I have plenty of black worms if he doesn't want any until I can find some Canadian night crawlers to try (won't be too hard.)

I'm thinking of looking for some pellets for him to have as back up, do any chain stores sell any or is it all online?

Click to expand...

Google sal-site. You can order pellets directly from the University of Kentucky.

Bette said:

Google sal-site. You can order pellets directly from the University of Kentucky.

Click to expand...

Thanks!