Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Anyone else keep these? What do you feed yours with?

Hi

i have beem keeping & breeding axolotls for 37 years,i have changed the diet over the years, i now use the following regime for my animal,black & brown crickets, you can either feed them from forceps or let the float on the surface, obviously they need to be of appropriate size.Earth worms are given from chemical free sources, these we clean by placing them in a tub of wet moss for three days, the moss can be rinsed & reused.Small meal worms, i know this sounds gross but you will need to crush the head of each mealworm regardless of size, they can & have eaten there way through the stomach wall killing the axolotl in the process.Frozen blood worm given in amounts that an individual will eat in one feeding session.You can use live blood worm however i would be carful of introducing any pathogens. Blood worms & other frozen fresh water invertabrates can be purchased from local dealers in bulk, a word of warning avoid any frozen or live food for that matter wich is salt water in origin,while some aquarium salts can be benefial in some circumstances oddly enough engested salt via food can be damaging. Beef heart can also be used, we slice the hearts in to small strips, this is them soaked in a liquid vitamin/water solution and can either be feed directly or frozen for future use.I would not recomend using beef heart more them once every two weeks, however given the range of foods axolotls will accept this would fit in to a balanced diet.Mouse pinks, these are excelent for bringing both sexes into breeding condition & for boosting growth rates in young axolotls,i would say an animal of approx 5 inches in lengh will take one every two weeks to start with. Finaly we use a commercial avaliable pelleted food, very simlar to trout pellets. You will have to experiment with all of these foods as while most will accept all some animals can be quite specific.My animals are feed on the following time tables, 0-10 months every day, 10-24 months every other day & adults twice a week when not breeding then every 1/2 days when comming into the breeding season & after for recouperation. If i can be of any further help them please let me know.