Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've seen gut-load in stores for crickets but I wasn't sure if that was ok to use on salamanders.

Thanks
Mike

Crickets fed to salamanders should be gut loaded. Crickets have a very poor calcium/phosphorous ratio. Crickets should be gut-loaded with a food that is enriched with calcium and vitamins at least 24 hours prior to feeding to a salamander. Tropical fish flakes can also be used. Instead of gut loading, crickets can also be dusted with a calcium/vitamin powder prior to feeding to salamanders.

24 hours is an insufficient amount of time to gut load a cricket if you are attempting to change the calcium to phosphorus ratio. The crickets need to be fed only the high calcium diet (this means no other foods such as greens or fruit as the crickets will eat anything other than the high calcium diet) for at least 48 hours. The crickets then have to be offered to the salamanders before 72 hours as the high calcium diets typically begin to kill the crickets after that period of time. In addition, water has to be present at all times or the high calcium diet will kill the crickets in a matter of hours. For maximal efficiency the crickets need to be kept at 80 F and even at these temperatures the a calcium ratio of 1.5 to 1 can typically only be reached in pinhead crickets.

If you are worried about the Ca : P ratio then dust them. However crickets purchased from pet stores have typically been starved and dehydrated before purchase and can be deficient in fats, protiens and some micronutrients and should be fed a balanced diet for at least 24 hours and preferably 48 hours.

Some comments,

Ed

Ed,
I don't believe the initial question was how to change the calcium/phosphate ratio in crickets, but rather was it ok to gutload crickets for use in salamanders? (vs other species was my impression). I think our answers are similar - the food used to feed the crickets should be enhanced with calcium/vitamins and fed to the crickets at least 24 hours prior to using the crickets to feed salamanders.

Since it's summer (and my yard has plenty of them ) I started frrding my crickets fresh dandelions which have good nutrients that my Uros, Frogs, and Newt need. They all seem to love the crickets (the Uros only when I give them a few) but the frogs gobble them up, and my newt started coming out of hiding to get them. So far all are doing great, and the crickets love the fresh dandelions too!!!
Since salamanders and newts are similar it should be okay for you to try too. It's funny to watch the crickets eating the dandelions too. Mine swarm all over it and it's gone in no time. But then I have around 1000 crickets in a 25 gallon tank with egg cartons and cardboard as housing. I give them small red potatoes cut in 1/4s for liquids. Once in a while I put a little water in too by misting them. Very few dead crickets either, and I've had this batch for over a month.
Good luck I hope this helps.