Hope i did the right thing??? with pics

Ok, so I went fishing today (didn't catch much), and I saw a guy fishing down aways from me, so I walked over to him to see if he was having better luck then I was having, and he said "No". He then said he was going to put his special bait on, so I asked him what that was, and he said "I'll show you". So he opens up a bucket that I figured it would have some worms, shiners, crayfish or something like that, but to my surprise it was 7 redback sals. I was not too happy about this, because I am now into keeping sals and newts, so I asked the guy why he was using them, and he said "because they work".

I then asked the guy if I gave him my shiners if he would let them go, he said no. I then offered to buy them off him, so he said "Okay, $2 each". I gave him the $14 and was going to let them go, but when I picked them up to let them go, I noticed that they were skinny, and very very very dry. I asked the guy how long he had them, he said 3 days .

While in the bucket, the sals have had no moisture, so instead of letting them go, I brought them home and put them in a 10 gallon fish tank with damp moss, a nice piece of slate, a small log that I found in the woods, and some very very small worms which I also found in the woods.

I haven't seen them eat, but I'm hoping they do soon. I'm going to order some springtails and I am going to the pet store tomorrow to get some pin head crickets.

I'm hoping to let them go in a couple of weeks, but I hope I'm not breaking the law by having them in the first place. I live in MA, so i looked on masswildlife.org to see if it was okay to have them, but it didn't say one way or the other.

Can some one help? And, did I do the right thing by buying them, and trying to save them, or should I have just let them go as soon as i got them out of the bucket?

Here are some pictures of the tank i mad for them please make suggestion on how to make them feel more at home. Sorry for the bad pictures my camera sucks.

They don't look to skinny to me. Redbacks aren't the chubbiest animals to begin with.

I would have done the same thing. I have them in my backyard and I kept a few alive in the house one winter with springtails. I think mine also eat the small black slugs that are also common back there.

When i took the picture they had eatin some crickets and i think the water help because as soon as i put them in there they plumped up.

oregon newt said:

They don't look to skinny to me. Redbacks aren't the chubbiest animals to begin with.

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I just hope i didnt break any laws. But even if i did im ok with that because i feel i did the right thing. Ill have to order some springtails because ive been feeding them pinheads but would like to give them a variety of food. But i really dont want to touch a slug:lol:

otterwoman said:

I would have done the same thing. I have them in my backyard and I kept a few alive in the house one winter with springtails. I think mine also eat the small black slugs that are also common back there.

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Tell me where that guy lives and I'll put him on a hook and see if the fish like that .

John said:

Tell me where that guy lives and I'll put him on a hook and see if the fish like that .

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Can I be the first to cast him out?:blob:

You absolutely did the right thing - right on! People are just plain ignorant! Way to go for standing your ground and not turning away...I'm w/ John and Justin - cast the creep out!

Dana

I once was at a park where a young girl was collecting Notos to sell as bait...I made her look at their little faces and told her how some people keep them as pets. It was a bit of a lecture, I hope I made an impression.