16 replies to this topic

[Swirlysnowflake]

I have a slender salamander and I want to know if feeding him Linepethima humile would be harmful. The salamanders do eat ants in the wild, but do Argies secret toxins, or spray formic acid or have some other defense that may be harmful to salamanders?

 

(Sorry if this is the wrong subforum to post this... I just posted it here because it is about ants.)

Edited by Swirlysnowflake, January 5 2021 - 12:20 PM.

[antsandmore]

I'm pretty sure that the only thing argies have is numbers and small mandibles(is it called that for ants? idk), so i'm pretty sure there would be no problem as to feeding them to your salamander. 

[Swirlysnowflake]

Thanks!

Edited by Swirlysnowflake, January 5 2021 - 12:29 PM.

[antsandmore]

np, but somebody put a 1 star on this topic. Again. 

[MinigunL5]

They would be a really bad feeder tho, not nutritious at all.

[Swirlysnowflake]

They would be a really bad feeder tho, not nutritious at all.

Oh really? why lol

[Zeiss]

Since you have a native salamander, you should feed it native food that is more nutritious than ants.  The amount of ants you might have to feed could have them attack the salamander.

Edited by Zeiss, January 5 2021 - 4:36 PM.

[Swirlysnowflake]

Since you have a native salamander, you should feed it native food.  

It's winter, I can't really find any insects outside except ants and spiders. I probably do have a few native species in my yard (Monomorium and Prenolepis) but those colonies pushed back the Argentine ants near me, I don't really want to reduce their numbers.

[Zeiss]

Here is a website on how to care for them: http://www.amphibian...uk/batrach.html.

 

It says "Due to the small gape of these salamanders, food consists mainly of small insects, preferably aphids, fruitflies, spiders and small crickets. They will also take hatchling waxworm, freshly sloughed mini-mealworm and caterpillars. Crickets should be gut-loaded with carrots, oranges and other nutritients. Food can be dusted every other sitting with a vitamin supplement such as Rep-Cal. Although regularly making brief daytime forages, slender salamanders hunt chiefly at night so introduce a sufficient number of these food items during dusk."

 

Here is another site for a species in the genus: http://www.californi...attenuatus.html.

 

It says "Diet consists of a variety of invertebrates, including springtails, small beetles, snails, mites, spiders, and isopods.  A sit-and-wait predator, catching prey with a projectile tongue."

 

This also would go in General Off-Topic as you're asking for help with Slender Salamanders.

 

Please do some research on the animals you want to keep before you get them.

Edited by Zeiss, January 5 2021 - 4:47 PM.

[Amazant]

Mealworms would be an easy feeder to buy, you can get them on amazon or at a pet store if you want to go inside. I don’t know much about salamanders so I’m not sure if they would be able to digest the exoskeleton of the mealworm.

[Swirlysnowflake]

Here is a website on how to care for them: http://www.amphibian...uk/batrach.html.

 

It says "Due to the small gape of these salamanders, food consists mainly of small insects, preferably aphids, fruitflies, spiders and small crickets. They will also take hatchling waxworm, freshly sloughed mini-mealworm and caterpillars. Crickets should be gut-loaded with carrots, oranges and other nutritients. Food can be dusted every other sitting with a vitamin supplement such as Rep-Cal. Although regularly making brief daytime forages, slender salamanders hunt chiefly at night so introduce a sufficient number of these food items during dusk."

 

Here is another site for a species in the genus: http://www.californi...attenuatus.html.

 

It says "Diet consists of a variety of invertebrates, including springtails, small beetles, snails, mites, spiders, and isopods.  A sit-and-wait predator, catching prey with a projectile tongue."

 

This also would go in General Off-Topic as you're asking for help with Slender Salamanders.

 

Please do some research on the animals you want to keep before you get them.

I've actually kept these multiple times before, and have done lots of research. I was mainly looking for an alternative food source before I was able to get fruit flies and Kenyan roaches again, as the salamander refused to eat the tiny mealworms I had. They were too big for it. 

Mealworms would be an easy feeder to buy, you can get them on amazon or at a pet store if you want to go inside. I don’t know much about salamanders so I’m not sure if they would be able to digest the exoskeleton of the mealworm.

I breed mealworms but even the tiniest ones in my breeding box were too big for the salamander

[Zeiss]

I've actually kept these multiple times before, and have done lots of research. I was mainly looking for an alternative food source before I was able to get fruit flies and Kenyan roaches again, as the salamander refused to eat the tiny mealworms I had. They were too big for it. 

Ah okay, the way I understood it was you got them and weren't sure how to care for them.  I'm glad you have some experience with them then.  You could try giving them some larger springtails you can find in your area, as the colder and wetter environments often bring them out.

[Swirlysnowflake]

 

I've actually kept these multiple times before, and have done lots of research. I was mainly looking for an alternative food source before I was able to get fruit flies and Kenyan roaches again, as the salamander refused to eat the tiny mealworms I had. They were too big for it. 

Ah okay, the way I understood it was you got them and weren't sure how to care for them.  I'm glad you have some experience with them then.  You could try giving them some larger springtails you can find in your area, as the colder and wetter environments often bring them out.

 

Oh ok, I’ll try that. Thanks

[Vendayn]

Argentine ants wouldn't be nutritious at all. Maybe the queens? Would sure take a lot of queens. The workers themselves would be no good, they are pretty junk ants. Imagine being fed cardboard and that's pretty much the equivalent of Argentine ants lol.

 

Being up in northern california though, you should have access to tons of rotten wood. Rotten wood = termites. Even if no termites, might find other stuff in rotten wood that your salamander will eat.

Edited by Vendayn, January 5 2021 - 7:30 PM.

[Zeiss]

Another problem with common pest species is that they are often in urban environments and come in contact with various toxins as they live closely with humans who want to kill them.

[Swirlysnowflake]

Argentine ants wouldn't be nutritious at all. Maybe the queens? Would sure take a lot of queens. The workers themselves would be no good, they are pretty junk ants. Imagine being fed cardboard and that's pretty much the equivalent of Argentine ants lol.

 

Being up in northern california though, you should have access to tons of rotten wood. Rotten wood = termites. Even if no termites, might find other stuff in rotten wood that your salamander will eat.

There is a lot of rotten wood but I can never seem to find termites, or anything but huge beetles in rotten wood

[ponerinecat]

Spiders. Try to find the small micro-spiders common under fragments of wood and stones, they get surprisingly small and don't require a lot of space. You could easily raise several hundred in a standard tupperware bin if you layered the substrate effectively. Easy to breed and feed, they'll take all sorts of springtails and mites. I bet you could even feed the spiders argies, and then the salamanders spiders