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Axolotls eating sand??

allied123

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So I put sand in my tank a couple week ago and had been doing a water change and one of my guys pooped and I noticed a bit of sand in his poop which is strange because they only eat pellets out of a jar. I didn't think too much of it because some sand does occasionally get in the jar with all their moving around. However I just now saw one of them take a huge mouthful of sand and kind of spit some out but it looks like he definitely ate some. He was just sitting there and then just up and took a huge mouthful for no apparent reason.

Is this normal or dangerous? Should I go back to bare bottom or will they stop eating sand once they get used to it?
 

layna

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If your axies are used to putting their head on the floor (of the jar) to eat their food they may have learned that food is on the floor and be 'hunting' for food.

You can discourage this behaviour by encouraging them to look up for food i.e drop their pellets in on top of their heads so they stop looking on the ground for food.

Or you could try feeding them in a bright bowl so they know that when you put that bowl in, the food is there and not on the floor.

You shouldnt really let axies eat the sand because it can still be a risk to them if it builds up in their tummies. Its just safer than gravel.

I personally drop my pellets and worms from the top of the tank and aim it above their heads as when mine were little they used to 'search' the floor for food and from what i see of them they no longer look on the floor for food :D
 

fireball99

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Layna how did you get your lotl to notice the feeding dish? I do what you do, drop the pellets once I have my axie's attention and he snaps them up on the way down. Sometimes he misses and those pellets end up on his sand and he lands, seems to sniff them out, and gobbles them up.

I bought him a small feeding dish yesterday as I don't want him ingesting any more sand than is necessary, but he's oblivious to both the dish and the food inside. I've managed to lure him to the dish (at this moment the silly thing is standing in it), but he hasn't clicked there's food in it.

I've fed him bloodworms and pellets before from a ramekin. He ate the pellets but left, sorry, *scattered*, the bloodworms, but he got stuck in it head first (he's not the brightest lolt!) and I had to tip him out of it. I bought him a shallower dish to try and solve this but he doesn't know it's there.
 

margbooth

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I have a flat piece of slate in one corner of the tank and i always feed there, so the axies line up over their feeding spot and stare at me when its time to eat. I guess its the same as a dish, but looks nicer and they do learn after a while.
I thought sand was safer because it can pass through without too much difficulty.
 

blushed

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I put my axolotls food in their feeding dishes & they go & eat.

They also sit in the feeding dish & beg when they are hungry.
 
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