Question: Am I feeding worms wrong/dangerously?

[OrangeM]

I have some Juvies that I fed worms to for the first time last night, they were hatched May 2018 thinks the breeder (she had more than one clutch at the time) and I think an average size for their age - a few inches. I dont know if this is relevant at all but I have them tubbed for the moment due to tank issues.


I rinsed and put a whole worm in to see if they showed any interest before comitting to cutting one up figuring whoever got it would spit it out when they realised it was too large... nope wiggled about for about a few minutes while I went to see if I could find a sharp enough knife to cut one up, wouldnt be able to give an exact time but I estimate around or less than 10minutes then the whole thing was gone! I looked on the floor and things expecting an escaped worm and saw nothing, skeptical and curious I tried giving one to Mud my wild type as s/he's the largest of the 3 having been from a different clutch and hatching a little earlier I think (also the most greedy) a few minutes of wiggling and s/he's scoffed the whole worm in one too! I gave another to the remaining 'lotl but cut it with scissors near the point s/he had managed to mouth it up to when it dawned on me that everyone says about cutting them up for juvies and this might have not been the smartest move.. but the problem I found was that the severed end not in the mouth was a lot more 'violent' than the whole worm and no one was able to eat it taking it and spitting it out multiple times when it was thrashing - eventually it turned an unappetising colour and I took it out and re-tubbed the 'lotls.


Is feeding them a whole worm like this okay because they were able to take it with no apparent issues and no spit-outs or is it a big risk that could cause issues?

[Otterwoman]

You would be surprised what they can eat. Salamanders are "gape" feeders.

[OrangeM]

Originally Posted by Otterwoman

You would be surprised what they can eat. Salamanders are "gape" feeders.

So its normal and they should be fine??

[tundrabadger]

It is normal, if at any point you give them a worm that they can't manage they will drop it and, if they are anything like mine, look offended. If you have a worm that's really big you might still want to cut it up, but smaller worms if they can handle them they should be fine.