food (chicken)

[axoloti]

hi pleaze can someone let me know if it is ok to feed my axoloti chicken ???????????

 

[Abrahm]

I would advise against it. There are many more accessible food items (worms of all types, including frozen bloodworms, pellets, etc) that would have more nutritional value and be less prone to causing obesity or other health issues. I imagine, though I am not sure, that chicken is calorically dense and would lend itself to overfeeding quite easily.

 

[axoloti]

ok thank you as mine are young .. and i feed them with bloodworms ... was just thinking would be nice to give them a bit of chicken ..... but maybe il just keep to the worms and dried shrimp thanks

 

[Bellabelloo]

I mainly feed my adult and his youngsters live earthworm.
He occasionally gets very thin slivers of raw chicken/beef/lamb/pork /heart( all organic!!) , raw slivers of tiger prawn/squid and occasionally live river shrimp. The youngsters occasionally get bloodworm, dapnia and recently have taken small amphibian pellets.... as long as they see them descend. I personally try to add variety ( no doubt un-neccessary) , especially with the youngsters as I hope to rehome them shortly . I figure the more variety they eat the easier they will be to feed by their new owners.

 

[Daniel]

Hey,

just some additions...for the ones who want to know.
There is a table with nutritional values at Caudata Culture, including chicken breast:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods2.shtml
When you have a look into the original source you can find some more information on chicken heart and liver for instance.
The caloric density is not exceedingly high in chicken but it has a very high proteine value and a terrible Calcium-Phosphor ratio.
Additionally (as said by a vet over here) chicken often has a very high bacterial load.

To sum up: As already said there are much better alternatives with natural food (at least in the wild axolotls won't catch any bird...) with better nutritional values. Better stick to worms, bloodworms or fish now and then.

 

[axoloti]

hi well i think we would hate to eat the same food day in day out so we are trying to gice them more options .... but il be staying with the bloodworms from now on thanks all

 

[Jennewt]

Bloodworms are also not a good source of calcium. I would HIGHLY recommend varying the diet with earthworms and/or a good-quality carnivore fish pellet food.