Smallmouth/Tiger Salamander Diet Help

[iturnrocks]

I caught a larval salamander earlier this year in Chase county Kansas. Tigers have previously been found there, but not smallmouths. It recently metamorphosed to adult, but is still quite small like a smallmouth, but it looks different from the smallmouths Ive had change previously. So Im not really sure what it is, but Im sure the diet would be pretty much the same.

I have never housed an adult salamander, so I need all the basic info- what should I be feeding it, and what should my tank setup be like.

I generally catch larvae and either release them when they change or send them to the university collection. Since Im not positive on the ID of this one, I am hanging on to him to give him some growing time to see if the colors come in more clearly. I think he may have changed early since I had him in a small (2 gallon) aquarium. He is only about 2 inches long.

Ive never had a tiger before, but this one looks quite different from the smallmouths Ive had. The other smallmouths dont have the gold flecks or yellowish spots.

Here is a larval pic.

and here he is just before I moved him to a land habitat

 

[Nathan050793]

My guess would be that it is a small-mouth salamander (Ambystoma texanum).

Regardless of what species of Ambystoma it is though, the care requirements should be similar. As it is a tiny new morph, it may not need to eat for a day or two. Some good foods would be wingless fruit flies (D.melanogaster is probably best), small chopped earthworm, or pinhead crickets.

Substrate can be a mixture of organic topsoil and cocofiber, or you could keep it on a substrate of moist paper towels (someone else will have to fill you in there; I've never done that). Other care requirements should be similar to that of most ambystomatids. Look here for more info- http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Ambystomatidae.shtml

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

 

[iturnrocks]

I got some flightless fruit flies at the pet store today. They are D. hydei, thats all they had. I have a question. How do you add flies to the salamanders container. As soon as I took out the foam top, they started crawling all over the place- up my hand, across my desk. I guess the spiders in my house will have an easy meal. I only lost about 5, but I was wondering if there is some method that works best. Also, is there any type of surface that they cant climb on? Is there any barrier you can put on the wall of the tank to keep them from crossing it? I was thinking some double sided tape or something, but they would probably just get stuck to it.

Thank you

 

[Nathan050793]

I would open the container over the tank next time, hopefully that will prevent any from escaping, even if they crawl out onto your hand or on the box. Can the flies climb up glass? I was under the impression that once inside the tank they maneuvered themselves around on the ground. Does your tank have a lid? If it doesn't it probably should because even new morphs will climb glass. If it does have a lid, you don't have to worry about the fruit-flies escaping the tank. And yes, duct tape/double sided tape will work well, but you are right in that the flies will get stuck to it.