| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Kazerella |
Posted - 27/02/2010 : 18:58:28
Does anyone know if it's possible to overfeed a axolotl larvae?
The big, blonde meany axie is eating loads! I give him what I believe is a more than ample ration (in comparrison to the amounts his brothers/sisters can handle) and it's just gone within hours. He's having 2-3 massive meals a day and I still think he'd take more, whereas his siblings don't even eat half as much.
Any ideas? |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Kazerella |
Posted - 06/05/2010 : 09:18:17
Right, small worms are getting too small an item for the monstrous axie babies, so I have started adding a few other insects to the diet like small mealworms (we breed our own so have tiny mealies available and thought they'd be better in case the exo-skeleton was too much at this stage) and baby dubia roaches. So far only Attila seems interested, but the others won't be too far behind.
Really developing their personalities at the moment and their characters are shining through.
Going to have to get more pics! |
| Kazerella |
Posted - 10/04/2010 : 10:40:16
Well it looks like mine aren't too bothered either- so far only Attilla has had some and it's no surprise because he will eat ANYTHING! In fact he went for my fingers yesterday. Gave me a bit of a surprise 
The others are all happily eating earthworms though. The biggest surprise was that little Boudicca wolfs them down. She's the smallest so didn't think she'd be able to handle them yet.
Timujin took a few days to change over, still preferring the bloodworm, but at least now I can offer them both so they've got a bit of variety. |
| Mazz |
Posted - 01/04/2010 : 02:12:46
I know that feeling, i live 10 miles away from the nearest town and its a 40 mile round trip to the closest place that sells live bloodworm so pellets are great as a standby or as a holiday food, they arent my axies favourite food but they do seem keener on the new pellets i've just got!
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| Kazerella |
Posted - 31/03/2010 : 09:32:48
That's what we want them for really, just so we aren't so reliant on live foods.
I've had bags of blood worm just dying overnight and it's always when the local aquatic shop is shut that day, so you've got to go further out of your way to buy fresh. Sods law is a unbeatable force sometimes  |
| Mazz |
Posted - 31/03/2010 : 02:38:49
Thats ok, i hope your axies take to the pellets ok & worms too
My new soft pellets arrived, they are New Era cichlid 'American' pellets, its what some sealife centres use for their axies apparently (lol i was sad enough to email a sealife centre to ask, thankfully they replied without seeming to think i was mad!)
They are small soft pellets, i've put some in a pot in the tank corner & moulded some together to make bigger bits so i could hand feed them & so far my axies seem very happy to eat them. They mainly eat worms & bloodworms with an occasional prawn now & then but i want to add pellets to their diet as if we go away i cant see my pet sitter (ie my mum) feeding live worms lol!
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| Kazerella |
Posted - 29/03/2010 : 11:48:16
Cause it's alright to join in Mazz- all comments are greatly appreciated.
Thanks for the offer of the pellets but I've just ordered some off the net, so hopefully they'll come today. I doubt my axies will be interested, but I've ordered them some small worms too, so I'm sure they'll have a nice treat anyway.
Good idea about the fishing tackle shop. Will have to pop in. I used to get the occassional bag of maggots to make flies for the toads, so I don't know why I didn't think of that before |
| Mazz |
Posted - 28/03/2010 : 17:21:32
Hi, i'm a newbie and this is only my second post so i hope its ok to join in?!
I dont know what size your axies are but if theyre big enough have you tried red wiggler worms from a fishing bait shop? they are thinner and smaller than normal garden worms, my axies love them and so do i as i dont need to cut them up!! (although my axies are 7inch long now so can manage whole worms most of the time now thank goodness)
Also, if you'd like some pellets to try i have some i can send you if you'd like, i have tried 2 sizes of hard sinking pellets - my axies eat them occasionally but never seem very keen so you're welcome to some to try yours on. I have ordered some soft sinking pellets to try them on now which i hope will be more interesting to them as i imagine the soft texture will be more worm like! (the smaller of the 2 pellets that i already have were sold online as 'soft' but they definitely arent unless soaked in water for a few hours lol!!)
Best wishes
Maxx
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| Kazerella |
Posted - 22/03/2010 : 18:28:00
ummmm pancakes and hoi sin sauce |
| Kehhlyr |
Posted - 18/03/2010 : 17:13:48
Get some ducks, they'll keep the slug population down.
I haven't seen one slug or snail in my garden since I had the ducks.
Mind you, I haven't seen anything growing in the garden since I had the ducks. |
| Kazerella |
Posted - 18/03/2010 : 13:30:09
Carrots it is then!
Will send lewy out slug hunting next time it rains. Plus a tip in the population might keep the little bliters off the veggies in the raised bed too |
| Kehhlyr |
Posted - 17/03/2010 : 17:46:16
From recollection don't carrots have loads of vitamin A?
If so, then they should be ok; make them nice and damp for the slugs as they don't touch it much if they start drying.
I'm sure that slugs that have been dosed up with carrots would be carrying a fair bit of Vitamin A, which is an essential vitamin for healthy skin/eyes in 'phibs.
You'd win both ways then.
Sounds like a good plan to use carrots, like I said though make sure they're nice and damp because if they're anything like GALS then they wont touch them much if the sides of the carrot dry up a bit.
To keep them nice and chuffed and to encourage eating add a small amount of beer* (teaspoon full) to a small jar lid and put in with them as no slugs or snails will refuse beer.
*proper beer or preferably a nice smooth bitter like Creamflow, not the fizzy canned wee that is bought by 17 year olds with fake ID's.
/quick edit
I thought carrots contained vitamin A, there seems to be disputed info in regards that because they have beta-carotene which the body can turn into vitamin A apparently.
And Vitamin A is good for 'phibs as well.
Woo, that's 3 things I've got right now. |
| Kazerella |
Posted - 17/03/2010 : 14:21:08
I will have to try that. The tub was damp last time, so I put the deaths down to overheating.
The slugs wouldn't get leeks anyway- no one likes leeks in our house
Would carrot be as good as lettuce? Just thinking that we don't usually have much salad stuff in. |
| Kehhlyr |
Posted - 17/03/2010 : 01:05:12
How damp was the cricket tub?
Just give it a nice spray with some water, and put a small bit of plastic similar to the 'bag for life' plastic bags from sainburys in there, and they should hopefully hide undeneath that.
Keep them somewhere nice and cool(ish) and somewhere dark with a bit of lettuce leaf and that should purge them.
Lettuce leaf is what I believe is the best for purging because it has real health benefits for many animals, so the slugs will essentially be eating hardened green water while they clear their systems.
This has other benefits as well, because some slugs will eat the green stalks off onions, and leeks and similar plants in the same family, some of these can be bad for the health of some aquatic animals, so a slug that's got a belly full of leek could potentially cause issues with the axies. |
| Kazerella |
Posted - 16/03/2010 : 10:46:55
We are considering pond dipping, but a lot of people frown upon it because there's a risk of introducing parasites and bad insects that prey on larvae.
I'm on the look out for some axolotl pellets as I think Atilla and Timujin are big enough to start taking them. The other two might still be a bit little, but their appetite is still strong for blood worm. It's Atilla who seems to be getting bored with his diet.
Lewy is going worm hunting today to find suitable ones of the sals and toads so he might get lucky and find some really small ones.
Unless anyone can think of a way of making slugs safer to eat? I tried keeping some alive for a week in an old cricket tub(to ensure they hadn't been near any slug pellets and purge their stomachs) but they died before it got to feeding time  |
| Kehhlyr |
Posted - 16/03/2010 : 01:14:40
I'm trying to think of anything else that they could try.
What about water shrimp? You can quite often catch them fairly easily in small brooks and similar. |
