Young axie seems to be constipated

Hi all. I have 2 baby axies just 36 days old, they hatched here with me & have been doing great. I keep them in seperate containers, freshen the water everyday & they are kept at 65 degrees. They graduated to live blackworms from baby brine shrimp about 2 weeks ago & that is all they eat now. They had been eating a snack of finely chopped up blackworms as they were growing so I know they were ok eating them & they eventually got big enough for the baby brines to be too small...so now it is just blackworms.
My problem is one of them seems to be constipated or something. I clean the pooh out regulary so I noticed the day there was not any showing up... That was last Wednesday because it seemd to me the last pooh I saw was Tuesday, by Thursday I was worried and when I got home there was definetly waste but it was more like shredded waste...not the normal pooh "tube"/"pile" kinda thingy. I thought it looked like a "blow out" of sorts. I have been watching, feeding less & the other baby axie is like clock work but this baby seems to not be able to go. I can see a fine little bit (kinda looks like dirt specs) coming out here & there but the big bulk of it is just sitting up there in his gut at the top of the pooper shooter.
Is there anything I can do to help him? I tried baby brine shrimps this am thinking I would not feed any blackworms & try a smaller food but neither baby axie ate any of the baby brine shrimp. It was like they did not even notice them around their heads. It just seems like the pooper hole is clogged at the top & only a small little amount of waste is making it thru.
Any advise would be appreciated, I'm thinking I have to not feed him at all & maybe fridge ? I was not sure if this method would help one so young...Thanks~Christine

I'm not an expert by any means, but I have raised a lot of axie babies, and I would say that you should definitely fridge him until the experts can answer your question. No matter what the age, fridging never hurts, ever. Good luck!

Hi Christine,

I don't think your axie is constipated. Axie poo can disintegrate into fine particulate matter really quickly. The very reason you actually can see poo 'dust' indicate that the axie's alimentary tract is patent. Have a read through these links.

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/why_larvae_die.shtml

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/raising.shtml

Cheers.

Hi Darkmaverick & Velaria,

Thank you for the reassurance & advise. I did go ahead & fridge this am before I read Darkmavericks response. I guess the only reason I thought he was having a problem is because I can see the build up of the pooh at the end of his abdomin & it just does not come out. The other one poohs as it builds up, like a drainage kinda. Food goes in, a little time goes by & the waste starts coming out. They are both around 2 1/2" inches long (from tip of head to tip of tail, heads about 7mm wide) so the waste is usually kinda large. Up until last Wednesday they both poohed about the same amount & I could really tell when it stopped for the one. He seems very healthy & growing, and he is always hungry :happy: so I was not too worried about it but I worry more than the average person.
Should I will wait & transfer him back to normal conditions until tomorrow afternoon, I would hate to stress him by putting him in the fridge this am & moving him right back only 12 hours later... I will wait for a response Darkmaverick before I do anything. I think I may have been overfeeding them & that might have caused the little build up also I am attaching a picture of squirt, just for your viewing pleasure haha
Thank you so much & keep up the with good advise, I have gotten so much info here & always get great advise (sometimes for myself or from posts I read). I have a whole info book built on axie's for myself from all the knowledge I find here.
Thanks again, Christine

Hi Christine,

Since you already fridged the axie, its ok to leave it there for a couple of days and see how it goes. Do you have glass pebbles in the tank? If you do, it might be worth removing them.

Since your axies are still so young, they will require daily feeding. Thus even when fridged you would still need to offer food daily and watch that it does eat some.

Cheers.

Thanks so much Darkmaverick,

I have them in speciman containers, just them, nothing else, except an air stone on very very very low. I keep the containers at the top of the big tank, sitting reversed being held up with cleaning magnets. I keep the big tank at 65 degress, the fridge is at 46degrees. That is as high as the fridge will go.
I suck up any debris I see all day, whenever I am at home. I also freshen the water back up with dechlorinated fresh water that hangs in another container in the big tank so it is the same temp. I switch out the containers for clean ones with fresh water every 2 to 3 days, that's when I can feel the slime on the sides.
I just fed Squirt a blackworm while in the fridge & it only took him about 3 secs to want it :happy: I can still see the big bulk of waste at the end of his abdomin but I will try to not worry about it.
I attached a picture of the set up. On the left is Squirts new home ~ when he is large enough, at the top of that is a couple eggs I found in the filter a couple days ago (I removed the seperator for a couple of hours & Kickstand started laying eggs again the next day).
In the bottom center is Kickstand (momma, she's hiding) with a fresh container of water at the top. She tries to eat the little ones thru the container so I just store the fresh water there.
All the way to the bottom right is Tank (daddy) & that is where Squirt & Panhead stay at the top, in seperate containers. Just took the picture so all you see is Panhead, the other baby axie, in a 3" x 7" x 7" tall speciman container.
This is my first time with eggs being laid, hatching a couple of them & raising babies. This is the set up & system I came up with in order to be able to raise the babies, seperate the male and female so I do not end up with eggs again & keep my cats out of them all I feed Squirt & Panhead twice a day, about 10 small blackworms (or chopped up pieces) at a time, I'm not sure if that is too much or too little but they rarely ever refuse them :happy:
I will keep Squirt in the fridge for a few days & send an update when I get him back in his normal place. Should I offer him like 3 blackworms a day, small sized?
Thanks again for any advise, Christine

Hi Christine,

Yes sounds like a good plan. Hope it works out well.

Cheers.

If you seriously think he's constipated, give him brine shrimp for few days.

kirstyandmark01 said:

If you seriously think he's constipated, give him brine shrimp for few days.

Click to expand...

I don't mean to be rude, but can I ask what will feeding a constipated axolotl Brine Shrimp do?

Hi everyone
Well~ time seemed to do the trick. He was having a very small amount of pooh seeping out & finally yesterday everything broke loose...yippee!! I knew he was growing so fast that it would for sure make it out soon enough. I really think I was feeding him too much & more food was going in than waste could get out LOL He is doing great & now I am seeing a more regular sign of waste in there.
Thanks! Christine