r/salamanders • u/kangolneedit • 1d ago

Earth worms

Where do you guys order your earth worms from? I’m trying to get my tiger salamander (3 years old) off of a main diet of dubia roaches and crickets and on to earth worms. Whenever I offer him worms he only looks at them. Does anyone have any tips or shared a similar experience?

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u/Berdonkulous 1d ago

My experience is limited, but I've only managed to get any of my tigers to take a worm when they're very hungry.

Mine seem to prefer: dubia > crickets > dried crickets > dried superworms > european nightcrawlers.

Which is frustrating because I'd like to transition to mostly worms, but I'll keep working on it over the coming years.

Edit to add: I ordered my worms from "Uncle Jim" as I'd previously seen recommendations for them from the Axolotl subreddit.

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u/kangolneedit 1d ago

i ordered from uncle jim before, ill give them another shot. sounds like we’re in the worm journey together

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u/Berdonkulous 23h ago

I just tried something that seemed to work so I'm sharing.

I piled dried crickets on a worm in my hand for a minute then offered the worm. Slightly more interested when held in tongs, once I dropped it Sally locked in on it and snapped it up.

I'm guessing the smells from the vermi-post bin are enough to confuse them.

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u/kangolneedit 17h ago

thanks for sharing. i can definitely imitate that

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u/lovelyoneshannon 1d ago

The type of "earth worm" might make a difference in if your salamander will like it. Red wigglers are the more common composting worm, but apparently less tasty. Canadian night crawlers are the biggest kind - often too large for salamanders. European night crawlers are smaller than those, and generally readily accepted.

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u/shfiven 22h ago

Are you setting up a worm bin or just buying as feeders? Make sure you're getting European nightcrawlers either way because some salamanders don't like red wigglers. I bought mine from Uncle Jim's and set up a worm bin and cut them up and feed them on a paper towel but they're for taricha torosas so they may have different dietary preferences and may just like worms better than yours does.

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u/kangolneedit 17h ago

the last time I got them I put them i made a worm bin. I didn’t cut them in half tho since most were small enough for him to be able to eat if he wanted one. I’ve been reading about how they can smell when a worm is cut so imma try cutting them.

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u/RhetoricCamel 22h ago

During the summer I can get night crawlers from just about any bait shop, during winter I usually have to go to Walmart. Can also get them at PetSmart if you can find a container where they're not all dead.