What to feed long toed salamander? It won't eat.

[cynthia]

Hi. I have a very young long-toed salamander that won't eat. It was still a juvenile with external gills about a couple weeks ago. It was eating bloodworms heartily and looked happpy/healthy. We transferred it into a different tank with gravel, moss, hiding places, etc. about a week ago. It seems much happier since we've placed it in the proper environment, but it still won't eat. We've tried bloodworms, tiny earthworms and mealworms, and also crickets/grasshoppers. (Looking at this pic I realize the grasshopper is quite large.) Does anyone have any idea as to why it won't eat? I've read here that they can live a very long time without eating, but I don't like to think that I'm slowly starving it and don't know what else to try. I'd like to be able to feed it with tweezers and an earthworm, but he won't eat from the tweezers. Any ideas/advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks. (Here's a pic. He/she is currently nameless.)

 

[paris]

yeah that cricket is too big for him to eat. i have 5 and they love crickets, best guess for cricket size is to choose ones whos length is equal or less than the distance between the salamanders eyes (or just as long as the head is wide). if it just morphed then it may take a while for it to get an appetite. most of mine are so tame that they will just take a cricket i offer up with my fingers-they are noted for being pigs and not being as shy as most ambystomids. try smaller crickets and let us know how its doing.

 

[jennifer]

Some morphs are too shy to eat while being watched. In addition to smaller crickets, you might also want to try earthworm pieces. Place the pieces near the sal, put the hiding place and cover back on, then check later to see if any of the pieces are missing. With whole worms you never know if they were eaten, they might just crawl into the substrate.

 

[david]

Try the 10 day old crickets from Worman's wormfarm since he's so young. My group of long toes scarf up 1/4 inch crickets almost as fast as I can put them in. They'e great eaters and pretty bold animals

 

[cynthia]

Great! Thanks for all your replies. In your experience, how long did it take your morphs to readily eat? He is very shy; he just kind of freezes up when he sees me. None of the pet stores here have smaller crickets or carry small worms of any sort, so I'll probably have to purchase online? Also, we're using moss that was purchased in a package at the pet store. Is that acceptable, and how often should we change it? We spray it w/ water every day and try to keep it relatively moist. Thanks again for the recs.

 

[paris]

most pet stores offer different sizes of crickets-how big is this guy? you can always go out and collect 'field plankton'-wild insects, and try these to see if it has a preference (avoid nasty bugs like centipedes and earwigs-oh and probably ants too) pill bugs have lots of calcium for the growing morph, but small slugs and spiders might do well too.

i got mine as adults, so i cant advise on them specifically as morphs, just general ambystomid morph behaviour....

(Message edited by paris on August 19, 2005)

 

[joan]

I had some of these some time ago. Great little animals, super climbers! Make sure you've got a well-fitting lid.

About the moss, it's green, so I doubt it's sphagnum moss. Avoid this as it's acidic and leeches ions out of your sals skin. I kept mine on plain dirt. Organic topsoil with no manure usually works the best. For my ambystomids now, I mix in some cocoa fiber to facilitate better formed burrows.

Any good pet shop near you should have small crickets, like Paris mentioned. Call around.

Good luck!

 

[cynthia]

Thanks! The moss we bought is Flukers All Natural Moss in a plastic package. We were kind of in a hurry to set up his home because we were going out of town for a few days.

The crickets I bought were actually the smallest any of the pet stores around here had. I think my sal is roughly around 2.5" long. The space between his eyes isn't even 1/8", and his head isn't even 1/4"; more like 3/16". He's pretty tiny. We've dug up some tiny earthworms and chopped some of them up. I'm still waiting on him to eat something. He was really quite active before, but now he won't come out of his little corner. He's been sitting there hiding for over a day now.

I'm just waiting. I hope it's just a morph thing and he eats soon. It's been a while. The other little juvie we had with him is doing so well. Whenever I feed him (bloodworms) I tap on the tank, and he comes to me and freaks out like a little dog. I hope I don't have to go through this with him too. Thanks for the recs, and keep the ideas coming! I'll keep you posted.

 

[paris]

they might be difficult eaters to start, but try putting the cut worms directly in front of him-like i did with these guys http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/13/36733.html?1120161406

does your local store sell live blackworms? if so you could put a small saucer of them in front of him to see if he will notice them. you could also try offering him thawed bloodworms on a toothpick right in front of his nose, some morphs will take food this way.

 

[cynthia]

Cool pics, and thanks for all your help. I've tried putting bloodworms right in front of him on chopsticks/tweezers, and he just sits there. I've even placed them on the end of his nose, and he just sits there and then crawls away. I buried a tiny measuring scooper thingy, and filled it full of tiny, live worms. I actually put him in it, and he sat there for a while and crawled out. I've been putting chunks in front of him, and dangling tiny live ones in his face. . .he doesn't even try to bite or anything. I feel really bad. =(

I'm ordering some of the really tiny crickets from wormman's. Hopefully he'll eat some of those. In the post you linked, you mention something about white paper? Can I put something under the moss, and above the substrate to see exactly how much (if any) he is eating? He'd been sitting in the same corner for almost two days now until I moved him. I don't want to stress him out, but I don't know what else to do. Thanks again.

 

[paris]

the one thats still got gills; feed him as much as possible over the next few weeks till it morphs, that way it will have more weight on it to help get it through this period.

 

[cynthia]

He finally ate!

I just dangled some pieces of the tiniest worms right against his mouth forever, and he finally tried to bite it. You're right about the bad aim thing, it took him forever to get it, and when he did he went pretty crazy. I gave him three pieces. The first two I had to hold forever before he finally ate them, the third was a little quicker. I think he finally realized what it was, as it seemed like the only reason he bit the first time was more out of annoyance/ aggravation? Anyway, after that he wouldn't eat anymore. How much do your little morphs eat?

Well, thanks again for all the help!}

 

[paris]

that may be all his tum can handle for now, i feed not daily but about every 3, depending on how big their appetite is. offer 2X daily small amounts if this works, then stick to it, but if it refuses food til its really hungry then feed a lot every so many days

as soon as it starts eating live food on its own-you are home free!