Hello everyone..we are new here!

Hello. Wanted to take a minute to introduce myself. I am Michele. I am home schooling my 8 years old son. My son has found 2 red eft's this week and this has introduced us to the world of salamanders. I have never kept any kind of reptile before so this is all new to me. We are a bit worried. I have bought freeze dried crickets, some blood worms and brine shrimp and have them sitting in a bowl. Neither of the salamanders seem interested in food. Could this be because they are still upset about being put in the aquarium? Will they eat when hungry? Advice is welcome. Thank you.

Hi! Welcome to the site. You will find that this is a great forum to belong to. There is boundless amounts of information that can be found or obtained from here.

First things first, could you please describe the set up of your tank you are housing your animals in currently. Size and brief description. A minimum size tank you should have is 10 gallon. Next thing is to go to the link posted on the top tab of this site there is a drop down menu and there you will find a link to caudata culture. This is a site were you can find information about specific newts and salamanders. Find yours so not only can you get the scientific name (which well help us, help you in the future); you can also find information about your animals specific care needs.

As for general advice to get you started, make sure your habitat has lots of hiding spaces and to try and encourage eating, try feeding live food; such as earthworms ( the best food to give), or waxworms ( I have had good luck feeding these to animals that refuse to eat when I first get them. Do not keep feeding these on a regular basis, they are very fatty).

Good luck!

loganmum2772 said:

Hello. Wanted to take a minute to introduce myself. I am Michele. I am home schooling my 8 years old son. My son has found 2 red eft's this week and this has introduced us to the world of salamanders. I have never kept any kind of reptile before so this is all new to me. We are a bit worried. I have bought freeze dried crickets, some blood worms and brine shrimp and have them sitting in a bowl. Neither of the salamanders seem interested in food. Could this be because they are still upset about being put in the aquarium? Will they eat when hungry? Advice is welcome. Thank you.

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Is it an aquarium filled with water? Are they truly red efts? the small small juveniles eastern newts? If so, they are terrestrial and do not want to be put in water...
Also, keep em cool, below 70 is better, coconut substrate with forest moss and some hiding places like bark would be fine! Do you have a picture?

The tank is too small for now. With the hurricane coming we didn't have time to find a 10 gallon tank. They are juveniles and I only have a little bit of water in a bowl for them with some rocks. They have places in the moss and grass to burrow. I think they have been eating in the night. The shrimp in the water is less and some in the feeding bowl is missing. They are being kept at room temp around 70 right now. Next week I will be getting a 10 gallon tank and we will pick them up hiding place and make the enclosure more suited for them. I will have to order wax worms online, they don't have them any where around here. These tiny red efts can eat a big earth worm? Do I put the worms in live and let them hunt it down?

Here is a picture of the little guys:

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loganmum2772 said:

The tank is too small for now. With the hurricane coming we didn't have time to find a 10 gallon tank. They are juveniles and I only have a little bit of water in a bowl for them with some rocks. They have places in the moss and grass to burrow. I think they have been eating in the night. The shrimp in the water is less and some in the feeding bowl is missing. They are being kept at room temp around 70 right now. Next week I will be getting a 10 gallon tank and we will pick them up hiding place and make the enclosure more suited for them. I will have to order wax worms online, they don't have them any where around here. These tiny red efts can eat a big earth worm? Do I put the worms in live and let them hunt it down?

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See if you can find (dig) some small earthworms and cut them about a length equivalent to the one between the efts eyes... that's quite small and present them in front of their mouth with twizzers. It usually works. Red efts will not try to eat something they can't swallow... Also, keep misting the tank every day so it remains humid always.... do not let dry! Hope this helps. you could also try blackworms, they are aquatic worms and should be kept in a fridge in clean water, but if you offer them 1 or 2 at a time, efts usually eat them, I had success with those.

FRANCOIS said:

See if you can find (dig) some small earthworms and cut them about a length equivalent to the one between the efts eyes... that's quite small and present them in front of their mouth with twizzers. It usually works. Red efts will not try to eat something they can't swallow... Also, keep misting the tank every day so it remains humid always.... do not let dry! Hope this helps. you could also try blackworms, they are aquatic worms and should be kept in a fridge in clean water, but if you offer them 1 or 2 at a time, efts usually eat them, I had success with those.

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Thank you ...I will try that. I think they have been eating at night. I have been keeping the tank moist. Today they were a bit more active. We will go hunting for worms tomorrow.