Among the order of earthworms, the common earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris) and the European nightcrawler (Dendrobena) are particularly good as axolotl food. The common earthworm is a little smaller than the nightcrawler, but both contain all the important nutrients that axolotls need and are easy to raise yourself at home.
What are earthworms?
The Lumbricus and Dendrobaena are both very similar except for the difference in size and the same demands for their environment. They live in the soil and feed on organic material, such as leaves and dead plant parts. Through their tunnels they aerate the soil and their humus is a good fertilizer.
Worms are hermaphrodites and but can’t fertilize themselves, they reproduce by laying cocoons, from which small worms hatch after a few days. Depending on the species, the earthworms become sexually mature after about 100 days. For Axolotl they are a good and also cheap live food option.
Advantages of earthworms are
- easy to breed
- ideal food for medium sized and adult axolotls
- contain all the nutrients that axolotl need
Freshly hatched earthworms are fully grown after about 100 days and one earthworm can produce up to 300 offspring per year. They feel most comfortable at temperatures between 68 to 77 °F (20 and 25 °C).
What do you need for an earthworm farm?
Equipment needed:
- a worm farm* or worm composter*
- soil
- earthworm food, e.g. leaves, turf or earthworm supplementary food*
- earthworm cocoons or live earthworms*
For your worm breeding container you can buy a plastic box or a specially built worm composter. When choosing worm food, you can feed them almost anything that is vegetable: vegetable scraps, leaves, lawn clippings and also special worm supplementary food.
The worm box should be placed in a dark place, alternatively you can cover it.
To start your worm farm, you can either buy adult worms or cocoons.
How to breed earthworms?
First, fill the box with soil and slightly moist it so that it doesn’t dry out too quickly. You can then add the earthworms or cocoons, covering them with soil.
Depending on the temperature and the species, the worms will hatch out of their cocoons after 3 to 18 days and will be about 8 to 10 mm in size. After about 100 days they are fully grown and sexually mature. You should feed them only as much as they eat, and remove food that begins to rot.
Earthworm food:
- Leaves
- Lawn clippings
- Vegetable scraps
How to feed your axolotls with earthworms?
Feeding your Axolotl with earthworms is very simple. You dig carefully in your worm box until you have enough worms and wash them with water so that they don’t bring soil into the tank.
Then you can feed them with tweezers to your Axolotl, if they are too big, it is best to divide the worms, so your Axolotl can eat them without problems.
Here is also an article with a complete feeding guide for axolotls in every stage of life.
What problems can occur in your earthworm farm?
There are not many things that can go wrong with your earthworm farm, but sometimes it still doesn’t work out the way you want it to. Here are the most common problems that occur:
Earthworm cocoons haven’t hatched
Depending on the age and quality of the cocoons, you may find that only a few or, in the worst case, no earthworms hatched at all. If this happens, start your farm with adult worms next time.
The temperature is too low or the soil is too moist
If the temperature is too cold, the worms will only develop very slowly and your earthworm farm will hardly make any progress. On the other hand, it shouldn’t be too warm either, if the soil is above 86 °F (30 °C) for a longer time, the worms don’t tolerate it well. Earthworms also don’t like soil that is too wet.
The wrong food
Even though earthworms eat a lot of leftovers, they don’t like all kinds of food. They can’t eat meat, fish, ginger and citrus fruits. Better are leaves, grass or leafy greens.
Conclusion
Earthworms are very easy to breed and are an excellent live food for Axolotl.
Alternative live food for young axolotls are daphnia and artemia. These are also easy to breed at home, click here for an article on breeding Daphnia and here for breeding Artemia.