Your carnivorous pet salamander will have a field day if you research in advance what particular types of food it loves to eat. You can only make your salamander a happy and content pet if you are able to give it nutrition and very viable living conditions. Here are the steps in helping you care for and feed your salamander:
- Newt selection. You need to first select a newt or baby salamander that has a lot of potential for healthy growth. Do not get newts that are weak. You will often find them in groups at a pet shop, and you will be immediately able to compare the strong ones. See the lively and more moving salamanders and choose them.
- Handling. In handling newts and adult salamanders, you need to be very careful. They are extremely sensitive and get easily stressed when you touch them too much. Proper handling is just as important as giving them a nice home and balanced diet.
- Shelter. The shelter for your salamander needs to be spacious enough. Natural lighting is already more than enough for your pet salamander since they do not really go well with extreme lighting. Your pet’s shelter is where most of its activities will happen, so make it large enough for movement, safely lit and very clean.
- Frequency. Frequency of feeding is often very scant. Some breeds of salamanders can go by their lives without eating for a full week! If the pet does not eat beyond the week, take it to the veterinarian for a checkup. But more or less, you can set a fixed schedule of at least three or two times a week for feeding.
- Servings. Baby salamanders need a lot of mashing and slicing help from you so that they will be able to digest the food accordingly. Even adult salamanders are not able to manage large servings of their food. Make sure that you keep everything in small but full servings.
- Feeding process. Salamanders are not like cats or dogs. They do not have the sniffing capacity that helps them detect food on the ground as easily. So, you will need to use tools like forceps to get the food near the face or smelling faculty of your salamander. This way, they will be enticed to eat the food that you are presenting it.
- Baby salamanders. Newts are most known for their very limited eating capacity. They just eat infuus, its own shell remnants and cyclopsen. Beyond that, few items are safe for feeding them with. Fortunately, salamanders grow quickly. These babies just need 2 to 3 weeks. If you bought your salamander from a pet shop, they are most likely ready for solid adult food.
- Adult salamanders. Salamanders are not really choosy eaters as adults. They eat a lot of crawlies and insects: fruit flies, spiders, worms, feeder fishes, daphnids, maggots, and rain worms are just some of the examples. Enjoy feeding your salamander as it grows and learns to acquire a taste for different types of insects!