Orangina threw up his whole dinner

[sherrisixxx]

Hi there! My 12-year old axolotl Orangina had some small pieces of scallop for dinner for the first time ever. But then about an hour later he thew them all up. Including a few meal worms he had eaten about 2 days before! He has poo-pood totally normally,so is not blocked, and is energetic enough for his age.

He has just re-eaten the scallop pieces he threw up, so waiting to see what happens.

Should I take him to see a vet to see if there is something wrong? Especially as he also threw up worms he ate many days ago?

He is now swimming quite normally in his tank. Maybe he just ate too quickly?? But then, why would he throw up the worms too?

Many thanks in advance for your kind replies. Have a good day!

 

[Tye]

I'm assuming the quick change in diet didn't agree with him.

And I'm also assuming that axolotls, like humans, don't get to selectively pick what gets regurgitated when they throw up. Food items don't get immediately broken down when they enter the gut, and meal worms especially are hard to digest due to their hard outer shells. Same thing goes for shrimp/krill, the chitin is hard to digest so it takes longer.
Chances are really high that the scallops didn't sit right and the axolotl evacuated the entire gut, including the previous meal that hadn't digested.
Same basic idea when you're sick and throw up and it's a mix of everything you've had from the previous day. There's no picking and choosing which items come back.

Keep en eye on him and perhaps don't feed scallops again, keep to his normal diet. It's if they regurgitate frequently that there is probably a problem.

 

[sherrisixxx]

Many thanks Tye. I really appreciate your thorough reply. It really make sense. Thank you so much.

Orangina seemed ok last night, but today his bum is floating badly. He is basically tail and legs straight up. It looks very uncomfortable and he is panicking a little. He is quite smart, though,and keeps going to his caves, as inside the cave his back end is forced to stay down.

But of course I worry, especially as he is old. It really looks like those scallops didn't agree with him at all. I hope he can get through this.