My axolotl won't eat worms!

Hi all,

Am a little concerned about my axie. She's about two and has been eating earthworms her entire life. (They're the ones that are smaller than Canadian nightcrawlers, about two inches long and a quarter the thickness of my pinkie).

When she was a baby, I'd cut them up for her, but she's been swallowing them whole for about two years. The past couple days, however, no luck. She won't eat her usual worms (cut or whole) and continuously attempts to swallow them, struggles with them in her mouth for a few seconds, and then spits them back out. She has been eating turtle pellets with no difficulty (which I hand feed her since they're the kind that float), just no worms.

No appreciable changes have occurred in her environment. I did switch her over to sand (previously bare bottomed) but that was two months ago and this behavior only started this week.

Should I be concerned? Maybe I just bought a sick batch of worms (though they look perfectly normal to me, idk). Has anyone had this happen before? Could it be a sign she's not well?

I tend to worry a lot about my axie...as you can tell. Thanks in advance for any advice!

Are they Red Wrigglers? Many won't eat them, sometimes lotls that previously ate them fine would suddenly refuse them.

Yes, they're red wigglers (had no idea they were called that until I googled them just now). I tried soaking this one for an hour before feeding, but to no avail.

It's just crazy to me; she's had these worms every day for her whole life. I guess I'll have to adjust her diet. I'm glad others have had this experience, I was worried there might be something wrong with her throat.

Instead of just soaking the red wigglers, you could try blanching them in hot water for about a minute then rinsing several times in cold water. When the worms die from the hot water, I don't think they will let off the foul defensive slime.
I've done that with my 2 guys with about 80-90% success of them eating the worms. And if they don't eat anything for several days, the axolotls will eat anything if they're hungry enough.

Also, is your axolotl for sure a she? If she is, she might be full of eggs right now and that's why she's not eating as usual. Give her time and she will re-absorb the eggs and gain her full appetite back.