Worms for Tiger salamanders

What is the best type of worm to feed my tiger salamander? At the local pet store, they have mealworms, superworms, earthworms, waxworms, and frozen bloodworms. I've been feeding him superworms, but I'm told those aren't good for them. So, any advice?

Hi amnorvend, I've been asking the same questions. My Tiger won't eat mealworms or earthworms. I've been told earthworms are healthful and waxworms are good, but fattening if eaten as the main food. Tigers like live food, so I don't think anything frozen would work.That's about all I've learned, maybe not too helpful. How long have you had your Tiger and what else have you been feeding it other than the superworms?

sammy4tbts said:

Hi amnorvend, I've been asking the same questions. My Tiger won't eat mealworms or earthworms. I've been told earthworms are healthful and waxworms are good, but fattening if eaten as the main food. Tigers like live food, so I don't think anything frozen would work.That's about all I've learned, maybe not too helpful. How long have you had your Tiger and what else have you been feeding it other than the superworms?

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Really the only thing he's been getting fed are superworms and crickets. Crickets seem to be a little more difficult to get ahold of here for some reason (I don't know why; West Texas is crawling with them). I just got some earthworms and I'll see how he likes them.

I've had him for a couple of months. He's not quite fully grown but he's ~8 in head to tail.

He probably does need some variety for nutrition's sake. You're lucky to have a pet store with all those items available, though wonder why crickets are hard to get. I'm in Northern NM and more than an hour away from any kind of pet stores. Have to order my crickets from Louisiana. Good deal though and they ship next day air. I get all my supplies from the same company. Feeder crickets are softer than the black outside crickets and don't have the spurs on their back legs. Sounds like your tiger is doing ok, nice size. Did you buy it? There's a link somewhere on this site listing all the foods and their nutritional value. Have you seen it? I don't remember what it said about superworms. Wonder why they are super.

sammy4tbts said:

He probably does need some variety for nutrition's sake. You're lucky to have a pet store with all those items available, though wonder why crickets are hard to get. I'm in Northern NM and more than an hour away from any kind of pet stores. Have to order my crickets from Louisiana. Good deal though and they ship next day air. I get all my supplies from the same company. Feeder crickets are softer than the black outside crickets and don't have the spurs on their back legs. Sounds like your tiger is doing ok, nice size. Did you buy it? There's a link somewhere on this site listing all the foods and their nutritional value. Have you seen it? I don't remember what it said about superworms. Wonder why they are super.

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No, we found the tiger. And yeah, I saw the link Superworms aren't listed. I think they're really just larger mealworms.

I found mine, too. It was very small, in the street and barely moving. That was four years ago in CO. I'm sure someone on this site has information about the superworms. Can't get anything here except bait worms, but he won't eat anything other than crickets.

My tigers aren't picky when it comes to food- and especially love their earthworms. I culture red wrigglers for this purpose, and will also buy nightcrawlers for cutting into pieces. The 'Superworms' that you mention are a different species from the normal mealworm. They are Zoophobas, less chitinous than normal mealworms. I would definitely try and introduce more variety and tong-feed if possible.

I have an Ambystoma Gracile that is a very picky eater, but she loves wax worms. I tong feed her, but she won't eat everyday.

I had the same problem as you getting her to eat for the first little while I had her, and I would definitely recomend tong feeding. You have to be prepared with a lot of patience for this though - Sometimes my little girl will sit and watch the poor thing wriggling around for half an hour before she eats it...

I'm going to try and introduce earth worms soon, right now I'm more focused on getting some calories into her after so long with her eating nothing.

I would definitely recomend wax worms, even if just to add variety. They seem to be the most widely accepted food among caudates that I've heard of so far (at least on this site). They're high in fat though, so you don't want them as your main food source.

Good luck with whatever you end up trying!

The best worms are as follow:

1. nightcrawlers or garden worms . If they are to big you might have to cut the
crawlers in half. Feed the back half of the worm first. The front half will live on
and not die and foul your container. You might also have to use twizzers to
hold them to the sides of there mouths to get them to eat them. Some Tigers
have trouble eating them for some reason.

2. Superworms. These are not normal mealworms. Superworms have black
rings and CANNOT be kept in the refrigerator where they will die from the cold
A once a week feeding is OK. Their hard shells can cause some digestion
issues. I feed mine the white molting worms mostly. It is Ok at this time to feed
you tiger salamander an entire meal of 3-4 worms. The superworms are soft
while they are white and will not cause any digestive issues or intestinal blockages.
When they are hard and showing their black bands only feed one or two worms.
I encourage my worms to molt by keeping them in garden soil. I place a 1 inch
think slice of squash, skin side up flesh side down to the soil and worms. They
eat it and the added moisture keeps them molting. I find 1-4 worms molting every
other day. I buy 100 at a time.

3. Would be wax worms. They are high in fat and should be fed as a treat once or
twice a month. I also like to feed them to newly aquired animals that are undersized
Just to help them put weight on when I first get them.

4. Would be regular mealworms. Their hard shells make them hard to digest
I only feed these if I can't find anything else. I'd rather go into the yard and look
for pill bugs or black field crickets than feed my animals regular mealworms.

I hope this list helps you guys

My tiger salamander will eat everything and anything if fed to him. But in order to keep him from getting obese ( which it is easy to do with tigers because of there appetite) I only feed my tiger earthworms cut into quarters and crickets. When I feed him earthworms I have to use tweezers to feed him. He will only drag and mouth it if it's laying on the surface. I have heard of people feeding pinky's to tigers but also strongly suggest not to. Pinky's are very fattening.:talker: