Need help feeding my salamander

matt3civic

matt3civic

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I have a young cave salamander that is only about two inches long and I'm not sure how to go about feeding it. I put some ants and ant larvae in there, but I'm not sure if there is anything besides leaf hoppers and small flies I can catch for him that he doesn't have to hunt.

Thanks
 
Very few animals eat ants. From pet suppliers, you can get pinhead crickets and flightless fruit flies. Outdoors you may be able to find other kinds of bugs. Some that work are small earthworms, slugs, woodlice, etc. If you find worms that are too large, you can cut them and leave the wiggling pieces where the sal can find them.
 
I've been finding a lot of small insects, but I was hoping to come up with something he could eat from a dish. What about like tubifex or bloodworms if I just use a little? Never thought of cutting up the earthworms, though...just looked for small ones...fortunately, I've got a compost pile out back, so those aren't a problem.
 
You could possibly try frozen bloodworms, just put them in the dish with a little bit of water. If you try them will you let us know if it eats them or not? I haven't tried bloodworms with this species before and would like to know if they would actually eat them.
 
Greatwtehunter said:
You could possibly try frozen bloodworms, just put them in the dish with a little bit of water. If you try them will you let us know if it eats them or not? I haven't tried bloodworms with this species before and would like to know if they would actually eat them.
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Most terrestrial caudates need movement to trigger feeding. I would use live bloodworms on damp kitchen paper first, then once the animal is used to them, maybe try frozen ones. From my experience with terrestrial T. marmoratus, they only eat if the bloodworms are alive/moving, though.
 
aramcheck said:
Most terrestrial caudates need movement to trigger feeding. I would use live bloodworms on damp kitchen paper first, then once the animal is used to them, maybe try frozen ones. From my experience with terrestrial T. marmoratus, they only eat if the bloodworms are alive/moving, though.
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Most, but not all. I've had great success with Eurycea longicauda, Eurycea bislineata, and various Desmognathus sp. using this method.
 
I'll try the bloodworms. That's what I was thinking was that I could use a small dish and hopefully he would find it. I'll try it today and let you know if I notice anything. He's just SO small and I really want him to grow quickly. I guess patience is a virtue...I may just have to make the two hour drive and try to find an adult, but it's 100 degrees every day.
 
He's not eating the bloodworms, so I'm going to have to resort to small insects...
 
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