How to put weight on my Tiger?

[stankqueen]

Hello,

My boy has been recently sick and has lost around 4 grams (from 52g down to 48g), and according to the vet he was an 'okay but not great' weight to begin with. He is doing much better and has a ravenous appetite. My first priority is getting him to a healthy weight, however it is hard to find information on putting weight on a salamander.
I have been offering him gut-loaded meal worms, wax worms, and canned earth worms, which he all loves and has been eating up.
Is it okay to feed him more, and more often? or could that cause problems on it's own? should I just feed him as usual and the weight will come back?

This is funny to me as I have spent my life around horses and I know all the answers to that for them, but salamanders? I am lost.

 

[amphibianfiend]

Hello,

My boy has been recently sick and has lost around 4 grams (from 52g down to 48g), and according to the vet he was an 'okay but not great' weight to begin with. He is doing much better and has a ravenous appetite. My first priority is getting him to a healthy weight, however it is hard to find information on putting weight on a salamander.
I have been offering him gut-loaded meal worms, wax worms, and canned earth worms, which he all loves and has been eating up.
Is it okay to feed him more, and more often? or could that cause problems on it's own? should I just feed him as usual and the weight will come back?

This is funny to me as I have spent my life around horses and I know all the answers to that for them, but salamanders? I am lost.

Great to hear he has a ravenous appetite, that’s a good sign that the salamander is happy. Tiger salamanders are hardy (for amphibians) and should try to eat everything. I would hesitate using mealworms consistently because their exoskeleton can be particularly tough, and hard to digest. I have heard that if you crush the mealworms head right before you feed them it can help with digestion. I would use gutloaded crickets over mealworms. I have noticed mine fatten up well with salamander soft pellets. I put some in a little container within the tank to reduce substrate being eaten with it.
Although, I do think that since he is not skinny and that he is hungry I wouldn’t try to make him bigger quickly. It should come with time. Food like waxworms can actually be unhealthy over time (if used as a main food source) because they are so fatty. It can be very difficult quantifying what is “best” because it’s always variable.
So, I don’t have a strict regiment for feeding mine. When one of my tigers come out of the substrate I feed them until they settle down and then they will go back in there hole. If they are still very active after some time from when I had fed them, I’ll feed them some more.