Fire Salamander Cannibalism

[John]

As you may or may not know, I've kept fire salamanders on and off since 2001. A few days ago I put 2 nice metamorph Salamandra s. gallaica "Serra de Arrábida" into a growing tub with 2 gallaica "Coimbra" from late last year. There wasn't a huge size difference. At the time I thought one of the Coimbra was eyeing one the metamorphs strangely. Well now, 3 days later at feeding time, I found 2 very plump Coimbra and zero Serra de Arrábida. Whoops. I had never observed this behaviour before. Lesson learned...
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[Chinadog]

Oh dear, I feel your pain! That's a sad loss at the best of times, but even worse now there's no more imports from foreign breeders.

 

[Tony89]

Same thing ALMOST happened to me! I decided to mix together some 3-4 week old morphs from Coimbra and Sintra until I prepare their rearing tubs and the loam dries appropriately. The Coimbra babies instantly showed a lot of interest to the others from Sintra and started hunting them or trying to attack etc. Just like their parents they're really aggressive feeders

 

[John]

Yes it was quite disturbing!
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[Tony89]

Yes it was quite disturbing!
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I can imagine!
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