Worms as staple diet for tiger sal

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Hi I'm new to the forum.. I recently acquired my first Ambystoma tigrinum and he's doing great. I've been keeping reptiles for over 10 years but this is my first amphibian. He really loves earthworms from outdoors (pesticide free), but come winter, I won't be able to dig them up from under 3-5 feet of snow. So I'm looking to get my own culture going, but I'm having trouble finding regular earthworms for sale. Can anybody please give me a list of the scientific names (common name may suffice) of worms that I can safely feed my Ambystoma tigrinum so I can find a local supplier? Nobody here seems to sell regular earthworms in eastern Canada. Thanks!
 
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Re: Worms as staple diet

Dendrobaena hortensis is a good choice. I culture them myself and although they do have some foul secretion, most animal get used to them pretty quickly. Eisenia foetida is excellent for indoor culturing but their secretions are stronger.
Lumbricus terrestris, the ideal feeding worm is not suitable for indoor culturing so don´t even try...really...
 
Sorry for the Temporary thread hijack but I think this might be interesting to all of us would be Worm Farmers.....

Azhael,

What is the difficulty with indoor culturing with Lumbricus terrestris?

According to all of the worm people I know (and that only includes people trying to SELL them to me) they are supposed to be "easy". I'm glad you warned me first... I might have gone that way had you not. :D
 
The thing about L.terrestris is that it´s a species that inhabits semi-permanent or permanent burrows rather than moving about like compost worms. This means that you require a far bigger space for them in order to accomodate enough animals. They also reproduce much slowlier than Dendrobaena or Eisenia, and are very sensitive to heat. Even the average room temperature may proof to be too much.

If you have the option of setting a large, outdoor culture, then L.terrestris is the best species since caudates absolutely love them (no foul secretions).
 
:O never!!!

Give the D.hortensis a try, they are commonly available and do well in indoor cultures. Takes a bit of patience to deal with the foul secretion, but after a while it is rarely a problem at all.
 
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