Tiger biting at, but not grabbing, worms

[deadhead]

We're worried about Tigs, our tiger salamander. A little background: we found him walking very slowly across our drive this winter in the middle of a blizzard. We brought him in, talked to an amphibian expert, set up a habitat, and all has been going very well for the past 9 months. He normally eats about 4-6 medium mealworms every few days. He likes to hide in his dirt and cave and comes out mainly to soak or eat. He has probably doubled in size since we found him.
He has been hidden for over a week (a little longer than normal for him), so this morning when he was poking his head out of his cave, I knew he was hungry. He attacked the first worm and ate it very quickly, but then started having problems. He would bite at the worm, if I had it in tweezers, but not actually grab it. If I put it on the dirt in front of him, he'd lunge/lay on/bite at it, but half the time, he'd come up with a mouthful of dirt. He normally eats without problems. Eventually, he ate 3 worms...a little less than I'd expect after being hidden for so long.
I know I shouldn't jump to conclusions, as we've only seen this behaviour once, but I'm a little concerned. He pretty much has been on a repeating loop of: beg, eat, hide, soak, hide-some-more for the past nine months and now he's acting out of character for him. Does anyone have any suggestions/ideas?
On another note, my husband and I are constantly arguing about how wet his habitat needs to be. We're in Colorado and it's dry here. Does he need his soil to be constantly damp or is it ok to just have dirt and a pool for swimming/soaking?
thanks for your help.
Ashley

 

[Kaysie]

Do you normally feed him mealworms? These aren't the best staple food for salamanders. Earthworms are much more nutritionally complete.

The soil does need to be damp, even if you have a soaking pool. The best way I've found is to mix up a gallon jug of dechlorinated water, and just dump some in one side of the tank. This provides a moisture gradient (one side is moister than the other), and your little dude can choose where to put his burrow based on how moist he needs it.

As far as how moist it should be: you should be able to pick up a handful of soil, squeeze it, and have it retain its shape without falling apart, and without being able to squeeze water out of it.

 

[deadhead]

Thanks for your reply, Kaysie. We were told earthworms, mealworms or crickets. No one ever mentioned that there is a nutritional difference, so with accessability being on our minds, we've basically given him mostly mealworms. We did do earthworms a few times, but they're so long and (maybe it's crazy, but) I was afraid he'd choke. Do you chop them up into more managable peices?
Do you think it's strange that he's suddenly not actually grasping them in his mouth very easily? He's never had problems eating before.
As for the arguement with hubby...he was right. I'll let him gloat for a while and I'll keep the tank dirt more moist.
Thanks again for your help.
Ashley

 

[SpaceCadetHayde]

You can chop the earthworms or nightcrawlers into managable bits with a sharp razor blade pretty quickly. I've seen my juvenile c.e.popei bite at worms but not be able to get a hold of them before losing interest. Try again in a few hours or feed the earthworms to them on a piece of paper towel. I always fed small morphs tiny worms on a wet paper towel; they seem to be able to grab ahold better and they don't get a mouth full of dirt.

 

[Jan]

We were told earthworms, mealworms or crickets. No one ever mentioned that there is a nutritional difference, so with accessability being on our minds, we've basically given him mostly mealworms. We did do earthworms a few times, but they're so long and (maybe it's crazy, but) I was afraid he'd choke.

Regarding nutritional differences of food items, these are two good references from Caudata Culture:

Caudata Culture Articles - Food Items for Captive Caudates

Caudata Culture Articles - Nutritional Values

The tiger won't choke on an earthworm....just looks that way

As you are new to keeping tigers, you may find this article from Caudata Culture beneficial and it answers some of the questions you've posed:

Caudata Culture Articles - Tiger Salamander 101