Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone-
I have 2 newly morphed tiger sals. The little one, Charra, morphed first and hasn't been eating the past few weeks. He seems to be healthy otherwise, he just hides under his log house and looks around. I've been trying to feed him Can O' Crickets (the mini ones) and when i hold the food in front of him, he sort of rears his head at it but doesn't open his mouth. I think he's hungry because he ate well up until he chose to be completely on land. I've searched the forums and I know that morphing is a stressful process and that sometimes they don't eat for a while because their mouth is changing, but I'm worried about him. Any suggestions on what I should do? Thanks so much in advance =)

Now that your salamanders have morphed, you have to feed them stuff that is moving and alive----the best food for them overall is earthworms, but they will also eat live crickets (which should be dusted with calcium powder supplements if you can't get them to eat earthworms), mealworms, and other insects. Try putting a live cricket in front of his face and watch what happens.....just don't leave the cricket in the tank alone with the salamander, since crickets tend to "munch" on the salamanders if left alone with them for an extended period of time. Good luck and report back soon!

Ok, I went and got some earthworms today. Charra was very intrigued by them and got excited. He sort of watched them for a while before they wiggled in the dirt and ended up snapping at one of the tails and shaking it in his mouth. The worm ended up getting away though and he only got a small nibble. He didn't try any more after that. Will they be able to find them in the dirt when they burrow? And is it okay to let the worms live in there with them until they're eaten?

Persephonie,
What I do if the little guy doesn't get it the first time is take the worm and put it back in the container, not leave it in the dirt---chances are slim he will find and get it if you leave the worm in the tank, plus you want to be sure and see for yourself when he eats. Try a cricket, too, and see what happens! I think Charro is going to be fine---sometimes you have to try over and over throughout the day to get them to finally catch their dinner (they are a little on the clumsy side!).

Report back soon!!

I agree with Tadpoleo, you shouldn't leave the worms in there. He probably won't find them, they may die, yuck!
How big are they? Bait earthworms, the kind we get around here, are quite big. I cut mine up, even though my sal is a grown adult.
If your guy hasn't eaten in a while, he should be hungry. Cut a worm and hold the piece a few inches from his face and let him see it squirm around.
Or, if he's scared of your hand, find a deep bucket that's clean, and just put him in there with the wiggling pieces. It may take him a while to get his eye-mouth coordination going now that he's on land. (Works for live crickets, too, but be sure the bucket is deep!)
Make sure your hand is wet when you touch him.
I prefer hand-feeding because I don't have to touch him. Yours should soon associate your hand with food. Then you may have the same problem I do (see photo of Jaws hanging from my finger!)
Good luck.

Finally, I got Charra to eat some crickets. And boy was he excited! I sort of had to show them to him so their movement would get his attention, but one he got it, he kept it. I guess he was just picky about what he wanted. It's very entertaining to watch. Anyway, just wanted to thank everyone for the advice!

YEAH!!!! Exciting, isn't it?!! Good boy, Charro!

I mean Charra, I guess I keep thinking about those desserts they serve at Taco John's, you know with the cinnamon and sugar, called Charros.....allrighty then!

That's ok, my other one is named Merovinjian (Mare-o-vin-g-in). I wanted them to be exotic By the way, how often and how many crickets should I feed them? I know Charra was starving and he ate 5 crickets in about 5 minutes. I got the young crickets because he is pretty petite. Should I stick with the small ones for now? The big ones just seemed so huge! Thanks for all your help. I need to get a digi camera so I can take some cute pics of my babies

Wow, that IS an exotic name! Sounds like a Tolkein character (or perhaps a Greek mythological name, like yours). Well, as far as the crickets go, since they are probably hungry, feed them as many as they will eat just to fatten them up and give them a head start on their adult morphed life; then ease up and feed a couple of crickets (or, preferably, a nightcrawler or 2) every other day. Try a worm, see if either one of them goes for it---these are the most nutritious of the foods you can offer them (although my little guy--Fatboy--doesn't like them).