Question: Feeding questions.

Hello all,

I recently found some Axolotls at a pet shop and took the plunge. One was eating pellets like a pig the first day, which I hear is a bit unusual for a 2" baby, but the other was ignoring the pellets and would only take a single bloodworm at a time. It seemed to take it's time with the worm but when a pellet was offered it would just chew a bit and spit it right back out.

Last night I found a large chunk of aquarium gravel in it's tank and then within about 15 minutes, it started eating bloodworms by itself from off the floor of the tank. I'm guessing it was the gravel that was causing it to be finicky with the food and that after being hungry for so long it didn't need the movement it usually does to strike.

My question is about how often I should feed them now, I have heard that they should be as wide in the belly as they are in the head or close to it..... but my little tykes look awful skinny. I've been offering twice a day, equaling a block of bloodworms per day, the other guy is still eating the pellets like it's going out of style though

Mat.

Hi
Try earthworms too, they love them
you can chop them up so they can eat them easily

You will manage about how often... usually once a day or twice when they are juveniles, if they are too thin I would feed them maybe twice for a few days until they get a little more "fat" and then once a day or so. I think they will let you know but be aware that they are usually always hungry!!

Thanks daremo.

I think they are both doing a good job of letting me know when they have had enough, I just wanted to make sure on the feeding intervals. I'm much more experienced with snakes so it seems like a lot to be feeding these guys everyday and just wanted to make sure I wan't overdoing it or not giving them enough.

Mat.

The general rule is whatever they will consume in 15 min. Anything left after this time should be removed to prevent fouling your water.

At 2", frozen bloodworms will be fine and you can also add in some chopped earthworms to see if you can get them adjusted to those as well. Pellets are fine as a supplement, but the sooner you can get them going on live earthworms, the better for them.

Their bodies should stay about the same width as their heads - if the head is wider, feed a little more - if the body is wider, feed a little less.

I'm glad to hear it passed the gravel on its own like that. Poor little thing!

Thanks Shannon.

I'll have to grab some earthworms in the morning and see if I can start to switch them over. My other one that was eating the pellets hasn't touched anything all day, but it tries to investigate my fingers or tongs when I introduce food so maybe the worms will get it eating again.

Mat.