Ambystoma opacum help I am new !

[bluemerlyn78]

I recently purchased my first opacum at a show about 2 months ago. I know they are nocturnal and shy, but how are their eating habits? I failed to ask the breeder what they fed him (rookie mistake, I now ask!) so experimented with crickets, nightcrawlers, silkworms,wax worms and mealworms. The only food he kinda ate was the wax worms. Is this normal behavior, or a sign of illness?

He is about 2.5 from snout to tip
Housing is a plastic shoebox with moistened paper towels (did have dirt, but couldn't see if he was eating)

The normal temp range is 73 to 78f in my house, and I have tried the chiller method.

I tried tempting the food to him with tongs, but my Tiger is my fatboy out of my family so I am at a loss. Any thoughts?

 

[Melmo]

Woodlice are always a good choice for Opacum. Make sure you collect them from a place where no chemicals have been sprayed. I know the feeling, where you get a new animal and worry about everything, but you shouldn't. I keep my Opacum on a staple of woodlice. Waxworms are meant to be treats, like once a month, because these salamanders will get obese easy, for they don't actively roam a lot. Good luck!

 

[merk199]

I would also try and get the temp down. Those temps seem to high to me.

 

[Greatwtehunter]

Also you should try to put the food in the tank right before you turn the lights out and leave it over night. More than likely when you check on it in the morning the food will be gone.

 

[bluemerlyn78]

Thank you all for the helpful tips. I will give it a try ( and I am a typical new mom with him).The woodlice sound a bit tricky to locate but I will give it a shot since he doesn't seem to like anything else. Since it is still kind of warm down here, should I try popping him in the fridge or will that stress him out more?

Thanks so much, I really appreciate it!

 

[bluemerlyn78]

I found my answer to the cooling issue, this site totally rocks!

Again thank you all!

 

[SludgeMunkey]

Woodlice are actually really easy to find, except in winter. Merely place a board or piece of corrugated cardboard out in your yard and forget about it for a week or two. when you go out next take a jar with you and collect the woodlice that are all over it. Sadly, in the winter months this method does not work.

My A. opacum eat anything that moves, but only with the lights out. I am a "free feeder" that is, I turn the food loose in the enclosure and let nature take it's course. I keep a handfull of live worms of the appropriate size in the substrate too. I have not seen him eat them, but the worms go missing relatively fast.

This species is definitely not a display species. In the last six months I have only observed mine out of his burrow once, and have only witnessed him eating once! He is fat and plump though.

 

[Melmo]

I don't know, it's gotten below 32 F here in NJ, and I can still find woodlice. I have these decorative bricks in my backyard, and they tend to be under some of them. I actually think the cold helps, because now they're all in one place under one or two bricks.

 

[Greatwtehunter]

I've also noticed that the moister (if that's a word) the cover object is the more woodlice it will harbor.

 

[bluemerlyn78]

Good News !

After I added a vent to the top of Darth's shoebox, keep swapping out a ice pack every morning; and mist frequently with cold spring water; he has begun eating and looks fat and happy! It's tricky looking for woodlice down here, but I cut his wax worms down to 1 every few days and it seems to be working so far.He looks much healthier than a few weeks ago.

:happy: