Salamander Rejecting Food!!

Please help, for the last month my Salamander has been rejecting all food. Ive had her over 2years and she was a fat healthy Salamander who always ate well up until a month ago when she stopped eating. Im at a loss to what is wrong and am beggining to get quite worried. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Diet
Her diet consists mostly of slugs caught in my back yard. I live in the country and am sure it is not to anything to do with chemicals or anything. She used to eat the slugs very greedly but is now not responding to them.
Ive introduced some crickets in case she has gone off the slugs but I have yet to see her take notice.

Vivarium

I had her in a natural setup consisting of pot soil and live moss gathered from my garden. I completely cleaned out the tank two weeks ago in case there was a bacterial problem and replaced it with a orchid bark/decomposing leaves mix and moss on top. There are a number of hidey holes about the place. I have a few pieces of Ivy in for cover.


Other Factors
I keep the temperature between 60-68F.
I spray it regulary with filtered water.

She still looks healthy, is that a possible eye infection??




She has lost a bit of weight. This picture was taken in March.


Again if anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated. Ive had Sally for over two years now and would be gutted if she croaked it.

Many Thanks,

Bob

Hi Bob,
It's tough to guess what is going on. I find if fire salamanders are kept to humid they can have problems. I like to give mine a variety of humidity levels within the terrarium. I have a few hiding spots on the moist substrate and a few spots where cork bark is stacked up so they can dry out a little if they want.
I mostly feed them earthworms and crickets but also use isopods, slugs and a few other odd insects. If they have gone off the slugs maybe some isopods or earthworms would do the trick.

HI bob. My fire salamanders do that sometimes, but they always bounce back. She dose look a little tired though. She might want to hibernate? Mine will stop eating and dig in even at room temperature. I dug one up today I have not seen for at least a month. She has lost some weight to but seems OK. She went strait back into her hole she made for herself.

Thanks Michael and John for the responses. Its food for thought. Ive got A few questions if you dont mind.

1/What substrates do you guys use in you set ups?

2/How do you make a Salamander hibernate? Is it just a matter of lowering the temperature? The temp is getting lower due to winter coming in but dont think it ever drops below 58F.

3/Where on earth do you get cork bark from?

4/Any tips for catching worms? Im a bit wary of buying them from the local Fishing shop.


Once again thanks very much for all your help. I'll keep yous updated.

Cheers,

Bob

Regarding the light color around the eyes, this looks normal to me.

When you say "pot soil" what do you mean? Most potting soils/mixes contain fertilizers of various kinds, which may be harmful to amphibians. The conventional wisdom is to avoid potting soil. My favorite substrate is a mixture of top soil (just plain bagged dirt, not potting soil) mixed with coconut fiber (a.k.a. "Bed-a-beast" or the cheaper brands) and fir bark or cypress mulch. You can also use dirt from outdoors. Just avoid dirt near areas likely to be chemical-treated, and bake it first if you're worried about bringing in critters or infectious agents.

Hibernation is a bit of a misnomer for sals. They don't really hibernate, but they may be less active and eat less when the temp is colder. For good health, a cold period in winter is a good idea, so don't be afraid to let the sal's temp drop into the 50s or even 40s.

In the US, we can buy overpriced cork bark in pet stores, or buy it for a better price at herp shows or online. Other kinds of bark are OK too, if you have a place to find it outdoors.

I've used earthworms packed as fish bait as sal food for years, no problems. I also grow my own worms in a compost bin.
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/worms.shtml

I hope your sal comes around to her usual self. It's not unusual for a well-fed sal to refuse food for a few weeks, but the amount of weight loss your sal seems to have doesn't look good.

Good news. I got some worms on Saturday and she ate one! I offered another couple but she refused them but at least she’s back eating again. Maybe it is just due to the colder weather that her apatite has subsided a bit. Anyway I put the remaining worms in a large flower pot full with compost from the garden. Hopefully they will multiply. Also found some nice juicy grubs in the compost. Is it good practice to put the worms in a container with moist kitchen roll for 24hrs before feeding them so that they expel the soil inside them? Hopefully things will pick up soon.

Also the local reptile shop has got in some Fire Sallys. Is it good practice to quarantine them for a period before introducing them to their new environment? If so, how long? Also is it recommended to have an even number of Salamanders incase one gets ignored? I know it sounds daft but we have goldfish tank at work and we bought 2new ones to keep the original one company. The original befriended one of them and the other one got completely ignored and died soon after.

Anyway, thanks again,

Bob

Hi Bob,
it is risky to feed salamanders with slugs. Slugs can pass parasites on the salamanders. So I think i would send a piece of the salamander`s <font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font> to a vet.
I hope it is healthy, Olaf