AW: Feeding Juvenile S.s.terrestris
Hi Keiron,
you can also feed some small isopods, either small woodlice from your garden or from the forrests or those white tropical dwarf woodlice that are sold by some petshops and internet shops.
My salamanders prefer earthworms and slugs, but they eat woodlice, too, and woodlice contain a good amount of calcium. So they are a good addition to earthworms.
And woodlice that are not eaten may stay in the terrarium because they help to keep it clean a bit.
You asked if you can feed the white slugs from your garden. They are discussed controversial as slugs sometimes feed on carrion and excrements and may contain parasites and other disease-causing agents.
But slugs belong to the natural and preferred food of fire salamanders and I think it depends on the location where the slugs live. I regularly feed small white slugs from my garden to my salamanders (when I started keeping salamanders, nobody had internet and nobody thought about parasites in slugs) and they never caused any harm to my salamanders. They love the white slugs even more than earthworms and the slugs - if not infested by parasites - are a healthy food and many species of slugs contain a good amount of calcium because of the remains of their internal shells.
I'd say, as most European white slugs (white or grey garden slugs) mainly eat plant material, they are usually harmless, but with a certain residual risk. And of course you should not collect them near fields where pestizides are used or if your neighbours use slug pellets or other pestizides.
I would avoid the big red "Spanish slug". It is said that they more often feed on carrion and excrements and are much more likely to contain parasites. And they seem to taste awful, too.
If you think the risk of feeding collected slugs is too high, you can collect the eggs of slugs. Put the eggs together with a little damp moss into a container with a tight lid and put it at a cool dark place until the slugs hatch. Check regularly if the moss is still damp (not wet!) enough and if the slugs already hatched. When the tiny slugs hatch you can either feed them immediately to small salamanders or newts or you can put them into a bigger container with some damp moss, some pieces of bark and some food until they are grown and big enough.
Those slugs that hatched in the container are a safe and healthy food for salamanders.
Good luck with your little salamanders!
Peter