Difficulty with Axolotl feeding.

[jacksonstc]

Recently I got an axolotl and I have been trying to feed it different foods, starting with earthworms since I heard that is the best food for them, however my axolotl won't eat and hasn't taken to any other food except mealworms which I heard aren't very good for them, I was wondering if there was anything I can do about this since I've tried many options such as, bloodworms, earthworms and pellets (these are the only foods I've been able to find in my town and know about).

 

[LippyNix]

How big is the axolotl? Have you tried cutting the earthworms into smaller pieces? My two actually prefer one brand of earthworms over the other that I have tried. I have been told this is uncommon, but they wouldn't eat the second brand until it had been a couple of days with nothing else offered. That could be your issue. Offer just the worms for a few days and see if you get better results. Maybe the mealworms are yummier and your axie is holding out for the good stuff!

 

[debadog]

Recently I got an axolotl and I have been trying to feed it different foods, starting with earthworms since I heard that is the best food for them, however my axolotl won't eat and hasn't taken to any other food except mealworms which I heard aren't very good for them, I was wondering if there was anything I can do about this since I've tried many options such as, bloodworms, earthworms and pellets (these are the only foods I've been able to find in my town and know about).

Mealworms aren't a good staple diet because they are fatty, I'm guessing that your axolotl won't eat anything else you offer him because he likes the mealworms too much! You'll just have to starve him out until he'll eat earthworms. Try cutting them up like the other person suggested, although you might need to soak them in water for a little bit after as sometimes they don't like the taste when they're cut up! He'll be fine if you skip a couple of meals to try and convince him to try something new

 

[dubs]

I had similar problems with store-bought earthworms. Have you tried digging around in your garden (or in a friend's)? That way, you can be assured of the freshness of the little wrigglers. My axies seem to notice the difference.

 

[debadog]

I had similar problems with store-bought earthworms. Have you tried digging around in your garden (or in a friend's)? That way, you can be assured of the freshness of the little wrigglers. My axies seem to notice the difference.

I really don't see how an axolotl would be able to tell the difference between reared earthworms and ones from your garden. There wouldn't be any difference in "freshness" either, as you are presumably feeding them to your axolotl alive, right?

You can dig up worms from the garden but there are a few problems with this. Firstly that there are different species of worm and some that axolotls will hate the taste of. Secondly that there could be contamination from pesticides or other nasties in garden worms. Even if you don't personally use pesticides in your garden they could still be absorbed in the soil from neighbouring homes, or the worms could have travelled from somewhere with pesticides to your garden. I would generally not recommend people digging up worms if they can avoid it. Plus the rate my axolotl gets through them it must take bloody ages to find enough worms to feed them, lol. If you really don't want to keep paying for them you should just buy one batch and start a wormery.