Question: Earthworms hiding under ornaments

Hi. I've had my axolotl for 2 months now and I am having some trouble feeding him. The pet shop I got him from were feeding him bloodworms only and they told me to continue feeding him this way. However they were also keeping him on gravel and he was very skinny so I looked into what I should be feeding him and came across this site. I have fed him earthworms in all sorts of ways, blanched, alive, big, small, lob worms, red wrigglers etc and I've had mixed results. He's eaten all types of worms, dead or alive, but sometimes he refuses them, even though he's hungry. He watches them with great interest and then just swims off. And sometimes he genuinely seems to have trouble swallowing them. It's really strange because other times he has no problem at all. Anyway, because of this I feel like I am continuinly putting worms in and fishing them out. I try to hold it in front of him, but my tweezers are rubbish and the worm drops to the ground. But toothless shows an interest so I wait but he doesn't eat it. So I hold it in front of him again. Eventually I have to fish the worm out, but he seems hungry again so I try again. It's so frustrating. Lately I've been leaving worms in there, but they keep hiding under his cave and log and I'm worried they will die in there and pollute the water so I end up going fishing again to get them out. And when they do pop out again toothless just watches them or attempts to eat them and can't manage it somehow. I'm really confused cause at over times he just eats them no problems. What can I do?

How old is Toothless? Once an axolotl reaches about 12 months of age, it will often eat only once every few days, so perhaps your axie isn't hungry every time you feed him. Is he gaining weight or losing it? Is his tummy as wide as his head (the standard measure of a well-fed axie)? You may also find that he prefers one particular type (or preparation method) of worms. As long as he is eating good nutritious earthworms, variety is not a major issue - the worms will give him what he needs - so perhaps stick to his favourite/s.

All the best with Toothless. I hope you have a long and mutually rewarding love affair with your lotl.

Thank you so much. Thankfully since I posted this he is eating his earthworms like a champ. I think he likes the hunt, because when I emptied his tank their were no worms anywhere so he obviously found them Toothless is still an adolescent and is about 8 inches long. He was in a bad way when I got him :-( Very skinny with peeling skin and nubs for gills. He was being kept on gravel with bright lights and no hiding spaces and fed bloodworm. The poor thing probably ingested more gravel than bloodworm and he must have been so stressed. He has passed two pieces of gravel since I've had him and they were huge. Poor thing. I've put stress coat plus in his aquarium to help with his slime coat and his skin is slowly starting to heal. His gills are also growing back and he now has beautiful branches growing from them. And the best bit, now he's eating earthworms his stomach is finally as wide as his head. He was so so skinny bless him. He does have 3 hands on one arm and his arm is backwards so I assume the pet shop was keeping him with other axols. He manages well though and has even learnt to swim. I'm keeping him alone so he can heal well and I don't have to worry about them eating bits of eachother lol. I keep him on sand with no lighting and he has flower pots and caves to hide in. I'm totally in love with this guy and I'm so happy he's doing so well.