Northwestern Salamander wont eat.

I have had a mature female Northwestern salamander, who is about 5", for the better part of a week and she just wont eat.



I have recreated her natural environment and have tried several different types of food (small feeder fish, small crickets, red wiggler worms) and have her on a regular night day schedule.

At this point i am concerned, how long can salamanders go without eating?

Any ideas?

They can go for weeks without eating, but this is obviously not good for them. It's important to get her eating as soon as possible. How did you offer the foods? I assume that the crickets were live, but was she able to access the worms before they crawled under the substrate? Were the fish in water or dead just sitting there on a dish?

I would recommend getting some Canadian nightcrawlers, and leaving some pieces in a dish (or just directly on the substrate) under her favorite hide, preferably late in the evening. Next morning check to see if any pieces are missing.

Also, what is the setup like? A stressed animal will often refuse to eat. It often takes a few days for them to settle into a new setup before they are ready to start eating.

My experience with A. gracile is that they won't eat immediately when put into a new environment. (These are shy animals so provide plenty of hiding places.) I would start them on waxworms and small to medium sized earthworms. Using a long tweezer hold the "prey" items slightly in front of and above their heads. The squirming food usually does the trick. For some reason, holding the food above their heads instead of directly in front of, or below, works the best (in my experience anyway). You can always put a few crickets in the tank but don't put to many in at once - crickets are nasty little creatures and will start chewing on your sals. I don't even feed crickets until I know that they will be consumed. Follow Jennewt's advice also. Once the newt(s) get used to their environment and experience you as the "all great food provider" they will get quite animated and even beg for food. Good luck and have fun:happy:

Thanks for the info! as far as food, the pet store warned me away from meal/wax worms because "they have a hard exterior and can be hard to eat"

the feeder fish have been alive and have access to the shallow water up until today so we'll see if she likes 'em a little bit better when they dont wiggle so much.

hopefully she is still getting accustom to her new home.

Symber,

The waxworms are soft, chewy, and fatty, and are one of the sals favorite treats. I do not feed them with every meal but give them as treats about once a week. They are a good source of fat for undernourished sals so start sparingly, but they are usually accepted and will help "start-up" an appetite. There are differences of opinions regarding the feeding of meal worms. Some folks go so far as to remove the heads (because of the pincers). But I don't think there is much harm as long as they are not fed as staple fair. Sals do eat hard bodies animals in the wild so I think it doesn't hurt to feed as an occasional treat - only if you are comfortable! Your little guy looks pretty good though. I think that he/she has been snacking

symber said:

I have had a mature female Northwestern salamander, who is about 5", for the better part of a week and she just wont eat.

I have recreated her natural environment and have tried several different types of food (small feeder fish, small crickets, red wiggler worms) and have her on a regular night day schedule.

At this point i am concerned, how long can salamanders go without eating?

Any ideas?

Click to expand...

She is finally eating! Turns out she likes squiggly mealworms! I am so relieved that she is finally eating, and how quick she can be *phew* Thank you all for your advice:happy: