Fire salamander refuses food?!?!?!?!

D

daniel

Guest
i just bought a fire salamander from a pet shop, and its living in a 5 gallon tank. I put crickets in and they drowned. I rescuded a few and put them away in a terrarium. Everyday i have been feeding him. This is currently day 3 of him as a pet, and he only ate the first night. Now he refuses food. So 1 cricket for 3 days seemes bizzare plus i even grabbed live crikets and dangeled them infront of his nose and he backed away!!!?!?!?!?! what is going on here?
 
You could also try feeding it earth worms. How is the tank setup?
 
3 days is no problem. Salamanders often refuse to eat after they have moved. Just read the care sheets and have a bit of patience
 
You can find the fire salamander care sheet here: http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Salamandra/Salamandra_sp.shtml

Leaving crickets in with your salamander is not always a good idea. Hungry crickets chew on anything lying around and that sometimes includes salamanders.
You should try offering a variety of foods – earthworms (chopped up if large), waxworms and slugs are good options. Your salamander is probably stressed from the move and needs to settle in. Keep it cool, in a quiet place with suitable dark hides. Try not to stress it by dangling food in front of it’s face - if it’s backing away it’s because it’s scared.
 
that actually makes sence, well to my surprise, my mom
lame.gif
happened to go and buy a exo terra glow light, sphagnum moss, and wood tunnels today from the shop, so i think he will be happier now. He already nuzzled into the moss and is no where to be seen!
 
When you say the crickets drowned, does this mean you are keeping your salamandra in very wet conditions? If so, this is the problem. They will refuse food if you keep them too moist, and will likely die if you are keeping them in a partially aquatic environment. I do not provide my fire salamanders with any water dish, it is only needed for the deposition of fry.
 
the issue is that the spagnum has no substrate under it..im going to buy some coconut fibre underneath, and make the sphagun a much thinner layer so that the crikets are more visible.
 
When you spoke of the glo bulb is this a fluorescent tube bulb or a regular incandescent bulb? The incandescent bulb is going to put off considerable heat and be a problem with your salamander. They like cool temperatures and will become stressed in environments that are too warm, usually over 70F.

You should probably consider obtaining a larger terrarium for him at some point also as a 5 gallon is quite small.
 
its a tube...light and its a small salamander, maybe 5 inches..
 
i think he has been eating because the crikets dissapeared and i have a lid. I am going to test to see if he is being properly nourished by placing either small pinkies or mealworms in his feeder dish. If they dissapear then he had to have eaten them because they have limited mobility and cannot escape.
 
Be careful when feeding pinkies. They are calorically dense, meaning they have a lot of calories for their size compared to a similiarly sized meal. Approximately 4-6 crickets have the same amount of calories as a pinky mouse of the same size. Also, most mice are fed a diet high in vitamin A which can lead to a form of Metabolic Bone Disease if they are fed to often.

I wouldn't feed more than one pinky at a time and keep the frequency of feedings low. Remember that pinkies have a lot more calories and are therefore a bigger meal than crickets or other invertebrates.

Have you tried feeding earthworms? Most caudates relish them and will gladly take them when they are dangled in front of them with a forceps. They are also a pretty complete meal and make a great staple diet.
 
I still don't understand how the cricket drowned. These salamanders are terrestrial so there should be a small dish with water but that's all
 
i keep losing crikets, maybe they burrow in the coconut fibre? Well i found this ball with cricket legs and wings in it, is this a dropping because if so then my salamander is alright
 
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