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Illness/Sickness: Is my axolotl healthy?

Darfin

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I've been taking care of this little dude for about two months now and I want to know if he looks good. I usually hand feed him pellets of chopped up bits of frozen brine shrimp cubes. He's about 8 months old and looked terrible when we got him (pics below) and he's doing better but I'm still worried about his weight. I don't want to over feed him the pellets as they are hard and could expand in his belly and block it if he eats too much and the brine shrimp are a mess. He won't eat unless I hand feed him the food by holding it Infront of him and letting him bite it from between my fingers. Recently he has started to become abit more agressive toward my finger but not my hand. Anything I should be worried about?
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eglochk

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Let's get this out of the way, find an exotic vet that has knowledge of amphibians; knowledge in axolotls is better. They'll be able to more readily identify potential health concerns.

Now that the disclaimer is out there, let's settle down into my armchair veterinary mode (a.k.a. no formal training/education.) To me, he looks a touch thin, but I've only one of similar age to base my experience off of.

Have you tried hand feeding earthworms (red wigglers)? At eight months of age, it seems a bit tedious to be chopping up and feeding frozen food. Earthworms are a great all around feeder for axies.
 

Wysper

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Welcome to axolotl keeping! :)

In my opinion, he looks healthy enough. They do tend to develop individual personalities based on their experiences.

I have 4 that are the same age, hatched from the same batch. 3 are extra fat as their heads, the 4th is a tad shorter and more slender. All are fed the same things at the same times, pellets and earth worms. I visually watch each one eat as much as they want. Galaxy (the 4th) is just not as hungry as the other 3, in fact he looks about like yours does. But all are happy and healthy.

If you are tired of the hand feeding, stop doing it. Just like other animals, they will figure it out for themselves. Mine know that when the tongs come in, it provides a worm... so even if I use it just to move a plant or decoration, they lung for it. If they are always finger fed, then they will always expect fingers to mean food. :)

If you want to contain the food, use a mason jar on it's side and put the pellets in there and let him find it. Trust me, they will always find the food! lol

In short, he doesn't look thin to me, he looks just fine and healthy.
 

Cloppy

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Yo could try feeding it small earthworms because the earthworms would be wriggling so it would probably induce a better feeding response and you would not have to get your hand in the way. lol
 
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