Question: Is this unusual?

ZoeT94

ZoeT94

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So for the last week or so, my little girl, Pinky hasn't been eating anything which I offered her, where her friend has been eating with vigour.

This afternoon I got home from college and decided upon a different tactic, so I fed podge (the friend) and then offered pinky something, first mussel, which she didn't take, then a worm. She wouldn't take it. So in the end, i simply dropped it in front of her, it was still wriggling and moving.

I left it in front of her, and after watching her for five minutes, she seemed to be treating it as prey food. she put it in her mouth, couldn't get it in. Spat it out and then after 3 minutes or so, she ate it...

Is it unusual for an axie to prefer feeding and eating like this?
 
To expand on Eddie's statement, red wiggler worms in particular will secrete this noxious fluid. When your axolotl first bites it, it oozes out, tastes bad, and the axolotl spits out the worm. After a few minutes, it's still wiggling, so your axolotl still sees it as food, but now the water has rinsed away this fluid, and she eats it.

Try switching to a different species of worm. Nightcrawlers (versus red wigglers/tiger worms/etc.) are especially good, but often need to be cut down to size for smaller axolotls.
 
hmm. okay. I do tend to soak them prior to feeding them, in some warm water for a few minutes. I will try and keep them soaking for longer so that when she takes them, she doesn't taste the secretion...

Thank you :happy:
 
Thank you Kaysie! I did not know that in depth what happens, just that it did.

Although interestingly enough, my axi will not eat Nightcrawler, s/he will only eat red wigglers or thease red worms that i dig up out side (they look similar to red wigglers but dont have the yellow tip so i dont know if their different or just not sexualy mature but are the same size)
 
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