How do you feed a salamander???

D

debi

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We have a tiger salamander. He lives in a ten gallon terrarium and is a happy little fellow. We think he is to skinny. We can see his ribs. He currently gets five crickets in the morning. We let them go in the terrarium. Then we hand feed him five meal worms throughout the day. We have put worms in the soil but he doesn't hunt them. This system is not working. I have read that people feed their salamanders every few days. What is the proper way to feed these creatures? It is simply not working to have to be available five to six times a day to assure that this guy eats his food. Is there a better way. Thanks
Mrs. Stamey and children
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I think I would stop hand feeding him the mealworms and work on hand feeding him the earthworm. Depending upon his size you can use small or cut up Canadian nightcrawlers to feed him. These are a pretty balanced meal and they are also large so you'd have to feed less. Otherwise regular worms will work just fine.

Does he get five crickets a day? I would imagine that would be too much food if he was being fed that everyday and so I think it is odd that he is so thin. Could you possibly post a picture of your salamander so that we can take a look at him?
 
Debi, those are not 'ribs', they're costal grooves, and are completely normal. A tiger body should be a little wider than their head is wide.

It sounds like you're feeding him LOTS of food. Throw in some earth worms. He'll find them. You can also try wiggling an earthworm in front of him. I have never had a tiger pass up wiggly earthworms.
 
To repeat what's already been said, check out this link there are some good pictures of the costal grooves and some ideas about what healthy tiger body is shaped like.
To confirm your suspicions, feeding multiple times in a day is definitely excessive, and should not be necessary. That link also has some good feeding information. Nightcrawlers/earthworms especially seem like a good choice in this situation.
 
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