Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have tonsa redbacked salamders that i catch all over around here and im have trouble knowing if ther eating or not
what is there primary source of food?
i throw little baby red worms in there and i actualy have worms living in that tank with them . i keep the worms for snake food and intend on the salamders eating the little worms .
im not sure if there eating or not. there so many worms scattered out underneath em i cant tell . i threw baby crickets in there too and most are missing but i cant tell if they died n rotted or mixed in with the soil n moss substrate i have in there .they aqppear to be doing fine , i have a perfect mixture of substrate and stuff to hide under and plant life ass well. i keep about 2-3 inches of soil mixed with bed-a-beast bedding and imake sure it stays cool and moist so they dont fry up

anybody have redbackked salamders? are these type kept alot as pets ?

and my main question , what do i feed them ?
thanx - ryan

http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Plethodon/P_cinereus.shtml

It sounds like you are way too overcrowded. Harvesting an absurd amount of wild animals from earth is greedy.

well to have you know they are from a small ilttle area of land with bushes and dirt thats all getting plowed over and cemented in the next 2 weeks . i feel good knowing i saved these kool little guys . ive been into all kinda animals and reptile and amphibians my whole life and i know a great deal about em.
i live in the city and theres not a damn place for a reptile or amphibian to live .
better than dead right?

i tinhk help would been better than criticizing me

thanx for the web page EDk
carry on

Haha ok I will take your word for it. Its just bad practice in general.

your right

ok i noticed thers a couple gravid females in the cage
i took each of em out and seperated em and put them in ther own containr , wich would be about 8 x 5 inches .i put a small pieace of slate and some moss and soil with a seashell in each wich i put water in for moisture . i spray twice a day and they have food .now since they sit with there eggs for a few weeks is this whut i should do ? considering the others can eat the eggs and eat the young when they hatch too

another question. will i even be able to keep the young and take care of em ? are they too small and delicate?
ive been spending my time outside when the weathrs nice still catching all kindsa littel insects and worms and whenever i load up there tank it seems a few days later there aint that much anymore so this is a good thing right?

what else should i do ?

How many do you have? You should separate the eggs from the other salamanders or they will probably getted trampled or eaten.

i have three as of now , i gotta look at the rest ,these three are in there own container each .
there well ventilated, and im keeping them at there normal prefered tremperature , ther fairly moist just as i would normaly keep em together. will she guard her eggs for a few weeks after she lays them ? is there a better way to incubate the eggs without the female salamder?

and will i be able to take care of the babys ? how small will they be/what will they eat ?

i also have a nice lil isolated cluster of eggs that are def salamander eggs , i have them alone in a deli cup with moss and air holes at there prefered temperature

The eggs will probably fail to hatch unless they are kept clean and sterile through secretions by the female. Plethodontids guard and care for the eggs throughout the entire incubation period. Unless you have access to a large trout hatchery the success rate for artificial rearing is less than 20% and that includes daily rinsing of the eggs with amphibian ringers solution and removal of any that develop fungus.

Ed