A. texanum feeding

[mechanic380]

I am trying to vary the diet for my salamander but am having problems with him accepting anything but crickets. I have repeatedly introduced earthworms and wax worms and tried meal worms. So far I think only one wax worm has been accepted and no earthworms or meal worms. I know this diet is not ideal although I am gut loading the crickets and dusting them every third feeding. I mainly use the small 1/4" crickets but he has eaten much larger ones. Any advice on getting him to accept other foods would be greatly appreciated. I am also interested in having a living terrarium with a couple established insect types that he can feed from if anyone has experience with that.

 

[Greatwtehunter]

You could try to establish some rollie pollies in it's tank, it would munch on those. They would also clean up a little bit of the waste in the tank. They may breed and establish a small population but it takes a really long time for them to do that.

I would try sitting a piece or two of worm outside of his hole/hide right before you turn the lights out and leave it there overnight. The important thing to remember is too let it get used to new foods on it's terms and not to press the issue.