mud puppy

[Professor T]

I have a new pet, an 7" mud puppy (Necturus maculosus), a perennibranchiate salamander. I have tried feeding it goldfish, minnows, guppies, crickets, and earthworms...and it has not eatten anything. Any advice???

 

[Wade]

What's the water temp like? We keep these at the nature center and have found that they don't feed much (and don't do well in general) if kept too warm. Water temps 70 and below seem to work better. We feed ours earthworms, blackworms and occasionally fish. It's not a good idea to leave fish in there for extended periods if the mudpuppy hasn't eaten them, as they have been known to nibble at their gill filliments.

Keeping tanks cool is one of the trickier parts of keeping aquatic salamanders. There are chillers available for tropical fish, but they're very expensive. A cheaper alternative is to increase the areation. A couple of large airstones attached to a powerful air pump might help. The increased oxegen in the water may enable the salamander to better cope with warm temperature, and the additional water movement may actually drop the temp a few degrees.

Wade

 

[Professor T]

Wade, Great advice, I increased the aeration with an airstone, and it ate two wax worms and a cricket. Thanx