Tiger sal won't eat Earthworms

[mytimemic]

We had rain here the other day here in Idaho & the ground is thawing. The earthworms are out. So I put a few in a paper cup & brought them to Rex. I haven't been able to get her to eat anything but crickets. Well, she still won't eat anything but crickets. She didn't say no, she said hell no. She sniffed it & watched it, her nose went in the air & she turned her head away. I thought maybe she wasn't hungry so I gave her a cricket. She was on it before I even got it all the way down to her.

Then to add insult to injury, I had left the worm laying there & it TOUCHED her on the nose. You would have thought she had been shocked by static. She jerked her head back & pulled way back into her burrow. I took the worm out & the next day when I checked her she had closed up her burrow. I guess she isn't speaking to me.

Oh well, I needed worms for my flower beds anyway. LOL

 

[Kaysie]

Some are picky like that. Are you gutloading or dusting the crickets?

 

[mytimemic]

I am dusting the crickets & she wasn't real happy about that at first either & would refuse them. She would just walk away & if I left them loose for her to hunt she would still ignore them. I had to start out by giving her 1 undusted 1st & then give her the dusted ones. Now she takes the dusted just fine.

This picky eating thing is a reason I don't think she was wild when we found her. I think someone got her & let her go. Besides, there is absolutely no water on the hill where we live. It was very strange. And she has also always been very social. I just don't know how something wild can afford to be so finicky in SE Idaho.

 

[rdunn664]

same here but I haven't gotten her to eat hardly anything. She flinched when the worm touched her and she really just wont eat. We found her in our pool last weekend and suspecting its just her getting used to us but we know she is wild since we live in the country. I don't know. maybe they are not really as interested in earthworms as everyone says.

 

[RPM]

Stop feeding the crickets and keep trying the earthworms every few days for a few weeks. They prefer crickets over worms and as long as crickets are offered, they will turn away worms. Some more readily eat worms than others, and a few will never eat them. I've had some that will eat a worm in the shipping container upon uncrating them from shipping while others from the same shipment take weeks of enticing them with worms. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[herbaltree]

some worms apparently taste nasty to salamanders so it might be worth checking out the species of worm that you have.

i tried a similar thing with mine, also to no luck! i even have a photo of him with the worm crawling over his head! another time he did have a bit of a play around with the worm and snapped at it, but never managed to eat it.

 

[mytimemic]

After all this time we have still been unsuccessful with worms. We even tried Richard's suggestion. She simply won't eat & closes the entrance to her burrow. We gave up because I was being a worried parent afraid the little poop would starve herself to death. Dusted crickets for our finnicky Rex.