Salamanders are amphibians, related to frogs and newts, found across various habitats, from damp forests to aquatic environments. They share a singular dietary trait: all salamanders are strict carnivores throughout their entire lives. They serve as opportunistic predators, consuming any small, moving creature they can successfully capture and swallow.
Natural Prey and Hunting Habits
In the wild, a salamander’s diet reflects the small invertebrates available in its habitat. Terrestrial species consume soft-bodied organisms like earthworms, slugs, and snails, often found under logs and leaf litter. Their diet also includes harder-bodied prey, such as beetles, fly larvae, spiders, and millipedes. Larger species occasionally consume small vertebrates, including other amphibians or fish.
Salamanders are ambush predators, relying on detecting movement rather than actively pursuing prey. Terrestrial species employ a specialized, sticky tongue that is rapidly projected to secure prey. This mechanism allows for swift capture of insects and arthropods.
Aquatic species, such as newts and fully aquatic salamanders, utilize suction feeding to capture meals. They rapidly open their mouths, creating a vacuum that pulls water and nearby prey into their pharynx. Prey includes small crustaceans and aquatic insects. Their ability to detect food is enhanced by chemosensory abilities, allowing them to locate meals through smell and taste, especially underwater.
Diet Variation by Life Stage
Dietary needs shift significantly during metamorphosis, the transition from the aquatic larval stage to the adult form. Larval salamanders are strictly aquatic, feeding on small organisms in their water environment. Their initial diet consists of microscopic organisms like copepods, daphnia, and tiny aquatic insect larvae.
As larvae grow, they consume slightly larger aquatic prey, such as tubifex worms and mosquito larvae. Salamander larvae are carnivorous from the beginning and do not consume plant matter. Once metamorphosis is complete, the adult’s diet expands to include larger, primarily terrestrial prey items.
Feeding Salamanders in Captivity
Pet salamanders require a varied diet of commercially raised insects and worms for proper nutrition. The majority of their diet should consist of earthworms, crickets, and feeder insects like silkworms, hornworms, and superworms. For aquatic species, owners can offer water-borne foods such as brine shrimp, bloodworms, and nightcrawlers. Prey items must be appropriately sized, typically no larger than the distance between the salamander’s eyes, to prevent choking.
Commercial feeder insects often lack the nutritional profile of wild-caught prey, making it necessary to “gut-load” them prior to feeding. Gut-loading involves feeding the prey a highly nutritious diet of fruits and vegetables for 12 to 24 hours before offering them. This practice ensures the salamander receives necessary vitamins and minerals indirectly.
In addition to gut-loading, the prey should be dusted with a powdered calcium supplement that includes Vitamin D3, and a separate multivitamin powder formulated for amphibians. Supplements are applied by placing the insects and the powder in a container and gently shaking until the insects are evenly coated. Adult salamanders are typically fed two or three times per week, while rapidly growing juveniles require more frequent feeding, sometimes every one to two days.