Thoughts on supplement requirements for spotted salamander (A. maculatum)

[VernTheSally91]

Hey all,

I was curious what others use for supplements when feeding fossorial salamanders such as a spotted salamander. I currently feed mostly earthworms (fed a diet of fruits and veggies), as well as gut-loaded crickets (fed with Repashy Bug Burger) that are occasionally dusted with Repashy Calcium Plus (approximately once a week).

Are other supplements needed/suggested (Vit A, carotenoids, etc.)? Also, how often do people dust their crickets with calcium supplements especially if they are already gut-loaded with something like Repashy Bug Burger (which has calcium and Vit D)? Do people dust their earthworms? I know fossorial salamanders generally have low Vit D requirements and in can be harmful in large concentrations, so I am hesitant to over do it. I should also note that the salamander terrarium does not have a UVB light and very little exposure to direct natural light. The terrarium has a full-spectrum LED light to support plant life.

Thanks in advance!

 

[salamanderkeeper]

So Bug burger is for maintaining insects but not really fully gut loading them. Repashy makes a separate product for that called superload. What I do is I feed my crickets the same vegetables recommended for tortoises and iguanas and I also use the bug burger whch wll further add nutritional value. I think dust them with repashy calcium plus. The calcium plus will be groomed off though so the best situation is to tong feed the crickets or put them in at a time when they will be quickly consumed. The nightcrawlers should contain sufficient nutrition to not need dusting. You can also purchase superload and feed the crickets that 24-72 hours before feeding them off but I think the calcium levels in it are probably too high for rearing crickets on it, it's only meant for short term use right before feeding. The repashy calcium plus should be kept in a cool, dry place and replaced every 6 months.

 

[VernTheSally91]

So Bug burger is for maintaining insects but not really fully gut loading them. Repashy makes a separate product for that called superload. What I do is I feed my crickets the same vegetables recommended for tortoises and iguanas and I also use the bug burger whch wll further add nutritional value. I think dust them with repashy calcium plus. The calcium plus will be groomed off though so the best situation is to tong feed the crickets or put them in at a time when they will be quickly consumed. The nightcrawlers should contain sufficient nutrition to not need dusting. You can also purchase superload and feed the crickets that 24-72 hours before feeding them off but I think the calcium levels in it are probably too high for rearing crickets on it, it's only meant for short term use right before feeding. The repashy calcium plus should be kept in a cool, dry place and replaced every 6 months.

I appreciate the reply! Good to know about Bug Burger. I was under the impression it had enough nutrients to fully gut load. I’ll add some veggies to their diet in addition to the burger. Might look into the Superload as well. Yep, I keep the Repashy Plus in the fridge and tong feed both worms and crickets to the salamander.

Would you recommending dusting with Repashy Plus every time I feed crickets to the salamander? Currently dusting once a week and maybe feed crickets twice a week (~five 1/4’ crickets). I mostly just feed the salamander small earthworms (~2’). The salamander is a juvenile (6-7 months since it metamorphosed).

Thanks again for the reply!

 

[salamanderkeeper]

Calcium plus should be used at each feeding. When he created the product, he tested the amount that sticks to feeders insects on average and then adjusted the vitamin levels based off of that, so it should be able to be used at every feeding without issue. Additionally, it does not contain additional phosphorous like some other products, so it will do a good job of correcting the Ca/p inbalance that once plagued herp husbandry. I've raised bumbleet oads, arboreal salamanders, xenosaurus and Gerrhonotus for tiny babies using calcium plus dusted feeders (for the lizards I do also use UVB lights but none for the amphibians) without any issues. For the toads, I dust once a month with his vitamin A product but I doubt it is needed. Granted I also successfully raised many other lizard and salamander species using other supplements before I switched to Repashy but after reading up on all the different supplements and talking to a lot of people, I am convinced it is the best. Chameleon keepers seem to have their own methods and I am not familiar with that, but for amphibians I am convinced it is the best product we have.

 

[dorm.room.biology]

Hey all,

I was curious what others use for supplements when feeding fossorial salamanders such as a spotted salamander. I currently feed mostly earthworms (fed a diet of fruits and veggies), as well as gut-loaded crickets (fed with Repashy Bug Burger) that are occasionally dusted with Repashy Calcium Plus (approximately once a week).

Are other supplements needed/suggested (Vit A, carotenoids, etc.)? Also, how often do people dust their crickets with calcium supplements especially if they are already gut-loaded with something like Repashy Bug Burger (which has calcium and Vit D)? Do people dust their earthworms? I know fossorial salamanders generally have low Vit D requirements and in can be harmful in large concentrations, so I am hesitant to over do it. I should also note that the salamander terrarium does not have a UVB light and very little exposure to direct natural light. The terrarium has a full-spectrum LED light to support plant life.

Thanks in advance!

Amphibians in general have a high capacity for correcting for chemical imbalance, more so than reptiles. In particular, the massive, bizarre genomes of Ambystoma encode a large variety of CYP450s and other enzymes that can break down waste products in more ways than other organisms can. It will be more of an issue if they don't receive a nutrient than if they get too much of it.

To my knowledge, fossorial salamanders synthesize little to none of their nutrients from the sun, so the light it receives won't be very important. While the 7-dehydrocholesterol pathway is theoretically viable in amphibians, it is generally not used much. In the wild, soil-dwelling amphibians are exposed to fungi which synthesize plenty of vitamin D using a different pathway, so it's not a scarce resource for them in the event that they might end up needing it in an emergency. Whether you supplement it or not probably won't make much difference in the health of the animal.

For what it's worth, I noticed a large burst in the growth of my T. torosa eft when I started dusting feeder earthworms with calcium. Spotted salamanders are obviously very different animals, but I doubt they have massively different bone synthesis pathways than newts. Typically, amphibians likely get most of their micronutrients from dissolved minerals in water and soil; given that most captive-raised amphibians have a much less materially diverse environment than wild ones, I don't think supplementation of any particular vitamin is a bad idea. You're unlikely to seriously harm it with a conservative amount of most benign small nutrients, as long as you provide ample water for the amphibian to use for urine should it really need to excrete anything.