Question: Underfeeding?

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AGreenDarkness

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Hello,

I have been feeding Squishy (a leucistic about 6-7 inches long) a mixture of earth worm and amphibian pellets.

I feed her 2-3 times a week. I take an earth worm and cut it into pieces about 2-3 inches long each. So she is eating about 5 inches of worm each feeding along with anywhere from 1-7 pellets. The pellets are about half an inch long.

So that is 5 inches of earth worm and about 3 inches of pellet, 3 times a week.

She seems hungry and willing to eat food ALL the time!

I heard that at her age she should only be getting as much food as I am giving her now but her tummy is not as round and wide as her head is which is supposedly how it should be?

Am I slowly starving my Squishy?

Any help is appreciated
 
Hi AGreenDarkness,

You are certainly not starving her. :happy:

Each axolotl is different. You can try feeding her an extra worm or two, or a few more pellets each time and just see how she goes - I'm positive she won't mind a bit! ;)
 
Thank you!

It's just every time I walk past her tank she swims up to the surface and stares at me like.."food?"

I am going to try to feed her some more to keep her happy and such.

Thanks again!
 
LOL - Yes I don't know how or where they learned their con-artistry but they are very good at it!

Keep us posted!

Cheers Jacq.
 
My guy is about 9.5 inches I fed him 4 large earth worms a week. I don't cut my worms up he dose fine. If you feed her a little to much she will spit it up. Then you know to cut her feedings back a little bit. So I guess I am saying I think you can feed her a little more.
 
???? Am i doing some thing wrong????

Hope im not interrupting here but...

I am feeding mine every night.

I give each axolotl a cube (1.5cm x1.5cm) and cut up into smaller strips.

Is this to often, little or some thing else?
 
Hi Broadbent,

Each axie is different in how much they will eat, how fast they will grow, how fast they will get 'chubby'. :eek:

Young juveniles should be fed each day, older juveniles can be fed once every two or three days depending, and adults about twice a week.

A general guide to tell if you feel you are under or overfeeding is to monitor the belly - the belly should be about as wide as the head - plump but not obese.

Is the cube bloodworm? If so, I would also try earthworm or pellets as a staple diet.

These articles may help: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods.shtml, http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/worms.shtml & http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods2.shtml
 
I tend to feed mine every other day. I throw in about 3 or 4 average sized worms each, they always get eaten.
One of my axolotls knows when she is full and will then stop eating but the other would just carry on if I let her.
I also take note of my tank temperature, on warmer days when the tank is also warmer I feed more.
 
Havelock said:
Young juveniles should be fed each day, older juveniles can be fed once every two or three days depending, and adults about twice a week.

A general guide to tell if you feel you are under or overfeeding is to monitor the belly - the belly should be about as wide as the head - plump but not obese.

Is the cube bloodworm? If so, I would also try earthworm or pellets as a staple diet.
Click to expand...

Firstly thanks for the reply, no i am feeding them a mix of frozen cubes some times beef heart or one with discus, blood worm and shrimp etc and a few guppies every now and then:D
 
broadbent30 said:
Firstly thanks for the reply, no i am feeding them a mix of frozen cubes some times beef heart or one with discus, blood worm and shrimp etc and a few guppies every now and then:D
Click to expand...

I would only feed beef heart as an occasional treat. Guppies are not really suitable as a staple, they should be supplimented with something more nutricious such as earthworm or pellets.

Brine shrimp I think the axies will be too old to get any benefit from it - brine shrimp is usually fed to larvae....I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong on this.
 
Havelock said:
I would only feed beef heart as an occasional treat. Guppies are not really suitable as a staple, they should be supplimented with something more nutricious such as earthworm or pellets.

Brine shrimp I think the axies will be too old to get any benefit from it - brine shrimp is usually fed to larvae....I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong on this.
Click to expand...

thanks, looks like 3 little guys are having a diet change haha
 
Just a question--
not that I could afford guppy for anything else than
an occasional treat--
but why exactly are they not nutritious enough?
They should have lots of protein and calcium?
Okay, maybe not much fat...
Didnt axolotl when they still existed in the wild
eat fish, too? I cant imagine they lived on worms only?
 
Howdy, yeah, you will definately notice if you are overfeeding her, cos she will become very round and fat. When i got my first axie, I gave her as much food as she would eat, and she became very obese, so she wouldn't even swim...Oops,that was extreme, totally my mistake as I didn't get any help from anywhere and didn't know about this site. Now my 3 adult axies get fed twice a week, maybe a cube of frozen bloodworms once a week, and then axie pellets once a week, maybe about 7 each? But every axie is an individual, just as us humans are with our eating habits :). Please post some pics if you are unsure if your axie is too thin/fat etc, and am sure all teh kind people here will be able to tell
 
Thank you so much! I have stepped up her feeding a bit and she seems quite content eating more haha. As for pictures I will post some as soon as I can, don't make fun of my almost bare tank. I used to have a bunch of stuff in there but she hated it and sat in the corner, after lots of trial and error she now has a vase to play in and hide in and a plant to sit behind (and occasionally chew on). Hopefully I can get some pictures on here today. Thanks everyone!
 
I vase to play in, a plant to sit under, and a Mama who worries she's not feeding you enough - what more could anyone want or need? :D

Looking forward to the pictures!

-Eva
 
Here are some of the pictures of Squishy eating. A lot of the time she will sit for about 3 minutes with worm hanging out of her mouth refusing that she is either A. no longer hungry or B. the worm is too big for her. Let me know what you think. I know I should have more stuff in her tank, but she seems very content with how it is and I want to wait until I move into college on saturday before adding more stuff.

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Hello again,

The portion sizes may be just a little bit too big for her, I'd cut them to an inch long and see how she goes with smaller portions.

I have a few big mouthed axies that can take on worms up to three inchs with no problems (four inches I think was the axolotl record for the Havelock household - well done Vader!).

I also have a couple of big mouthed axies that are very finicky and will only take portion sizes of an inch long although they really ought to be able to handle a bigger worm - I have to steel myself every time I have to cut a fat juicy innocent worm to accommodate these finicky ones! :rolleyes:

I'm sure your lovely Squishy will fatten up in no time! :D

Cheers Jacq.
 
I think she looks good. Were did you get the purple sand?
 
Squishy is gorgeous she has a beautiful mask :) My axolotl is only just getting her mask in colour. The worm look a tad too big for her :) Even if she does manage to eat it all, it might be uncomfortable for her I usually go for worms around the thickness of my axolotl's legs :eek:
 
Thanks everyone!

I got the purple sand at a Petco about half an hour from my house. The guy working there talked me into buying it without mentioning it was Calci-sand which can apparently dissolve into the water and mess with my parameters. Squishy handles it quite well and i have been doing a lot of water changes to keep the water from getting gross. Eventually I will be able to get new sand ha.

As for the worms, I live in a tiny town where the only worms you can find are the ones that are sold at the local farm and tractor store for bait. I can't choose how big or small they are. I will try cutting them smaller though. Thanks again!
 
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