hunterwho
Member
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2020
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- 36
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- Location
- Elgin, IL
- Country
- United States
- Display Name
- hunterwho
Hey everyone, this is kind of an update to my last thread, but I've tried so many different things I thought I'd start a new one.
I got my juvie (3 months old-ish) axolotl in late January 2020, and he used to eat pellets fine. Then we found a source of live red worms, so we tried feeding him those and he seemed to like them for a bit (although he was passing them almost undigested, which was a problem of its own).
Then he wouldn't eat the red worms anymore, so we tried live earthworms and thawed bloodworms, and he wouldn't eat either- even in his small tub with the bloodworms he just tried to suck them down and then spit them right back out.
My latest experiment has been taking a whole earthworm, blanching it (so it would be dead and not wriggly), cutting off just the tip, and feeding it to him. Same result: he snaps it up, moves it around in his mouth a bit, and spits it back out.
He hasn't eaten properly in around a week, which really worries me. Does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts?
Tank setup: 20 US gallons, with black fine sand on bottom, tank temp 62-63 F (as low as 59 and as high as 65, but gradually throughout the course of the day, as heat shifts). Ammonia 0.25 ppm, nitrite 1(ish) ppm, nitrate 5 ppm, pH about 8.2 (which I know is high; I've been looking into peat moss to help lower it, but haven't found any good ones on Amazon.)
I got my juvie (3 months old-ish) axolotl in late January 2020, and he used to eat pellets fine. Then we found a source of live red worms, so we tried feeding him those and he seemed to like them for a bit (although he was passing them almost undigested, which was a problem of its own).
Then he wouldn't eat the red worms anymore, so we tried live earthworms and thawed bloodworms, and he wouldn't eat either- even in his small tub with the bloodworms he just tried to suck them down and then spit them right back out.
My latest experiment has been taking a whole earthworm, blanching it (so it would be dead and not wriggly), cutting off just the tip, and feeding it to him. Same result: he snaps it up, moves it around in his mouth a bit, and spits it back out.
He hasn't eaten properly in around a week, which really worries me. Does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts?
Tank setup: 20 US gallons, with black fine sand on bottom, tank temp 62-63 F (as low as 59 and as high as 65, but gradually throughout the course of the day, as heat shifts). Ammonia 0.25 ppm, nitrite 1(ish) ppm, nitrate 5 ppm, pH about 8.2 (which I know is high; I've been looking into peat moss to help lower it, but haven't found any good ones on Amazon.)