# Can I feed maggots to baby axolotls?



## kateandnik (Mar 10, 2014)

Question in the title.. 

Just brought 2 wild type axolotls. Been feeding them blood worms as lady I brought them off instructed.. They are about 1 inch in size and just wondering as I live out in the sticks but very near a fishing tackle shop.. can I buy maggots and feed maggots? 

I can order online no problem but a pound for food that will last forever and a 1 min walk is less hassel haha 

Thanks


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## Draconis (Dec 19, 2011)

Yes you can feed maggots, but they are quite fatty so shouldn't be offered all the time. If getting bloodworm, daphnia or brine shrimp is a bit hard, there's another option. As you live near a tackle shop, get a load of earthworms and chop them up before feeding. Even chopped up the worms still move, so will attract your axolotls' attention. Earthworms are widely recommended as the staple diet in adults, but chopped up they'll be fine for juveniles too. I buy half a kilo of earthworms for £5, take them home, and put them in a large cake tub with air holes filled with compost. They last me around 3 months or so.

By all means try a few maggots as a little treat, though.


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Draconis said:


> Yes you can feed maggots, but they are quite fatty so shouldn't be offered all the time. If getting bloodworm, daphnia or brine shrimp is a bit hard, there's another option. As you live near a tackle shop, get a load of earthworms and chop them up before feeding. Even chopped up the worms still move, so will attract your axolotls' attention. Earthworms are widely recommended as the staple diet in adults, but chopped up they'll be fine for juveniles too. I buy half a kilo of earthworms for £5, take them home, and put them in a large cake tub with air holes filled with compost. They last me around 3 months or so.
> 
> By all means try a few maggots as a little treat, though.


^^^This.^^^


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## vukic (Apr 9, 2010)

Yep I agree with draconis.. 

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## Markw999 (Mar 30, 2014)

I agree with Draconis too. Worms are much better for them than maggots.
Also, maggots won't stay as maggots for long, you'll end up with a stinking box of casters and then and even more stinking box of dead bluebottles. Worms will stay fresh and healthy for months.


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## Draconis (Dec 19, 2011)

Good point on the casters, Mark. Funnily enough, at Christmas I got my beardies a tub of wax worms, but they wouldn't eat them and the wax worms began turning into casters. At this point I gave them to my axolotls and they gobbed them down no problem.

Another thing about maggots is that tackle shops tend to mix them with some groundbait (or at least they have every time I've bought them). I doubt groundbait would harm axolotls but it'd dirty the water a bit, and let's face it, nobody wants a dirty aquarium on display!


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## kateandnik (Mar 10, 2014)

Thanks for all the replies I went into tackle shop and they actually gave me a small amount of maggots for free! Say small amount .. It will last me ages or until they die or what have you.. babies keep trying to take them but spitting them out so we are squeezing the heads? Bottoms? Lol until no movement then wiggling with tweezers ourselves .. and taking down fine this way.. iv noticed one keeps floating upside down when eating though is this normal??? I'm brand new to axolotls have an adult one brought a few months ago and a local school had babies and I'm fascinated with growth of them so thought why not! 

Any tips for the babies container ?? They currently have nothing in there with them.. no substrate or hides .. 

All tips appreciated


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

People worry a lot (too much, in my opinion, but that's another discussion) about impaction, so they tend to use larger substrates than the axies are able to eat (large pebbles, pieces of slate) or smaller than will cause problems (playsand, usually available from Early Learning Centre or Argos- which has rounded particles that are easily passed if swallowed). 

In terms of hides, it's worth using broken clay pots, lots of plants- Elodea and other water 'weeds' can do well- rocks propped securely and the commercial rep hides sold in shops (not my favorite, but they work). Ideally have at least one hide for each animal.


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