Axolotol hiccups?

[megan]

Hello all!

I've had my axolotl Monty for about 2 years, so I'm pretty familiar with her behavior. The last few days, I've noticed she's doing what I can only describe as hiccups, even though I know axolotls can't hiccup. It doesn't occur around feeding time. There haven't been any changes in her care, or the temperature, or the tank setup. She seems to have developed this out of the blue.

She's been doing it a lot the last couple of days, and I'm starting to get really worried - she opens her mouth really wide, and it looks to me like opening it that wide should hurt. It looks similar to when she tries to vomit or swallow something, only there's nothing to vomit. It seems to occur in little "fits" that last for about 5 minutes, but if I tap on the glass to distract her she stops for a moment. She seems to be having her little fits several times a day.

I read that sometimes they try to burp if they have gas, but she's not floating or anything, and I don't know what she could have eaten that gave her gas (she's been on her current worm diet for about 4 months).

What should I do?

 

[joan]

Megan, they do yawn. This can be a little freaky when you first see it. It sounds like normal behavior.

 

[megan]

I'm not so sure this is just a yawn - I've seen her yawn before, this isn't quite the same. It's very spastic, she opens her mouth and gulps in water once every couple of seconds for five or ten minutes at a stretch.

Today, I changed the type of worm I'm feeding her, and so far, no "hiccups." I'm hoping maybe it was just something about the previous worms that she decided she didn't like!

 

[greta]

Hey Megan,
I caught my axie poncho doing this a few months ago and it looked really scary, but he hasn't done it again. I have no idea what it means, but he is ok now.I'm sure Monty will be fine too!

 

[megan]

Thanks for your help, Greta and Joan!

I switched her diet to a different type of worm, and she appears to be all fine and dandy now. Apparently she just didn't like those worms anymore!

 

[cori]

My little one, Axle does this spasm thing every now and again, think it might just be another one of Axolotl's little quirks?

Just a thought...

Regards Eastern_axle