Water striders eating.

[Mistwalker]

Caught a few water striders in a creek behind my house. Put them in my axolotl tank, they seem easy to feed, just dropped in a few crickets, and they swarmed them. Though the axolotl sometimes sees the crickets and eats them before the striders can.

A pic:

 

[Gigas]

i never knew striders could handle prey that big, i love axolotyls

 

[Mistwalker]

The crickets can't really do anything about the striders biting into them, they can sort of flip around a bit, the striders bounce away for a moment and then bite into them again.

Oh, and here's my axolotl, named Bob, enjoying a fine meal of frog:

 

[Scythemantis]

Wow...I should try that myself when I get my axolotl, I love water striders but never thought of just keeping them with another animal. I guess with just their legs touching the water, aquatic predators generally don't notice the whole tasty insect skating around.

 

[Mistwalker]

He hasn't bothered them so far. I think they're too small for him to see. Most axolotls don't look for food on top of the water, but mine has learned to. He steals the crickets from the striders, but hasn't seemed to notice them in the slightest.

I wonder if they'll breed in there. Would be interesting to have a population of them going. I'll have to look up more info on how they breed.

 

[zinto]

Are frogs what you generally feed your axolotl? I read that pellets are a good food for them, but they have to be trained to eat it. What do they eat in the wild?

 

[Scythemantis]

Anything that moves and then some. You have to watch out for them swallowing gravel, plants and anything else that will fit in their mouths.

 

[zinto]

I've read that eating pebbles is fairly common for them. So you can just throw in anything for it to eat? What would it eat in the wild - anything it could find?

 

[Mistwalker]

I normally feed him worms, superworms, crickets. The frog was a one time thing. They eat whatever moves in front of them. Small fish, crawdads, various insects, etc. Frogs and other amphibians as well. And they can eat gravel and plants and so on, which is why I don't keep anything in there small enough for him to swallow, that isn't food. I have wide flat river rocks, and the thing behind him that may look like gravel is in fact a big hunk of concrete. I also have some seashells and other assorted rocks.

He still hasn't bothered any of the striders. I don't think they're big enough for him to see. I figured they'd all be gone by now.