Gill flick and refusal of food? help!

[mikaelataylor3]

Hello all!
I recently got my first axie (~6 in leucistic, housed in 20 gallon tank, sand substrate, fluval canister filter), and I've noticed the little guy has been doing a few odd things.
First, he flicks his gills quite rapidly (about once every 4-6 seconds) but only in sporadic sets. His/her gills are smallish but always pink and lay slightly forward, but I think that's just how they lie?
And second, at feeding time he/she will chomp on a worm (i'm feeding standard red earthworms at the moment), but will get it halfway down the hatch and decide to give up on it. They are fairly large worms for such a little buddy, but it's been about 4 days since i've watch him eat something.. he took a poo today so i know it's not some sort of prior gravel impaction.
If anyone has seen this before or it's normal behavior, please let me know!

 

[kiathepooch]

Is your tank fully cycled?

Have you tried cutting the worm in half?

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[FireStar]

What is the turn over rate of your filter?

 

[Tephra]

Cut the worm in smaller pieces. It's gross, but it goes down easier for a small axolotl.

 

[wandering]

Cutting up worms is my least favourite thing. They wriggle about so much. Even the small bits twitch. Its like something out of a horror film. :what::screwy: I hold them and cut with scissors. Not cut my fingers yet... I look forward to them being big enough to eat whole ones.

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[FX1C]

Cutting earthworms is made easier if you put them on a plate & cut them from above I use a hard plastic spatula to cut them quickly & easily - no mess / no fuss they're still wriggling when I pop them into the tank with chopsticks
>_< lol



<3 >o_o< <3

 

[wandering]

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

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[Kaysie]

Sharp knife, no serrations. Also helpful if you do it on a paper towel, as the worms don't slide around as much.

 

[kiathepooch]

I use feeding tweezers to hold worms and very sharp scissors to cut. Worms freak me out and cutting them makes me feel ill but this ways less traumatic for me

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