Axie weirdness

The thing is, I don't know whether he's actually sick, or not....he seems to be regurgitating worms that he's appeared to have gotten down fine. No other symptoms--he's looking and behaving perfectly normally other than that. I feed him a worm, and all seems well, and some time later, I see a worm on the floor of the tank. This has happened for a few days now. He didn't do it with some bloodworm one day, but as he isn't really fond of bloodworms, I can't really feed him that all the time. It's been happening with wax worms and butter worms, both of which he loves, and has eaten regularly for ages, with no problems. ANy thoughts? i'd appreciate it very much...

Hi
What temp are you keeping your axie at, they cant digest food at low temps and will often chuck it up.

He's at about 18 degrees. Do you think that's too cold for him?

Hello Fee. I keep 13 adult Axolotls at 15.5 degree and they eat fine. I just experienced that with one of my males and he's resumed eating. however I was breeding him. Is yours a male? An adult? do you keep a mixed gender pair?

Hi Aaron,

Thanks for the reply. It's heartening to hear that someone else has had this happen and have it turn out ok. Yes, he's a boy, and just into his maturity. He's just a beauty--leucistic colouring & getting really big. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he'll be alright, and that a few more bits of advice may trickle in.

G'day, Fiona,

There could be a number of reasons as to why your axolotl is regurgitating food, these include:

- The axolotl is sick (in that case, please post all water chemistry parameters)
- It isn't fond of the worm that you are feeding it. For instance, some worms release a bad smell and taste when punctured. What sort of worm are you feeding your axolotl?
- The worm is too large for your axolotl to hold down. Try cutting the worm into small pieces. This can be done with a sharp (sterile) razor blade.
- Your axolotl is full, in which case, it will regurgitate food.

Your temperature is fine, by the way, so it's not temperature related.

Jay.

Hi Jay,

Thanks for the response. I just tested the water, and it's fine--I have no worries on the polluted water front. He is eating wax worms &/or butter worms, which he always loves. As I'm sure you know, they aren't very big (he would down earthworms during the summer that were at least twice as big as the wax worms/butter worms that I've been giving him lately), so I don't think it could be that. That actually happened when he was a baby, but I did as you mentioned above, and cut the worms into pieces for him.

I'm wondering if the point you mentioned about him being full mightn't come into play....do you know how long it takes an axolotl to digest food? Would he still be acting hungry if he was full? He is acting hungry most of the time, and is otherwise looking and behaving normally. I appreciate all the help & suggestions.

G'day, Fiona,

Great to know that the water parameters are fine. Most people have difficulty in this respect because they don't understand or appreciate the importance of the nitrificaiton cycle, but I digress.

Fiona1504 said:

I'm wondering if the point you mentioned about him being full mightn't come into play....do you know how long it takes an axolotl to digest food? Would he still be acting hungry if he was full? He is acting hungry most of the time, and is otherwise looking and behaving normally. I appreciate all the help & suggestions.

Click to expand...

John (the site owner) just recently made a post saying that, "You feed them as many as they will eat in 15 minutes, no more." But this was in reference to a question about salmon pellets. I'm thinking the '15 minute' technique can be applied to any food source, though.

When talking about digestion you have to consider the type of food that you are feeding your axolotl. For instance, mealworms (which is a poor choice of supplement) would take longer to digest because of the hard exoskeleton, which can also cause impaction because it may not be digested to completion. Conversely, worms would be easier to digest. Digestion would also depend on the axolotl's metabolic rate. Obviously an axolotl with a higher metabolic rate will digest food quicker than an axolotl with a slower metabolism. Come to think of it, there have been studies conducted on this matter, but I digress once again

Temperature also effects an axolotl's metabolic rate and, subsequently it's rate of digestion. In a colder environment, an axolotl would try to conserve heat, so it will constrict its blood vessels to draw the heat to the centre of its body. This limits the amount of blood that is being passed through to other parts of the body, namely the digestive tract, thus slowing down digestion.

Anyway, I hope that answered some (or, any) of your questions.

Jay.

Re: Axie weirdness...Appeal for help!

Hi Jay,
Thanks once again for your input. Yeah, I'm pretty careful with his water. I'm an experienced newt owner, but this is my first axolotl.

The worms he's eating are soft worms, so the exoskeleton issue won't come into play. (My ancient rough-skinned newt loves them and eats them regularly, too.) He seems so hungry, but as he's upchucking single worms, I don't want to over feed. They are the same ones that he's eaten with no problems whatsoever in the past. It's just so odd, because everything else seems so normal. He looks gorgeous, and shows no signs of illness. He (I think) kept one down the day before yesterday, but last night's worm is on the sand in the tank. I'm really at a loss. He's very precious to me.