Question: Red Wigglers?

[discordia]

I've been feeding my leucistic axolotl red wigglers here for a while and was under the impression that they were pretty much the same as earthworms... I've read that earthworms eat mainly soil, whereas red wigglers eat decomposed matter, but that's about the only difference I know of. I'm unaware, however, if they have notable differences, nutrition-wise.
Are red wigglers as good as earthworms, the same or worse? Should I stop giving him these and instead try to find earthworms/nightcrawlers?

Just to give a little more information, I've also been feeding him a pelleted shrimp diet alongside the wigglers(which he goes nuts for). Now that I've seen some info on jar feeding, I'm planning on getting some frozen bloodworms next time I'm out and trying that as well.

Can someone advise? The last thing I want to do is feed the little guy something I shouldn't.
The more info you can give me, the better, but the main thing I'm needing to know about is the red wiggler vs. earthworm issue.

Obviously recommendations on anything else involving axols is appreciated(but not expected). I've been scanning threads like crazy for anything I can use to improve!

 

[Tephra]

Red wrigglers are simply a subspecies of the many kinds of earthworms. They are, in fact, earthworms.

They're safe to feed; though apparently some axies don't like the bitter taste red wrigglers have. If your axie eats them, go ahead and keep feeding them. Red wrigglers are easy to come by.

 

[discordia]

Thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to know! :happy:

 

[Krispen]

Wish mine would eat them- I've been composting them since before I got my axies but they don't like them- they actually throw them up!!!

 

[Kaysie]

Almost all of my critters will happily eat compost worms. Almost. So I still have to buy crawlers for the picky ones.

 

[Bdyoung]

I feed my axolotls red wigglers that I compost and night crawlers when I go hunting for them if they need fattening up.

Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[Tephra]

All axolotls will eat worms if you feed them nothing else. One of my axolotls is quite picky and didn't want worms, he kept on wanting pellets. But they foul the water so much, I wanted him to switch to worms so badly...

So he ate nothing for about two whole weeks. Now he eats worms very happily, and actually begs for them.

I don't believe "starving" your axolotl that way is animal cruelty, in the end earthworms are still the best choice in my opinion.

What also helps is what kind of food you give the earthworms. Lots of people find that rabbit food is easy to give (and it is), but apparently that makes the earthworms taste quite bitter.

I give them mostly fruit and sweet vegetables (like carrots and such). All my axies love the worms