Nutritional Foods for Axolotls - WIP

Poor nutrition can cause health problems in axolotls. Salamanders such as axolotls have difficulty dealing with high quantities of fats and oils in their diets. Axolotls need a diet that has high protein levels, and low fat. The ratio of calcium to phosphorus is also important, as they contribute to the digestion of....

 

Goldfish (and various other types of feeder fish) contain thiaminase, which blocks Vitamin B and causes a deficiency with too much feeding. They should be avoided, and only feeder fish without thiaminase should be used.

 

Earthworms:

A good nutritional staple food for axolotls, with a perfect protein to fat ratio, and calicum to phosphorus ratio.

 

Blackworms: (Not available in New Zealand)
Similar nutritional value to earthworms

 

Bloodworms:

A good staple EXCEPT for the fact that it 

 

Why certain foods aren't suitable?

As a staple diet:

Not even as a treat:

 

 

Whiteworms and tubifex are high in fat and oil. Should be used as treats only.

When fed exclusively on high fat and high oil foods, occurrences of sclerosis of the liver increase.

 

Mealworms: Chitin is undigestable, have pincers which could catch. Quite low in calcium

Insects: Undigestable exoskeletons

 

Prawns: Best used like a treat, the nutritional value is good but they are salty. Defrost them and soak in a cup of warm water for half an hour, to help remove the brine before feeding.

Shrimp: 

 

Maggots: high in fat, good for getting sick/abused lotls to put weight on.

 

Steak/red meat: nah uh. If must, treat only. Hard to digest, often very fatty.

 

Raw chicken: Also should be avoided, but slightly better than red meat.

 

Other foods, such as mealworms, are quite low in calcium, which can lead to a number of problems. They also have a lot of chitin (a structural protein in insects and some crustaceans) which axolotls can't digest, and this passes through their guts intact. Again, these shouldn't be fed as the sole food but rather as an occasional treat to avoid health problems. Mealworms present an additional danger: they have poweful jaws that can damage an axolotl internally. If you must feed mealworms, it is advisable to crush the jaws of the mealworms prior to feeding. This can be accomplished using a strong forceps or tweezers.

 

If your axolotl develops a nutritional problem, change its diet immediately and try to feed it a variety of foods. Nutritional deficiencies often lead to increased likelihood of the Axolotl succumbing to bacterial or fungal disease.

 

The link below contains a food chart with the nutritional value of each:

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods2.shtml