zoeeee
New member
Hi all!
About 3 weeks ago we bought 1x adult (~1 yr old) and 1x juvenile axolotl (both female, both living in the same enclosure for a period of time before we bought them). We were told as a start we should feed them frozen bloodworms every couple of days, and eventually move onto live food like crickets, meal worms, etc.
For 2 weeks only the juvenile would eat food, and regardless of whether we held bloodworms on a pair of long tongs or left them on the floor of the tank in front of the adult, she just wouldn't eat at all. The juvenile was on the other side of the tank usually so was not bothering the adult during/after feeding.
We were told the adult was possibly looking for live or bigger food, so we bought super worms (cutting the head and tail off before feeding). After 2 weeks of not eating, we held a super worm on tongs in front of the adult and wiggled it for about 1 minute and FINALLY she ate the whole thing!
A few days later we tried again, and it took about 2 minutes before the adult took a small bite of the worm, then wouldn't eat the rest. We were persistent with the gentle wriggling, so she swallowed it all but then spat it back up. It hasn't eaten again now for another week despite trying 3 more times with super worms and blood worms.
We noticed from wriggling the super worms in front of the adult axolotl that the white goo from inside the worms has not only filled the tank water with heaps of white particles, but it looks like there's goo stuck on the adult's face and eyes. Do we need to physically rub the axolotl's face? Is the goo on it's eyes resulting in loss of vision or hurting it in any way? I've attached photos where you can see one eye looking cloudy.
She seems to have a lot of energy regardless, swimming around a lot. We don't turn the tank light often, they have a cave to hide in, a big plant, space up the front to dig around in the sand. The filter is only lightly pushing through the top of the water in one corner of the tank. I can't think of why she would still be stressed after a month?
What should we do? We don't want her to starve!
About 3 weeks ago we bought 1x adult (~1 yr old) and 1x juvenile axolotl (both female, both living in the same enclosure for a period of time before we bought them). We were told as a start we should feed them frozen bloodworms every couple of days, and eventually move onto live food like crickets, meal worms, etc.
For 2 weeks only the juvenile would eat food, and regardless of whether we held bloodworms on a pair of long tongs or left them on the floor of the tank in front of the adult, she just wouldn't eat at all. The juvenile was on the other side of the tank usually so was not bothering the adult during/after feeding.
We were told the adult was possibly looking for live or bigger food, so we bought super worms (cutting the head and tail off before feeding). After 2 weeks of not eating, we held a super worm on tongs in front of the adult and wiggled it for about 1 minute and FINALLY she ate the whole thing!
A few days later we tried again, and it took about 2 minutes before the adult took a small bite of the worm, then wouldn't eat the rest. We were persistent with the gentle wriggling, so she swallowed it all but then spat it back up. It hasn't eaten again now for another week despite trying 3 more times with super worms and blood worms.
We noticed from wriggling the super worms in front of the adult axolotl that the white goo from inside the worms has not only filled the tank water with heaps of white particles, but it looks like there's goo stuck on the adult's face and eyes. Do we need to physically rub the axolotl's face? Is the goo on it's eyes resulting in loss of vision or hurting it in any way? I've attached photos where you can see one eye looking cloudy.
She seems to have a lot of energy regardless, swimming around a lot. We don't turn the tank light often, they have a cave to hide in, a big plant, space up the front to dig around in the sand. The filter is only lightly pushing through the top of the water in one corner of the tank. I can't think of why she would still be stressed after a month?
What should we do? We don't want her to starve!