Favorite Salamander Food
Exotic pets have long been a trend among animal lovers and if your choice is a salamander, food options should carefully be considered. This article will help you to get to know your new pet and give you useful advice for appropriate care.
Salamanders are very impressive and popular amphibians due to their spectacular skin coloration. Depending on their type, the colors and picture varies but the base is usually black. As a natural defence, salamanders can discharge poison through their skin, and the powerful colors are a warning sign to all enemies as they indicate a toxic surprise. This poison can kill other animals and in rare cases even dogs have died from it. Salamander babies (larvae) can tend towards cannibalism which stops as soon as they grow to be adults. Natural salamander food is whatever is available in the natural surroundings and the primary sources of nutrition are worms.
They prefer being loners so that keeping one salamander in your home is actually enough. In nature, salamanders are active at night and live in forests with plenty of rain and water sources. They can live up to 25 years, and in captivity they have been observed to live up to 50 years. It is not easy to differentiate between male and female because they look very similar. Female salamanders are usually heavier than males and their front legs are a little shorter than in male salamanders.
To keep a salamander in captivity, you must purchase a terrarium of at least 24x20x14 inches. It is important to cover the terrarium as the salamander may escape otherwise. When you buy it, make sure that both the terrarium lid and walls give access to oxygen.
You should not keep more than 6 salamanders in a terrarium of this size and you must provide hiding places for them as they are loners in nature and are not meant to live in groups 24/7. As mentioned earlier, salamanders are mostly active at night time so that no further light is necessary. However, if you keep it in a constantly dark room light is essential to provide a day and night rhythm. The temperature in the terrarium is also crucial and should be around 77°F during the day. At night it should be between 42°F (winter) and 50°F (summer).
Humidity is also a very important factor to enable a salamander to survive. Thus, the terrarium floor should be layered with moist moss and you must install some water pools. Salamanders are likely to die if the air humidity is below 85%. You can tell from the salamander’s skin whether it is too dry as their normally shiny skin will become dry and matt. You should ask a specialist for advice on how to keep the humidity level up and to replace rain you should spray water into the terrarium before going to sleep.
Salamander food should be as close to their natural nutrition as possible. Remember that your exotic friend needs healthy food to grow and survive- thus, its food should be from healthy sources and should be served fresh. Worms are by far the most popular salamander food because they contain essential nutrition and are fantastic for everyday feeding. However, not every type of salamander accepts every type of worm and you must experiment to find out your salamander’s food preference. Crickets and grasshoppers are also suitable and give salamanders the opportunity to hunt. It is important to know where your salamander food is coming from to ensure that none of it can kill your pet. You may want to breed worms yourself to be absolutely sure, although many pet stores offer high quality insects for feeding purposes.
It is important to understand that salamanders will rarely eat right when you put the food into the terrarium as they are used to hunting and eating at night. They will stay in their hiding places and sleep until it is dark and time for a snack. Do not disturb their sleep as it may disrupt their rhythm- you can simply place some food into the terrarium and they will eat when it is time.
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