Food Variety Questions

I bought my first fire salamander a couple of weeks ago.
He started eating 2 nights ago (stress from moving), and for the past 3 nights I've been feeding him 2-3 small crickets. He's hunting well now, but the first night I had to put 2 dead crickets in front of him to entice him to eat. I killed them with the tongs I put them in the tank with, so i didn't just find them dead if that makes a difference.
I did look for as much information as I could on this species before I bought him, and most of the things on food variety just said earthworms and crickets.
I also wasn't sure about dusting, so I didn't do it.
I haven't been on this site very long, so if they'res a completely informative care sheet on here please don't be annoyed with me as I don't know how to find many things yet.
I did read the 'Salamandra Salamandra' information sheet on this site though.
Anyway, would a bait shop be a good place to buy the earthworms from, or would they potentially carry diseases? Since these are native to Europe, are the earthworms in the ground here okay for them to eat? I'm in florida.
I'll do anything to make him a happy, healthy fire salamander. I just want to know I'm doing everything right. I'm sure there's something I could change to make it perfect. :]

other information:
His tank is warmer than it should be right now, and I'm working on getting an A/C unit to fix that problem.
He is on a coconut fiber substrate, has a large water dish and a cave in the tank.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e316/chinatownmidget/Ember and herps/DSCF4346.jpg
I took out the log because I thought it made the tank too busy, and that's where he's been mostly buried for the past week or so.
I haven't been able to tell his gender yet; I don't want to scare him too much by picking him up.

It says this is not a help forum, but I don't think I'm asking for help as much as I'm asking for information about food.
But if this is the wrong forum, I apologize and I'll post it in the right place.
Thanks so much!

I've had three fire salamanders for about a year. I'm new to this forum, and I don't know much, but I can tell you what I've experienced.

Two of my sallies are very slow to react to food, but the third is gecko-fast (this one came from a different source). They are all adults and I only feed them 2X a week. They usually eat three of whatever it is I'm feeding them. They mostly eat crickets, but they love slugs (easy to catch and swallow) and earthworms (cut to size). I get the slugs and worms out of my garden and then rinse them off. I fed them bait worms once, but I really question the quality of that food. I've seen mine eat dead crickets too. I have given them mealworms (with heads chopped off) using tongs, but I don't feed anyone mealworms anymore because I heard they're not easy to digest. They refused to eat silkworms or waxworms. I very rarely dust their food with supplements, though I do it often for my lizards.

I usually feed the sallies in separate little bins with lids, air holes, and a wet paper towel. I do this so I know everyone has eaten, and to avoid the possibility of them swallowing the substrate. Plus they get nice and hydrated and I can get a good look at them.

They are usually more active in the morning, coming out of their shelters to look around and say hello.

Your set-up looks cool. Just make sure the substrate doesn't dry out too much. My guys have some loose moss and mossy bark pieces that they love to hide under. I got it from the woods here in Ontario, probably a no-no, but I did it anyways.

I want to set up a vermi-composting bin in my kitchen for food scraps. That way I'll have compost for my plants and worms for my sallies and newts year-round!

I would say mine is gecko fast, as i have a pretty lazy gecko and a pretty fast salamander so they're about the same. lol!
yeah, i was questioning the quality of a bait shop so i haven't gone to one yet..
and my gecko needs dusting with every feeding so that's why i was a bit worried about not dusting/dusting something for a completely different herp.

i did notice mine have substrate in his mouth. can coco fiber cause impaction? and is that a good substrate?
and as for the wetness, i actually pour about half-1 bottle of water around the tank (it's a good 2-3 inches of dirt) and i make sure everything's all nice and wet.

i've read about feeding in a separate area for several herps, so that makes sense. i'll get a box and start that soon.

well, i'll dig up an area of my yard to find earthworms in.
thank you very much!

Hello,
I'd say coco fiber is fine for the substrate and I haven't really heard any reports of impaction from this as much as when people mix it with small rocks for drainage. As for dusting crickets, this is good. It provides them with extra nutrients that crickets can't do by themselves. I'd suggest getting an amphibian formula of dust if you can. This seems to actually help my frogs hunt a bit because there's a greater color contrast with the substrate.

are you sure with the dusting?
i've read so many mixed sayings on it i don't want to mess my sally's body up..
i

My understanding is that if crickets are going to be a good chunk of the diet one should dust. Crickets can be deficient in certain vitamins and need to be supplimented. That happens to be the case in the animals I feed predominately with them. However, if you are going to vary the diet with earthworms(don't really need it), and other more nutritionally complete items, then dusting may not be as important.

I was thinking I would do half and half of crickets and earthworms.
but maybe i'll buy some amphibious cricket dust and dust every other cricket feeding.
i think i like that idea.

its a nice set up. i would add some moss as well. i get mine from garden centres. it holds water really well so helps when they shed.