Unusual eating behavior

I'm still not having very much luck with my new tiger sal. We're into the 6th day, and she's moving around quite a bit more. She was even outside of her hiding place for several hours yesterday. When she is under her piece of bark, she sticks her head out now, which I consider to be a huge improvement since she had been spending all of her time completely hidden.

I'm keeping her in a 10 gallon tank with the temperature ranging from 65 at night to 74 during the day, although the temperature did reach 76 for about 3 hours yesterday. I'm using a mixture of eco-earth (coconut fiber) and beak moss. I have a water dish which she can comfortably fit inside of and still have some room to move around in. And I have a large piece of bark for her to hide under. I've been using water conditioner to ensure that the water is safe for her, even though she has yet to enter into the water dish. I've been misting the entire enclosure, including her, twice a day.

But she still has not eaten. I've offered her crickets, which she shows no interest in at all, and I've been offering her worms (panfish/trout worms since they are a bit smaller than the nightcrawlers). I had been hoping to try waxworms but the baitshop made a mistake and froze their entire shipment so all the waxworms were dead. She does show interest in the worms, though. I have been trying to handfeed them to her, and she snaps very quickly, but never actually seems to go for the worm. It's almost as if she's trying to get away from it...
I tried cutting the worm up for her, I wiped the worm off to remove the slime that can make them harder for the sal to eat. When I offered this to her... she turned into a little alligator. She began thrashing around, but never took the bait.

I've tried holding the worm out in front of her, and holding the worm directly ontop of her mouth. Is her thrashing a sign that she's trying to go after the worm or is she actually afraid of it?
Should I try taking her out of her enclosure and placing her in a seperate container just lined with damp paper towels and leave her alone with a worm and see if she'll eat it that way? If she showed no interest in the food I would just assume she was still stressed... but her reaction has me baffled.

One problem I notice right off is the use of "beak moss", which is probably sphagnum moss. This can be highly acidic, and can leach ions from your salamander. I suggest using a mixture of coco fiber and organic top soil.

Also, misting the entire tank isn't a good idea. Mist just one half of the tank, and allow the salamander to choose which humidity level it feels is comfortable. Provide appropriate hides at all moisture gradients (both ends, in the middle).

Second, the worms you're offering are probably 'red wigglers', known by a slew of other names. But they secrete a pretty foul smelling (and tasting) fluid, and may be rejected. Try chopping nightcrawlers.

Taking it out of the enclosure is not a good idea, as it will just startle the animal. Try offering chopped bits of worm at night, when it's dark, on top of a small plate or dish, and leaving the animal be for a few hours. If some of the worms escape into the enclosure, that's fine. It can hunt the worms, or they'll just be natural recyclers in the tank.

I'll remove the moss immediately then, I was under the impression that beaked and sphagnum moss were different varieties, but it makes sense that she's been laying on the end that has almost no moss.

I'll begin only misting the end of the tank that contains her water dish, since it makes sense that it should be wetter there. I've only been spraying her because I fear she may become dehydrated, will she get into the water dish on her own if she does become too dry?

I've been wondering about whether or not they may be the wrigglers, although they don't particularly look like the red wrigglers I've seen in the past (I love fishing and they make great bait around here). Darn the baitshop for having killed off most of their live bait, looks like I'll be making a trip into the city today .

As for taking her out of the enclosure, is that because she's still getting used to her main tank, or should I never take her out. Several other salamander owners I know usually take their sals out and put them in a seperate container with a few live crickets to make it easier for them to 'hunt'. Is this something that should never be done?

I'm beginning to think that I'm much better off not taking any advice from anyone outside of this forum. At least I know the majority of people on here know what they're talking about.

And thank you, Kaysie, for having the patience to help me with this. I truly appreciate it, and I'm sure my tiger will too once I perfect her enclosure.

Regarding spraying her with water, there is no reason to do this. If the coco-fiber is moist and you spray one end of the enclosure (I mist once per week or so), that is all you need to do. Should she feel the need, she will go into her water dish. Mine rarely use their water dish and at the odd times they do, I've observed that it is just before the time they shed. Just remember to keep the moist end of the viv, just that - moist - not wet.

Regarding taking her out of her viv to feed her, I would not recommend doing this. She should be handled as little as possible. When handling her, make sure your hands are wetted with spring water or treated water. Moving her does nothing to decrease her stress level which is your goal with a new tiger.

Regarding her being afraid of a worm, that would be going against her nature...she is a predator. I would do as Kaysie suggests and use pieces of nightcrawler. Just as information, waxworms should not be a staple in her diet as they contain more fat and can lead to obesity.

Please don't feel bad about asking questions. It is more important that you ask the questions and get quality answers.... for you and your salamander.

Give it a chance to acclimate. Let it establish a territory. Throw a few live foods in the tank and let it hunt them down. Earthworms, crickets, isopods, and wax worms would be some good options. Unless the earthworm is huge you shouldn't have to cut it up.

I removed all of the moss, and added a bit more eco-earth. She came out to see what I was doing for a few seconds, before disappearing back into her hiding spot. I also added a few plants (silk, unfortunately, until I can locate some appropriate live plants locally) for her to hide amongst.

I did try to place a worm on a small plate for her, but I'm fairly certain the worm did escape because it is certainly gone and there's no sign that she was moving about outside of her bark. So now she has a worm buddy living with her until she hunts him down.

I'll be leaving shortly to pick up some nightcrawlers and waxworms for her. I'll be overrun with worms at this rate :grin:. I only hope she will take one or the other since the trout worms and crickets were a bust thus far. I plan on giving her as much variety in her food as I can, once she starts eating that is.

I'm glad I asked before putting her into another enclosure. I've handled her twice since her arrival, first to put her into the tank and to do a quick check over, and then again yesterday as a follow up check to see if the redness had faded around her cloaca. Both times I had gone through the steps to remove the oils and chemicals from my hands and had doused my hands with treated water.

I've noticed that the fiber dries out fairly quickly, possibly because I've had to have my fan on to keep the temperature down for her. Misting once a week may not be enough until I can rely fully on the AC, but I will keep a close eye on things to make sure it doesn't seem too wet

Thank you, Jan.

Ah, you snuck a post in on me Michael
She already has two worms to keep her company. I'll have to pick up some smaller crickets, the one I have now are a bit large and I'm worried they may bite her, as for isopods... I'll have to see what I can do. I know I can't use any found in my yard as the neighbors use pesticides. Thank you.

Silk plants are fine. My tigers have mostly silk, with a little pothos ivy.

As for the fiber, if you mix it with topsoil, it will stay moist longer, and burrows will hold their shape better. Why do you have a fan on the tank? This could be contributing. If the surrounding air isn't any warmer than 75ish, I wouldn't worry about cooling with a fan. Providing a deep soil layer will keep her cool enough. Mist often enough to keep the soil moist (with a fan, this will DEFINITELY be more than once a week).

Try waxworms. They don't make a good staple, but are a nice treat. And they'll be fine for now, until you can figure out the earthworm thing. Drop a couple in front of her burrow.

I should have worded that better, the fan isn't near the tank... it's just my ceiling fan. Our central air unit isn't fairing so well at the moment, it's running... but only at half capacity. Thankfully they are coming out to fix it this coming week.

But until then I'm 'manually' keeping the entire room around 74 F.

Just keep the moist side of the tank moist. You should be able to feel the moisture, but not wring water out of a handful of substrate.

Saw that you were interested in planting. Just want to throw this out there.

http://www.blackjungle.com/basics.htm

I have a friend who over water her tank. She got a salamander without understanding what she was getting herself into. The more research I did into my newts, the more I did for her salamander. I've slowly been getting her to improve her care. She didn't know what she was doing wrong when the tank kept fouling up and plants never grew. First I bought her a spray bottle and told her to stop pouring cups of water on the plants. Then I taught her how to put in her drainage substrate, then her top soil. Take a look at the link, it's easy instructions, just have to keep your eye out for good plants; ivy, pothos, different mosses and grasses. I know loads of people on here have brilliant vivariums. Just use the search option for plants and vivarium set ups.

Sara

Thank you! That helps tremendesly. Nothing beats the look and feel of a real plant.

I had been hoping to sit down and do a few months worth of research myself prior to getting any salamander... but my fiance knew I was interested and decided to surprise me with a "You have three days before she arrives" kind of deal. So I've been a bit rushed, but I'm learning fast.

Even as I write, she's sitting at the edge of her tank watching me. She seems to have really taken to the changes I've made in her vivarium. I can't thank you all enough!

Well, I left her with three small waxworms overnight, hoping that should would eat at least one of them. Two of the three are now gone. I'm assuming she finally ate them, although with my luck they probably just escaped into the dirt. Which brings me to yet another question...

Do waxworms burrow into the dirt like other worms? After placing them into the enclosure, I watched the tank for about an hour and all three worms stayed on the surface of the dirt, as was the one I found this morning.

I was terrified, however, to wake up this morning and find my tiger sal laying on her back...
A quick touch to the tummy resulted in her flipping herself back onto her stomach. I've never heard of any salamander casually laying on its back.

Seems that I became optimistic a bit too soon. This morning she was on her back again, so I turned her around. She seemed fine then but I did notice that she wasn't quite as active as she had been yesterday. When I went to check on her a few minutes ago, she didn't respond at all, which was weird because she usually would look up at me. My first thought was that she had died... and sure enough once I picked her up there was no movement at all.

I was so sure she had finally began to acclimate as she was very active for the past two days so I don't quite know what to think...

It's a shame, I had gotten quite attached.

I'm really sorry to hear your loss. It seems you tried everything you could.