Wild TONY appeared!
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I know that earthworms are the most nutritionally balanced and only true staple food, but I was going to buy beef heart as a treat. If I were to give it to my axolotls, should I boil it first?
You shouldn´t give them beef heart, boiled or not...it´s not a suitable food.
Stick to invertebrates.
Sdaji, beef heart is unsuitable for a number of reasons. Vertebrate meat is way too caloric for axolotls, and it can cause obesity, they can´t digest it fully, it is nutritionally poor as it largely lacks vitamins, and there have been reported cases of intestinal obstructions.
Sure, there are other unnatural foods that can work, but this one is not suitable not because it´s not natural but because it does not fit the nutritional requirements of axolotls.
Countless millions of axolotls around the world, in labs, are not being fed staples of beef heart, they are being fed staples of pellets or earthworms.
It is very easy to provide a varied diet composed exclusively of invertebrates, there´s no need for subadequate foods like vertebrate muscle. People use it becaus eit´s convenient to them, period, but it´s not good for the animals themselves.
The use of vertebrate meat, specially mammalian has been shown to produce obesity in a number of amphibians. It can also result in other issues like corneal lipidosis. So no, not making it up.
By can´t digest it fully i mean that the digestion is very incomplete. In the cases where i´ve used or seen mammal meat being used as food, the feces were poorly processed.
I know of no healthy axolotl that has been raised solely on beef heart. I find that quite extraordinary.
It´s certainly a very poor staple, and if boiled, even more so. As far as i know (if i´m wrong, please correct me), beef heart is not a suitable staple even for carnivores (too poor in calcium among other things).
The reason why i used the term unsuitable is because it´s a substandard choice, which comes with some risks, specially since it´s frequently abused and the use of a variety of invertebrates is preferable. Again, the only reason why things like beef heart are used is convenience for the keeper, not a concern for the animal´s best interests. You can feed tigers solely on chicken...but that can be problematic....
If they are juveniles, then it's normal for them to need to eat daily. Here are 2 reliable US sources for Rangen salmon pellets. With the shipping, they may seem costly, but one batch will last a long time in the freezer.I haven't used beef hearts~ not to diverge off the subject just a tad, but what all can you feed them that is "suitable" ? I have been feeding mine that i just aquired- frozen blood worms, night crawlers/worms, red worms. Not really sure what else there is, and dont feel like the blood worms is fillin them up, they are eating every day and still seem hungry, the worms i cut up but they arent as intrested in those as the bloodworms.. any thoughts. has anyone used turtle foods/pellets etc. apparently there are no bait shops around me so im jumpin through hoops to find trout pellets.
Thanks!
Do NOT boil it! When heart or liver is used to feed amphibians, it is normally fed raw. I have used heart and liver occasionally in the past. Never cooked it!
If you have a worm farm, that's awesome. I wouldn't bother with the beef heart.
I don't know where the idea came from but I suppose they were kept alongside other animals and recognised as carnivores.Just wondering where the hell did the idea of feeding them beef hearts come from anyway? Did someone see a Axolotl jump out of the water and pull in a cow and eat it?
The statment about earthworms has stood the test of time. I don't use beef heart but I don't think it is that big a nutritional disaster. 100 years of regular accepted use cannot be easily ignored.
Totally agree. Also the preparation is pretty clear, no fat or gristle, it is not a matter of just shove beef heart down them. The lead Author worked at Hubrecht Institute in Utrecht. and the quote reflects how they fed axolotls there in about 1980.Sure, but we shoudn´t ignore the bit about the multivitamin/mineral complex either, because it makes a very significant difference.