The Best Live Foods for Salamanders: Ensuring Dietary Variety

Hi, Frank Indiviglio here. I’m a herpetologist, zoologist, and book author, recently retired from a career of over 20 years with the Bronx Zoo.[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Although many salamanders will eagerly gobble-up crickets and mealworms, a diet restricted to these food items usually leads to nutritional disorders and reduced life-spans. This holds true even if supplements are used. A varied diet is essential if you are to have success in keeping salamanders long-term (my 32 year-old Red Salamander, 25 year-old Fire Salamanders and numerous others can attest to this!). Following are some useful tips for those seeking to vary the diets of their terrestrial salamanders. While most newts and aquatic species (Axolotls, Amphiumas) accept dry foods, they too will benefit from invertebrate meals. Please post below for detailed information on individual salamander species. As there is an endless supply of useful live foods for pet salamanders, please also post your ideas and observations. Read the rest of this article here http://bit.ly/1bTxWRb
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Greetings Frank! I just moved and will be having a garden, so I was contemplating on making a compost bin with Eisenia foetida together perhaps Blatta lateralis and some crickets or maybe curl flies to give my salamanders a varied diet. Actually I've experience that Collembola live together nicely with worms in one bucket, but would crickets or roaches eat my worms? Could the presence of E. foetida, and the healthy bacteria they bring, counteract the tendency for disease which the other three tend to bring?