Size differential for keeping salamanders together

[Simland]

Hi,

I'm looking to get a second blue spotted salamander and two yellow spotted salamanders. I would like to get different sizes (especially for the yellow spotted ones). And I was wondering what would be the proper maximum size difference to avoid anything unfortunate.

I don't know how frequent cannibalism is at the adult stage, but yellow spotted salamanders definitely eat smaller salamanders.

...and, no, the two species will not be kept together

I'm not even sure I'll keep the two blue spotted salamanders together since I'd be afraid one would catch something from the other. (I'm hoping the yellow spotted ones will come from the same place.)

 

[schmiggle]

No personal experience, but I've read that salamanders have three rules regarding everything else:

If it's smaller than you, eat it.

If it's bigger than you, run away.

If it's about the same size as you, try to mate with it.

Lovely animals, but I think cannibalism would be a concern.

 

[Simland]

Haha, I like that summary.

The first 2 rules are never that simple, though, because size can make pray difficult even if they're smaller than you, so, usually predators won't bother with pray they know is too big for them to handle. I figure that should be particularly true for animals that don't chew.

That said, some animals are stupid about this. Like my leopard frog, who would sometimes try to eat my hand... but I blame that on tweezers feeding and a strong association along the lines of hand = food.

Although that doesn't really explain why she always looked at my full grown garter snake as if it were a proper sized snack.

All that said, I guess my question is what's a small enough size difference for the bigger one not to bother the smaller one too often....or just not scared it out of its mind just by its presence.

 

[Simland]

Would it be alright as long as the smaller one can't fit through the larger one's mouth?