New Axy feeding

[brett]

Our new Axy, never seems to be able to locate and eat food dropped into the aquarium, even if its dropped right in front of its face.
However, if you hand feed it (via plastic tweezers) it gulps it down effortlessly.

How common is this?

 

[jenny]

axies dont have very good eyesite they usually use their nose to sense their food. some axies are better than others at locating food. its best if you do therefore feed with tweezers or a turkey baster because it might gulp up some of the gravel with the food when it does locate it (thats if you have gravel)

 

[kim]

Brett,

Dont worry about it, for some reason i cant get any of my axies to eat off the bottom of the tank, they will only eat when hand fed... Dont worry its just one of those things!

 

[brett]

I have gravel, but not big enough for him to eat.
I thought this may be related to the poor eyesight. In fact I quite like feeding him/her. Im just not sure what amount and how often

 

[brett]

... I mean "too big for him to eat"

 

[kim]

How big is he?

I feed my adults every 3-4 days, my younger one of the 3 adults gets fed every other day as shes only around 6-7 months I believe. But the babies I have at 1 month and the others at 1 week get fed everyday.

 

[shelagh]

The bigger of my two (new) axies seems to like two meals a day, whereas the smaller one seems quite content with just one.
I shall be brave and try them with a worm tomorrow!

 

[jenny]

axies are oportunist eaters so they will tend to eat whenever they are offered food.

 

[shelagh]

Its such a learning curve. I am very disappointed with the lack of correct knowledge that the aquarium I bought my two from had, and so I am unsure of where to buy various things:

Any ideas where in the UK I might get live shrimpy things?

Can I feed earth worms dug up from the school ground? These would classify as organic as the grass etc is untreated?
Would a local aquarium sell salmon pellets as where I bought my two doesn't!
I asked them loads of questions before I bought, even down to which books they would recommend, and followed all their instructions religiously only to discover that they appear to be talking out of their hats.

Still on a positive side both my babes are gorgious and have settled in really well so far!

 

[jenny]

lots of aquariums sell live adult shrimp and daphnia and bloodworms. otherwise you can usually buy them online. but you will have to hatch them yourself and raise them. with pellets you can usually buy them online to. i bought 1kg of 3mm trout pellets for £1.99 plus £3 postage.

if the grass is untreated then the worms should be fine.

 

[shelagh]

Thanks Jenny. I shall try the online option as it will be even more interesting for the children if we are hatching the food for the axies and I have two small tanks which I can use for this.

I will let you know how we get on with the worms

 

[brett]

The Axy in question is about 5". Im not sure how old he is though. What do you think?
I rarely listen to pet shops as most tend to know little about what they keep. There are some exceptions, but they are few & far between. I research the subject on the net first.
I was hoping to feed him an earthworm, can these be bought or do I have to get my spade out?

 

[jenny]

i buy my worms from www.wormsdirect.co.uk if you go to reptiles and amphibian feeds then theres a whole bunch of different sized worms and amount of worms and you can get cleaned ones to. i got the uncleaned ones and ive only ever bought one tub because they start breeding.

 

[leah]

You should be able to find worms in any bait shop. Finding a bait shop nearby could be another thing altogether though...

I did a search on ebay for worms and came up with a few people selling composting worms- if you do buy online make sure you know what the worms have been fed, and that they haven't been fed anything that could be toxic to your axolotl. Digging them up is the easiest option I think, as long as you haven't been using any fertilisers recently. If you can dig enough to set up your own worm colony, you won't have to worry about a shortage of worms ever again! Keep them fed and they breed like mad, at least the ones I have!

Axolotls LOVE worms, and I'm sure your little guy is no different! I think mine actually understand the word "worms," the way they come running out!

 

[declan]

I have had the same questions and contrasting advice. My shop recommended Koi pellets which Alex (not very original I know)does not really go for. Are they any good or should I go for Salmon or troat pellets?

 

[cynthia]

Declan - mine like the soft moist salmon pellets that Indiana University uses. They are made by Rangen - http://www.rangen.com/

I have offered them hard salmon pellets (made by the same company) and they spit them out.

Other than those pellets they are only eating worms right now. And they are preferring the worms to the pellets.

My axololts are about 4.5 - 5 mos old and from 6" to 7.5" long. I feed them every day. They share 2 cut up night crawlers and I offer a few pellets too. They all look forward to feeding time every day.

 

[jenny]

if buying worms from a bait shop - i read a previous post in the newt and salamander section i think it was about someone who bought bloodworms from a bait shop and he had hundreds of caudates and they *all* died after feeding the worms. because they are only meant for fish they might not always have proper cleansing care or whatever conditions they go through before being sold.

 

[kim]

Jenny,

Yes this did happen, it happened to Mike East

Very sad. But this was a one off, I think as long as you check where the worms come from and what they are fed on they should be ok, my bait shop sells worms for fishing and for feeding to birds. Most places are happy to help and give adivce.