Axolotl not eating earth worms

[Niitro iLLusioN]

Hey guys,
I Have had my axolotl for around 8 months and have always fed her earth worms and axolotl pellets. Recently I bought red wigglers of a place called amazing Amazon. She had been eating them fine except for the past few days. She acts interested and puts them into her mouth only to spit it out moments later. I tried soaking them for 45 mins before hand thinking maybe they were excreting stuff that tastes bad but still no luck. she still eats the pellets fine. Any advice would be helpful, thanks.


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[Skudo09]

Maybe try a different kind of earthworm? Red wigglers have been known to be disliked by some axolotls. Although, I feed mine red wigglers (mostly). You could blanch the worms in hot water for only a second (which kills the worm and stops it excreting the foul tasting secretion) and then cold water (to stop it cooking).

 

[Niitro iLLusioN]

Yeah I would try other earthworms but I spent $25 dollars on them and don't want them to go to waste, I'll try the hot water thing and see how it goes, thanks


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[KombatVirus]

Hey there, I had the exact same problem with my axolotls when trying to introduce red wrigglers into their diet. They really didnt like them at first, but there are a few ways to combat the problem

1) Cut the worms in half. This releases the disgusting taste chemical. After this, soak them in water for about an hour, and they should be good to go

2) you can blanche the worms. Boil some water, hit the worms with some boiling water and then quickly fill with COLD water. If you just boil the worms completely, they lose their nutritional value. Feed immediately after because the worms start falling apart if you leave them soaking in the water

3) The method that works 100% of the time, starve your axies for a little bit. As cruel as it seems, they will be much less fussy when hungry

After I got them to eat the worms, they actually seemed to start loving them. I dont cut them up or anything, they just gobble the whole thing down happily. They seem to now prefer to the worms over pellets and even treats like pieces of shrimps! My guys are very fussy eaters but once they got accustomed to the worms, they loved them.

 

[Niitro iLLusioN]

Thank you so much for your reply. I tried blanching the worms still with no luck. I'll try cutting them up and soaking them next time I attempt to feed her. If that fails how long do you think I should "starve" her?


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[KombatVirus]

Thank you so much for your reply. I tried blanching the worms still with no luck. I'll try cutting them up and soaking them next time I attempt to feed her. If that fails how long do you think I should "starve" her?


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Depends on how old they are. If they are Juveniles like mine were, 2 days did the trick! Try cutting them up to where the worms are a little longer than the width of their head, and soak them in water.

Are you blanching correctly? The way I do it, is I set my kettle and get boiling water. I have some worms in a cup, and turn on COLD running water. I pour a tiny bit of boiling water to cover the worms, and immediately pour cold water to cool the water down. Drain water, fill with cold again. Let the worms sit maybe for half an hour so the foul taste goes away, and try feeding your axies again! Try this method first before making them more hungry.

At this point, mine love whole worms and fight with them endlessly, and just seem to really enjoy them


Feel free to PM me or post back if you have any other questions. It took me a bit of time and coercing as well, but now mine are hooked on the

 

[Niitro iLLusioN]

She is around a year old, I blanched them by getting a container of boiling water and a container of cold water, I get my tongs and dip them in the boiling water for a second and then into to cold water. After that I let it sit for 30 minutes and tried to feed it to him, he spat it out once again. I then tried your method, and even cut it up for him but still no luck. Looks like he's not eating for a few days.

Out of all the animals I keep, being a spotted Python, bearded dragon and an eastern blue tongue, my axolotl is the pickiest eater by far!


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[Niitro iLLusioN]

Well I struck gold today! He ate two worms after I blanched them. I went to feed him another one but he spat it out but it's still progress. Although I noticed that he seems to only eat the smaller worms, is this because they excrete less yucky stuff?

Anyway I'm just glad that he ate some and my $25 hopefully didn't go to waste

 

[Skudo09]

He may just be too full to eat the third one. I find mine will only take one worm in one meal maybe two but wouldn't accept a third one.