Hellbender Food

This is just a general question for any keepers out there. Do you feed your hellbenders (or mudpuppies, whatever applies to you) crayfish? If you do, are they soft shelled, newly post molt, or are they hard shelled. It always seemed to me that it would be a hard task finding so many soft shelled crays. Alex.

Do you have a hellbender?
Chip

No, its just general interest. I hope that some day i'll have one, and when that day comes, i'll be adequately prepared. Alex.

I have not offered crayfish to mudpuppies more because of aquiring small ones consistantly than for anyother reason but when I worked with hellbenders years ago, I did keep crayfish in the tank with them.
The crayfish may need to be deparasitized before they are feed out to the hellbenders.

I would suggest that you do not pursue your plan to keep hellbenders. They are in serious trouble across the USA and most of the states that have them have either already enacted legislation to protect them or are in the process. For example last I checked benders were species of special concern in New York.
Many of the populations of hellbenders are made up of older age class adults indicating a lack of successful reproduction for the last 10-15 years. In these populations the removal of one or more adults maybe sufficient to render the population nonviable as it further decreases the chances of successful reproduction.

Ed

I was really just asking this question in general. I don't have any real plans for keeping one. If I was ever presented with a chance, I may, but this was just a passing question. Alex.