Illness/Sickness: Ax only eating food dropped on it's head

[JettaMarz]

For quite awhile now one of my axolotls has only seemed to be eating the food that is dropped directly on his head/snout as it's falling. Once it reaches the bottom of the tank that is where it stays. Anyone know what might be up with him? I have been feeding him axolotl-specific pellet food since he was a baby and he never had a problem with it... and he is still eating it, but only as it is sinking, not once it is sunk. But it's really hard to time dropping them on his head :lame:

He's been getting progressively skinnier and I need to figure out a way to get him to eat something... I haven't tried switching foods (which seems like the obvious thing) yet. First I'm wondering what's up with him? Next, if food switching is the thing: what do you recommend?

 

[sugarkandii]

They're truly such silly fickle things- I know my lotls, on the rare occasion I feed them pellet food, will drop their nose down to the substrate (sand in my case) to dig around and look for pellets and then suck them up- but I primarily hand-feed them night crawlers and red wrigglers you should definitely get him on earthworms, black worms are also good as an occasional supplement to help them gain weight!

 

[mackinthebox]

My axolotl would do the same thing, he wasnt a big fan of the pellet food. he would search it out sometimes but mostly it would turn to mush and float away before he would find it
you might try using a feeding dish, like a bowl or a jar to feed him in
start with food you know he will eat, in my case he loved frozen bloodworms, he could smell em once they hit the water and would search them out
get him used to eating in the same place out of the same jar or dish and then he will come to the food dish whenever you place it in the water, or at least mine does
as he gets that habit in place you can switch to different foods

are you feeding earthworms at all?
mine grew up on bloodworms but now that im feeding live earthworms he has gained weight incredibly fast
i get mine from the bait section at my local walmart

 

[Petersgirl]

You could try placing the pellets in a jar or a dish (there are many fine examples on this forum) which will 'train' him to come to the dish for food (although he might not 'get it' for a few days). It also prevents waste clouding up your tank which is handy!

I ensure that my axolotls get their wormies when I feed earthworms by stuffing them into a turkey baster and waving it in front of their snouts or at the sides of their faces. The snap reflex is deeply ingrained in these little guys from babyhood, so it seems to work a treat.

Hope these little ideas help! For more feeding jar/dish anecdotes, see the board called 'I wanna see your feeding jars!' on this selfsame site

 

[snuggly time]

Have you tried live food before? My axolotl can't resist a wriggling earthworm! He won't eat pellets, they don't have the wriggle factor.