Help! How much should I feed my spotted salamander?

[aiden]

We just got a spotted salamander (found it crawling around in our basement) and want to make sure we don't starve it or stuff it.

We have been digging earthworms from our back yard and putting them into the tank at night, but we never see the salamander eat. The worms are either getting eaten or digging themselves into the soil in the tank. Since the salamander only comes out at night and is very shy we never see it eating. When we feed it crickets, the crickets were gone in the morning, but we would rather feed the worms.

So, we have two questions:

1. How many/much earthworms should we feed a 3.5-4 inch long spotted salamander based on an every-other-day feeding frequency?

2. How do we determine whether the worms are getting eaten or if we are unintendingly starting a worm farm?

Thank you for any replies.

 

[joan]

Spotteds by nature are pretty shy. They are nocturnal, and are burrowers.

I would try to feed it maybe an inch of worm every other day. Try using a paper clip, straighten it out into an L shape. Skewer the worm on the short end of the L, and hold the long end and dangle the worm in front of the sal. This keeps the sal from being freaked out by a giant hand coming at him, and allows you to tell whether or not he's eating.

If you can't get him to eat within a few days, I suggest liberating him, so he has time to get ready for winter.