Stella & Martini - best friends!

[casey]

Just thought I'd post some more pics of Stella & Martini so you can see their progress and how much they love their new home!


Tight squeeze...

Peekaboo!

Run, run as fast as you can...

Stacks on!

As you can see - martini loves the camera, whereas stella's a little camera shy in front of her new friend!

 

[john]

Wow awesome pic, they look so happy in their new home.. Good job..

~John

 

[joan]

Casey, they both look a little thin. How much/often are you feeding?

 

[casey]

Yeah, they do, don't they Joan. I'm trying to feed them about 5 days per week.

Stella didn't want to eat for a while, whilst she was in the fridge.

I think, perhaps I need to feed them bigger helpings, but I don't want to overdo it.

I got them much thinner than that, so they're getting there, slowly.

I'm feeding worms, pellets, fish (frozen whitebait) and gut-loaded crickets and beef-heart as treats.

What is the maximum I could feed them without overdoing it? Just to fatten them up a bit.

 

[jordan]

Wow they must really like eachother to be hanging on one another so much.

 

[natasha]

I fattened shortie up with about 5 or 6 crickets every cpl days + on top of those alternated between tubliflex worm and beef heart. Also three cube of bloodworm once a week.

Now she is just nice and gets 5 or so crickets every cpl days. One square of heart once a week and a cpl cubes of bloodworm.

That is probably overdoing it? She doesn't throw anything back up.

 

[hailz]

my two axies are very skinny too, prob around the same size as yours, my next mission is to fatten them up!
Lol i love the first pic, stella looks quiet alarmed that martini has squished in there with her. Great quality photos!

 

[rheann]

Casey - Your axies are just so cute! So much personality I love it!

Feed them everyday until they look somewhat full, but not bloated. Do this everyday until they start to look like little fatties like this:

Moon Cookie and Grimace Gargamel (Leucistic and Black Melanoid)

Feed them about half a worm, two crickets and some fish everyday. Save the Beef Heart as treats once a week and this should work to fatten them up. Since they need a little weight gain, feeding crickets everyday I think won't pose a problem. Just make sure they eat the more nutritious food first

 

[casey]

Thanks for the comments and help, everyone.

I have a fair bit of trouble actually catching the crickets, b/c I do it with chopsticks and they are too quick for me. I'm too scared to try by hand as I don't like insects much.

I will try to feed them as often as I can, but today I spent about 15 mins trying to catch one!

It's just so frustrating, but I will keep trying!

 

[rob]

very nice photo's, love the first one

just grab the crickets with ur fingers lol
they wont hurt u

one escaped in my room the other night lol and i havn't found it.
love hand feeding my axies crickets...

 

[rheann]

You could also try to scoop them up with a fish net and cover the top up with a lid or a paper towel

Don't worry, Casey, they won't bite you and if they do, you can hardly feel it. I'm afraid of some spiders, so I know how you feel! If you look closely at the crickets faces, they sort of look cute

Just think of them as being cuddly and they won't bother you so much. This usually helps me lol

 

[joan]

Also, if you can get ahold of waxworms, they make a fairly nutritious addition to a fattening regimen. Feed a waxworm or two every couple of days, in addition to crickets (gutloaded, of course!), and earthworms. Despite my working as a research entomologist, bugs still kind of creep me out, so don't feel bad. Crickets aren't so bad. They kind of tickle when you pick them up.

 

[jenny]

Bless em, they look like best of friends, I have the opposite problem, keeping the weight off ( the axy's that is not me!!!!)

 

[john]

Same here, I will feed them 1 worm, and they are so lazy, they don't move. After a while they look like blimps. Right now I have the fiends on a diet... lol

 

[jenny]

bless em they just love their food who can blame them, i mean who wouldn't want second helpings of a worm gourmet

 

[natasha]

Just get a pair of tweezers and grab the crickets by the rear leg, easy. Then you can just offer them straight to the axie from the tweezers. Works a treat for me.

 

[casey]

Check out these cute pics of the best friends that I got!

I think this one looks like Stella is saying to Martini "Hey, look at this... I think it's some food!"

aerial shot...

looks like a "waterdog" hello to me!

 

[casey]

I think I've given up on the crickets!

I've lost another one in my room - as soon as they jump on my chopsticks I freak out and all of a sudden they're running around on my bedroom floor!

It's not the fear of being bitten - it's just the jumping that I don't like - they give me a fright. Sometimes I even get a fright when my axies jump, if I'm trying to pick up some food or waste from their tank, or if they snap something out of my fingers.

I'll just have to stick to pellets, worms, fish and the occasional beef heart (I haven't seen any waxworms in Australia).

Sometimes they only seem to want one worm anyway, and they seem to be getting a bit fatter, now that I'm feeding them every day, the pellets seem to be helping too.

Is that a sufficient diet?

 

[rheann]

Casey - They're starting to look much better good job

Yes, I think with what you are feeding them minus the crickets will be just fine. Earthworms make a great stable. Variety is important, but sometimes Axolotls will only eat one thing, and if they are eating just the worms for now that is still pretty good

 

[joan]

You're a real axolotl mum now, you've got crickets living in your bedroom. Now you need a free-roaming lizard to clean them up