What do Salamanders Eat

Salamanders are amphibians, typically characterized by slender body, short nose and long tail. There are approximately 500 species of salamanders, some of which are totally aquatic and seldom come on land while some being totally terrestrial seldom entering the waters. Popular salamander subspecies include the spotted salamander and the tiger salamander. Interestingly, these creatures have a unique ability of regrowing lost limbs. Although, these organisms have been existing on this planet for more than 100 million years, not all the questions about them have been answered. However, one interesting question about these organisms that has been answered is - what do salamanders eat? And, the answer is as fascinating as the question itself.

Salamanders - What Do They Eat

The feeding habits of salamanders vary according to different subspecies. The two important factors which play a decisive role in salamander feeding habits are

• Salamander Types
• Salamander Habitat

In order to know what do salamanders eat, we will have to take a brief look at these different types of salamanders and their widespread habitat.

Type of Salamanders
There are basically three types of salamanders - aquatic, semi-aquatic and terrestrial. As the three categories suggest, some salamanders spend maximum time in water, some on land while some subspecies juggle between land and water. Some salamanders breath through lungs, some through their skin and there are even some which breathe through mouth.

Salamander Habitat
Salamander habitat spans across the entire planet, except for Australia, Antarctica and some parts of the African continent. One-third of known salamander species are found in North America, with Appalachians having the highest concentration. These creatures generally habitat moist areas such as brooks, creeks, ponds and other ground water sources.

Coming back to what do salamanders eat, most of the salamander species are carnivorous and feed on invertebrates. Their dietary habits depend on which category they fall into. Aquatic salamanders tend to feed on small fish for most of the time, while their terrestrial counterparts resort to small insects. In general, salamanders in wild feed on several smaller organisms including crickets, flies, worms, roaches, worms, locusts, aphids, moths etc. Young salamanders start with daphnia or cyclopsen, and as they grow they move on to relatively larger insects, worms and fish.

Salamanders as Pets - What to Feed Them

If you plan to have salamanders as pets, you will have to take a few things into consideration. You will have to provide them with necessary nutrients through food. If your pet is an aquatic salamander, you can feed it with crustaceans or water fleas. If it's a terrestrial salamander you can feed it with various insect species. You can either buy salamander feed from some pet store in your neighborhood or raise some insects on your own. Make sure that the insects that you feed your pet salamander are live. Worms high in nutritional content, such as kingworms and blackworms, are ideal salamander foods. If your pet doesn't hibernate in winter, you will have to provide it with nutritional supplements to sustain the low temperatures. Salamanders eat only once or twice a weak so you need not be worried about their dietary habits, however you should ideally know what salamanders eat before bringing one home as a pet.

Irrespective of whether you have them as pets or you see them in wild, salamanders are interesting creatures indeed. Various wildlife enthusiasts are studying these organisms to collect more information about them. Although we know several interesting things about them, including what salamanders eat and their ability to regrow their limbs, there must be many more aspects waiting to be discovered.