clover
New member
I'm curious about food webs for captive salamanders, both terrestrial and aquatic, and whether anyone has much experience with setting up a full food web for them. It seems more fulfilling and stimulating for them to hunt a portion of their food and to be human fed as only a part of their diet.
For terrestrial salamanders/newts the only things I'm really aware of are springtails (which would only be a good food source for the smallest animals anyways) as well as ispods and maybe roaches. I have concerns about roach populations getting out of control. Am I missing any terrarium additions that wouldn't make the soil foul like worms might?
How about aquatic? I know there are a limited number of different animals you can keep with aquatic newts or salamanders for safety and temperature reasons but it seems like black worms, ramshorn and MTS, shrimp, and aquatic ispods might all be good additions that could provide safe and stimulating prey. Would you add daphnia or scuds to an aquarium without larva in it? Would scud populations get out of control if newts/salamanders are the only predators? Anything else?
For terrestrial salamanders/newts the only things I'm really aware of are springtails (which would only be a good food source for the smallest animals anyways) as well as ispods and maybe roaches. I have concerns about roach populations getting out of control. Am I missing any terrarium additions that wouldn't make the soil foul like worms might?
How about aquatic? I know there are a limited number of different animals you can keep with aquatic newts or salamanders for safety and temperature reasons but it seems like black worms, ramshorn and MTS, shrimp, and aquatic ispods might all be good additions that could provide safe and stimulating prey. Would you add daphnia or scuds to an aquarium without larva in it? Would scud populations get out of control if newts/salamanders are the only predators? Anything else?
But wanted to add things that were safe and stimulating so they could still hunt and engage in some natural behaviors. Just not 100% human feeding, like if they saw a yummy looking isopod crawling around then it might be a good time for a snack vs being in a pristine tank where they don't get to engage in that type of behavior.