Axolotl Feeding Essentials
Feeding and axolotl isn’t as easy as pouring kibble into a bowl, but it’s a lot of fun to watch them eat! Be prepared, it’s surprising the first time you see it happen. Axolots eat by suction. So when they do, it’s a sudden large movement to suck in the worm. Don’t be surprised f they spit it out, that’s normal. They need to get it at the right angle to go down. If they do it several times and it never fits, it may be too big and you need to cut them smaller. You’ll enjoy watching their feeding antics soon!
These are handy tools to have for feeding your axolotls:
Feed bowls so they know where to eat from (and easier to clean up)
Turkey Baster to suck up uneaten food (and poo)
Long aquarium tweezers to pick everything up and move it around (you’ll think you don’t need them. You do).
1. Hatchlings eat brine shrimp that you need to re-hatch every 12 hours. That is a whole nuther ball game.
2. When your axolotl is 2- 4 inches (when you’re likely to get them) you will need to feed them either live black worms or frozen blood worms.
--You can find frozen blood worms at your fish or pet store.
--Black worms are harder to find, and harder to keep alive. Our local independent fish stores have not had them in a year. You can order some live from Ivy's Axolotl's HERE. You will want a black worm keeper box to make it easier, which you can find HERE.
–You need to clean out the old food after the meal time is done so that it doesn’t make everything to messy or the water bad.
3. When your little lotl is about 5 inches or longer then you can start feeding red wiggler worms. If you have a garden, that's great, because you can have a worm compost bin and help your garden too.
--We strongly recommend that you have a worm bin. It's far cheaper in the long run. As soon as they're about to eat real worms just go for it. We use the red wigglers. Uncle Jim's Worm Ranch Kit is easy and has everything you need.
--When they are 4-8 inches they need to be fed twice a day. You should cut them up small enough for your little lotl to eat. If they spit them out it's too big.
–When they are 8+ inches (or whenever they start looking a bit chonky) feed them 2-3 worms each every 2-3 days. (Or whenever you can’t stand their glares anymore).
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