My male long toe has become excesively shy, has a hard time deciding to eat.

[noneofmany]

A few months ago I posted about my A. Macrodactylum juvies learning to eat on land.

I can say that both of them have done extremely well for the last five months and are both growing.

However, about a month ago the male began slowly losing his apatite and eventually began refusing to eat from tongs.

I was worried he may have stopped eating altogether until one day while I was cleaning his cage and had just corralled him into the corner; he grabbed a cricket and gulped it down.

I was surprised he would eat in all the commotion of the cleaning and being chased by my fingers but he did.

Considering how little stress seems to affect their apatite I can't really think of any good reason why he seems so reluctant to eat in the dark quiet hours of the night. He clearly has more interest in swiftly moving crickets than tong fed food but when he first morphed he was the opposite.

The other problem is he doesn't ever seem to eat anything other than crickets. When I first offered phoenix worms to him he ate them with some enthusiasm, but now he seems almost repulsed by them.

The smaller female on the other hand still feeds greedily on anything I offer from tongs but she also will quickly catch lose crickets and wood lice nymphs even after having a huge meal.


I’m starting to wonder if he’s not eating because of some sort of stress from the other salamander. It’s really the only other thing I can think of other than him getting sick somehow.


I have read that A. Macro are not usually found together in the wild but no one reports ever seeing them display territorial behaviors or fighting. Also, a lot of people have kept them together in aquariums with more than one animal and they never seemed to have a problem with it.
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Has anyone with similar Ambystomas seen one animal become overly shy when another animals around? Even in a usually gregarious species? What helped?[/FONT]

 

[SludgeMunkey]

I am wondering how gregarious and macros are discussed in the same post... Personally, never met a terrestrial ambystomid that didn't prefer a solo existence when one was possible...unless it is breeding or aesitvation time.

Also, a lot of people have kept them together in aquariums with more than one animal and they never seemed to have a problem with it. This is a fallacy. Fact is a lot of people do whatever they want no matter what the correct way is. However, generally speaking, if the enclosure is big enough, you can get away with it but again, this does not mean it is the best route to go. (My Slimy-Sense predicts a tank around 20 gallon or less in this case...I suggest a 20gallon long or a thirty plus with a terraced layout as superior.)

Try providing more hides. Also try separate/ enclosures if necessary.


Also, please note the date. This time of year, wild North American ambystomids are gearing up for a nice, long, somewhat chilly nap. I saw no mention of lighting, but if you rely on natural ambient light, your critters may pick up on the seasonal change due to less daylight and switch on the hormonal changes normal for autumn.

Also, have you tried feeding it in the water? Sometimes you can end up with "late bloomers" that still prefer aquatic foods.

 

[noneofmany]

I am wondering how gregarious and macros are discussed in the same post... Personally, never met a terrestrial ambystomid that didn't prefer a solo existence when one was possible...unless it is breeding or aesitvation time.

Also, a lot of people have kept them together in aquariums with more than one animal and they never seemed to have a problem with it. This is a fallacy. Fact is a lot of people do whatever they want no matter what the correct way is. However, generally speaking, if the enclosure is big enough, you can get away with it but again, this does not mean it is the best route to go. (My Slimy-Sense predicts a tank around 20 gallon or less in this case...I suggest a 20gallon long or a thirty plus with a terraced layout as superior.)

Try providing more hides. Also try separate/ enclosures if necessary.


Also, please note the date. This time of year, wild North American ambystomids are gearing up for a nice, long, somewhat chilly nap. I saw no mention of lighting, but if you rely on natural ambient light, your critters may pick up on the seasonal change due to less daylight and switch on the hormonal changes normal for autumn.

Also, have you tried feeding it in the water? Sometimes you can end up with "late bloomers" that still prefer aquatic foods.

Thank you for responding.

I think your right. To clarify, he is feeding, just less than he was and never from tongs anymore. I'm primarily concerned about his lack of anything other than crickets. He was eating phoenix worms every other meal to add a more calcium, phosphorus and a little fat. But now it's just crickets.

I've decided to separate them now though, because otherwise I wont be able to know if he's eaten free roaming crickets or if the other one is snapping them up before he comes out to search for them.

Lighting wise I have just been keeping them in a room with lamps and a window with no sun. I fear light from my computer and lamps at night might be disrupting them, but I don't allow all that much light in the room at night, and it all gets turned off by midnight.