Advice Needed!

[AxoMama]

've had Xochi for almost 2 months now. She seems happy and healthy. Text book Axie behavior. Except all of a sudden she doesn't like Earthworms anymore. She eats, frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp and beef heart and prefers all of those to the worms. I've given them to her whole, I've tried chopping them up, I've cut them in half so they are smaller but still wiggle.

Anyone have this issue and any suggestions?
I've seen a lot of talk about Salmon pellets. Any idea where to purchase them. They aren't in my local pet store and I can't find anything on Amazon.

Thanks!!

 

[Skudo09]

What type of earthworms are you feeding? You could try blanching the worms first by running hot water over the worm (only a quick second to kill the worm) and then cold water (to cool the worm down). This stops the foul secretion that earthworms sometimes do which axolotls sometimes don't like the taste of. Red wiggler earthworms are particularly foul.

I would recommend not feeding beef heart as it is not a natural food for axolotls, is not overly nutritious and may be difficult to digest. If you do wish to feed beef heart I would limit it to a very occasional treat only and not too often.

 

[AxoMama]

Yes, they are the red wigglers. I will try blanching. Thank you!

 

[Skudo09]

You could also try using different types of earthworms such as Canadian night crawlers or European night crawlers as these may be a bit more palatable

 

[NaterPotater]

That's what I do. I don't cook enough to have known to use the word "blanch", but I drop them in hot water to kill them. haha. They seem to taste way better after that. The only downside is that they don't wiggle around anymore obviously, so my guys are slightly less interested in approaching them.

 

[Skudo09]

You can hand feed them and "wiggle" them in front of them. This is usually more than enough to entice mine.

 

[AxoMama]

I tried blanching the worm last night and she gobbled it up. Must have been the bad taste!
Also- my Axie is 7 months old. How often should I be feeding her? The breeder only fed worms 1 x a week and frozen bloodworms every other day.


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[CheyenneAutumn]

If you want to feed organs, and you're a fisher ( like me! ) you can feed wild fish organs. Which is probably actually quite close to a natural dietary staple.

Or you can try small guppies! My Lotls go crazy for live guppies and have done very well on them.

You should feed every day, or every other day at least. I typically feed them each half a worm (in sections) every day during the summer when worms are easy to get. Or one frozen brine shrimp cube (in sections) every other day, during the winter.