Feeding

I've had my axolotl Mika for nearly 2 weeks now. The pet store told me to feed him 1-2 mealworms every other day, though I later found out that this was not good as a staple diet as they're not very nutritious and hard to digest. I then tried to give him a balance of food, frozen bloodworms and live mealworms. I had no problem picking up the mealworms and giving them to him at first, but then after a while I hated picking up the worms 'cause they wriggle and...euurgh. I would just stand there for ages trying to find a worm that doesn't wriggle, though I guess the easiest way is to do it quickly. I just don't like doing it anymore.
I bought some pellets a few days ago but he doesn't like to eat food that's dropped from the top. He likes it live and in front of his face. So just now, I put down a tuppaware lid and put a pellet on there, and he eats that. So now I will feed him pellets every day (just out of interest, how many a day? About 2?) and bloodworms every other day instead of pellets. Is this too much/fine/enough? Also, as my tank has large pebbles at the bottom, it's a nightmare to clear up stray bloodworms and they go everywhere. Is there any way I can sort of get an upside down food bowl that attaches to the side of the tank so I can put the bloodworms under? That way they won't get AS messy. If anyone knows of such a thing, and availability, that would be great. Also, when feeding my axolotl he likes to move around a lot and search for worms. Is this natural? He's started moving around more, but I think that's because he's settling in.
Lastly, how do you defrost bloodworms? I just got some tankwater in a jug and poured it over them until all the ice had gone. Is this ok, or do you just put it in the tank?

Greetings
i have some links that helps you further my engelish isnt good so i think these links wel be an better help

tuxar

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods.shtml here this one says wich foods and what the good and the bad sides are and also an rating

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods2.shtml this is how many protein fat nutriens

Best staple of axolotls is earthworms. Not the red, ringed "superworms" but what we call a nightcrawler here in the States.

As for thawing frozen foods, the safest way is to take a bit of tank water in a cup, and float the frozen food in there until it is completely thawed, then squirt it directly in front of the animal with a turkey baster.

Frozen bloodworms are a pain to feed to large axolotls. Meal worms are really not suitable as you have discovered. Earthworms truly are the best. As for feeding pellets, I do this in winter time when worms are scarce around around these parts.


When deciding the amount, there are a few things we need to know:

Size of the animal

Size of the pellet

Dry or Moist pellet

Nutritional value of pellet (Brand Name)

Average water temperature

If you can provide answers to the above statements, we can help you set up a healthy feeding schedule for your new pet!

We are unsure of the axolotl's age, but here is a picture of him below. He is about 14cm long. I don't know if the pellets are dry or moist, how can you tell? My mum bought "axolotl pellets" off the internet. I could take a picture of them too if you like.

I don't like touching worms either to be honest, however, I find feeding earthworms to be the easier (and most nutricious) option - if you are squeamish like me, you could try this ( I have a big tub of worms in soil, dug from the garden)

*Get worms out the soil with a fork - put them in a sieve
*Rinse soil off them with dechlorinated water
*Put them in a cup of decholrinated water
*Suck them up, 1 at a time, with a turkey baster and then squirt them at your axie's head

They then riggle around in front of him and he gets to dive on them and feel like a big hunter ...and at no point do you actually have to touch them.

I've fed Petri worms three times so far (only got him recently) and he loves live food, he gets all excited and wiggles his gills around and lunges at the worms - it's really cute to see.

My concern is how many to feed him though (sorry to hijack your thread, axylover, but was hoping I could exploit the groundwork you've laid, to try and get some info :wink. It's difficult to say 6 worms or 3 worms, because they ones I have are vastly different sizes!!!

But, for anyone who wishes to have a go - my axie is around 8 inches long and is 9 months old. I feed him every other day. On average, I guess the worms are around 2mm wide and 4cm long - how many would you feed?!?!?

Thanks! (and again, I AM very sorry, axylover!)

Zoe x

big a little a said:

I don't like touching worms either to be honest, however, I find feeding earthworms to be the easier (and most nutricious) option - if you are squeamish like me, you could try this ( I have a big tub of worms in soil, dug from the garden)

*Get worms out the soil with a fork - put them in a sieve
*Rinse soil off them with dechlorinated water
*Put them in a cup of decholrinated water
*Suck them up, 1 at a time, with a turkey baster and then squirt them at your axie's head

They then riggle around in front of him and he gets to dive on them and feel like a big hunter ...and at no point do you actually have to touch them.

I've fed Petri worms three times so far (only got him recently) and he loves live food, he gets all excited and wiggles his gills around and lunges at the worms - it's really cute to see.

My concern is how many to feed him though (sorry to hijack your thread, axylover, but was hoping I could exploit the groundwork you've laid, to try and get some info :wink. It's difficult to say 6 worms or 3 worms, because they ones I have are vastly different sizes!!!

But, for anyone who wishes to have a go - my axie is around 8 inches long and is 9 months old. I feed him every other day. On average, I guess the worms are around 2mm wide and 4cm long - how many would you feed?!?!?

Thanks! (and again, I AM very sorry, axylover!)

Zoe x

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Don't be sorry, it's great that somebody else gets info too. Thanks for your help

If you don't like touching the worms or pellets you can feed you axie using forceps. Thats how i feed mine, not that i have any problems touching worms but it makes it so much easier to put the food right in the axies face and have them snatch it right up. It makes it very easy to keep food waste down too because you don't just have worms and pellets sitting in the tank and the axies not interested swimming off in the other direction.

I'm a huge fan of the forceps. In addition to what Slimer has said, it also keeps you from going elbow-deep in tank water, which keeps your sleeves dry, and lessens the chance of accidentally contaminating the tank with something.

LOL, you've just actually reminded me, I have forceps and have never used them, just stuck them in the back of the cupboard and forgot about them! Doh!

I fed one of mine a slug the other day, just to see and it ate it no probs. I'll stick to earthworms though as they are far less sticky.

I just bought a pair of axolotls yesterday and the guy I bought them from said to feed them about 10 pellets a day

Hi,

I just thought I'd drop in an idea about feeding the bloodworms. Apparently if you feed those live (must be organic etc.), they are a good food, too. I read up that washing any frozen stuff is a must, also. You can get a fine little colander and put the stuff through, washing it with warm declorinated (but not hot) water or your tank water.

This is what I did!
Bloodworms..:
You can try that with brineshrimp too, I guess..

1)Then pace them in a bit of a cling wrap (it's used for human food, so is minimally polluted with chemicals lol).
2) Twist the worms in it into a little bag so that you have hold of the twisted end, then grab a needle and pierce a little hole on the opposite end to slowly let liquid out. After you let it out, widen the hole to 2-2 mm and you can "breastfeed" your axie!

3) Squeeze a bit of the worms out so that they are protruding for your pet to smell. It's try to grab hold of the bag, so place you fingers over the opening (top & bottom). Buy the Best and strongest cling wrap out there. I think, it is possible for the animal to swallow a chunk and even suffocate (Hence, keep fingers over the opening, keep the worms protruding). Soon enough it'll learn to pull on the worms only.

Nasty Earthworms issue:
I also found using oriental raw wooden cooking tool that looks like forceps handy! If they are too big though, cut them in 2-3 pieces. I had mine give up due to the length and my boy once hurt his nose on a feeding tool.. so nothing sharp.

Hope it helps you,
Angie

Hi Angie,

What an innovative and clever method of feeding bloodworms to axies. Here are some magic rep points for your creative ideas!

Cheers.

Thanks Rayson,

I have to say that I think it was my husband's idea (his Caudata Nickname = Dalabrae) more than mine.. or maybe we worked out this together We are a team when it comes to rearing animals! He's so supportive. He found this website and designed our tank setup. He is so caring and I feel exceptionally lucky to have him as my partner!!

The best part is that both of the animals have worked out the "breastfeeding" system: they pull only on the worms, not on plastic anymore! Amazing animals... And they are now happy to sit in your palm and climb up your arm. They may be beginning to see humans as providers, part of the family. Scratchies, pats, touching their paws is all allowed now and they actually swim up to your hand when they see it (mostly for food, I am sure hehe..).

Conclusion: Absolutely amazing animals...

Hey guys

Without meaning to hijack the thread, but can food be too big for an axie?

We are just a little concerned because after our mollie hunting lessons yesterday, (see the guppie thread), Sovereign, our 7 inch gold male has decided that our sucking catfish would make a nice banquet, but it was a tad long and he sitting there with the nose of the catfish still showing...

It is like it has filled his stomach but he can't fit anymore in, is this a reason for concern?

We are half expecting for him to give up soon and spit it back out, but I think it is too late for the poor catfish (this is only our secondary concern). We had them in our tank due to algy growth and our pet shop guys thought that the catties would be big enough, and fast enough, to be safe from being eaten.

Dalabrae said:

We are just a little concerned because after our mollie hunting lessons yesterday, (see the guppie thread), Sovereign, our 7 inch gold male has decided that our sucking catfish would make a nice banquet, but it was a tad long and he sitting there with the nose of the catfish still showing...

It is like it has filled his stomach but he can't fit anymore in, is this a reason for concern?

We are half expecting for him to give up soon and spit it back out, but I think it is too late for the poor catfish (this is only our secondary concern). We had them in our tank due to algy growth and our pet shop guys thought that the catties would be big enough, and fast enough, to be safe from being eaten.

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There surely is reason for concern but in a different way.
Catfish are not suitable for a mixing with Axolotls. Aside from the fact that catfish (I think you mean Ancistrus spp. or some fish comparable?) have different needs, especially higher temperatures, I know some cases where an Axolotl trying to swallow a catfish resulted in the death of both animals.

Sucking catfish have several spikes they erect when threatened. So it is very probable that the catfish is stuck in your Axolotls mouth - the Axolotl might be unable to swallow the fish and might also be unable to spit it back out.

In my opinion the catfish has to be removed as fast as possible, the Axolotl can not do it itself.

And if you have any other catfish remaining in this tank, please consider to remove them to a separate tank.

Hi Daniel

Thanks for the reply, and after reading it both my wife and I went into panic mode! Not wanting to stress out the axies, she started trying to catch one of the other sucking catfish, and I decided to call one of the guys who works at our favourite pet shop (we have his cell number).

After a chip monk like explanation on what had happened, he assured me that they don't have spikes, they are actually a Cyprinidae although he could not remember their latin name.

On another note, Sovereign is not showing any signs of stress, in fact he was even attempting to grab a worm while we were feeding Peoni, our little girl. Makes me think we're not feeding them enough.

Aye, I got lucky early in my axolotl "career' and discovered the hard way the laws of axolotl. I have since added them to my signature...

That is a cool and different idea to feed the blood worms. I need to try that. I ususally feed my six axies 4 cubes of bloodworms in the morning. I thaw them out in a little cup (like a shot glass) with aged water, then pour the thawed-out mix through a small strainer into another shot glass, add a little aged water to the strained worms, and then suck up a portion of the bloodworm-water mix in a small soft plastic pipette and squirt that in front of my axies. They are getting to know the pipette and come right up to the top when they see it approaching! If I don't move the pipette quickly out of the water, they'll try to bite it--I almost pulled one of them out of the water with the tip of the pipette! So I like your "breast-feeding" idea. I don't want to hurt their little mouths!
In the evening, I feed them each one or two earth worms. We bought a worm farm to increase the worm supply, and they are starting to eat those worms as well. At first I swear they were saying "yuk, what's that?!" when they got hold of the first one. I guess the worm-farm guys taste different than the worms I dig up out of the garden. They eat food scraps turning them into compost -- so I can understand the different flavor suppose. I just didn't expect axolots to have taste buds.
My six axies are about 7 months old now and maybe 5 in (or 13 cm) long. I have fed them baby slugs off and on too, but don't know whether there is any nutrition in a slug. Does anybody know? (I wear rubber gloves when digging for worms or picking up slugs)

Hey Sabine,

Sorry I can't help you with any data on slugs but I just wanted to advise to be careful not to let your animals grab hold of the bag with bloodworms. Dal (I'm his wife ) and me feed them placing our finges on the top and the bottom of the little bloodworm bag. This evening I forgot to do that and Sovereign grabed hold of most of the bag and was not willing at all to let the prey go... lol Franky, I am not suprised: the little troll eats anything and everything and alot..! This one may have been born without tastebuds lol

Regards,
Angie