Potential Easy & Free food source for newly hatched salamander larvae

[Vesp]

I have yet to test this myself, but I am going to very soon. I will update this thread on the results of extracting them, how to extract them, etc..

I figure this might be useful to some since I often see threads about people not having any live food for their newly hatched salamanders and they try to feed them things such as egg yolk, and other really inconvenient and kind of dumb food sources instead of just getting them live food - which depending on your location and income might be kinda difficult for people to get.
So here is a suggested alternative to how to get live food to feed newly hatched salamanders for those who are entirely unprepared and don't have BBS or microworms, daphnia, etc.

Idea: Extract free living nematodes from soil to feed newly hatched salamander larvea

There are many different types of nematodes that live in soil. Many of which reach a length and diameter similar to microworms - which are often just over one millimeter in length.

How to extract nematodes from soil:

Method 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9SlBkoaZQg


Method 2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YjOcLWx8lg




After doing either method, it would be best to allow the nematodes to settle into the bottom of something, and remove 90%+ of the water. This will allow you to pick up the potentially thousands of nematodes with a pipette like item in just a few ml's of water, and add to the larvae tank for feeding.


Potential benefits:

Free - all it takes is a little bit of time to get some soil, mix with water, and decant.

Immediate - If you aren't prepared to feed your newly hatched salamander larvae, this allows you to get food within a few minutes, assuming you have access to good soil.

Longer survival - It is likely other nematodes, like microworms would survive much longer in water with the baby axolotls than brine shrimp. This helps keep the water clean.

Potential Issues:

Disease/parasites - I suspect this is unlikely since you are taking nematodes from a non-aquatic environment where they eat rotting materials or plant roots, and putting them with an amphibian in aquatic environment.

Low nutrients - Microworms are an awful source of nutrients, and so I bet other nematodes are as well, however they still serve a role in helping you feed very small larval salamanders and act as a bridge to bigger easier foods.

 

[Jennewt]

This is a really nifty idea. It would be quite easy if one happens to have a 20-micron filter sitting about. These filters aren't cheap, nor easy to find.

So I'm thinking about how one would go about it without needing a filter. I would try sitting the soil on a paper towel for a day on a small amount of water, like in the second video, but with less water. Then you could just use that water directly, without sieving.

 

[Vesp]

I tried this with a not so great sample of soil, and also a coffee filter. I couldn't seem to see anything moving, but a few things looked very suspicious of nematodes, and I couldn't look at them very long because I was using the a difficult to use eye piece.

I've put bread, a microwaved and crushed open potato, and half a banana in some good organic soil, that stays continually wet with plant roots and life near by.

I will be trying to extract nematodes from this soon and will update.


Also, what do you think of the idea of using fruit fly maggots to feed smallish axolotls? I think it would need a cheaper and easy source. Fruit flies are easy to get and I assume would be easy to extract from their potato mash and last a decent amount of time in the water.

 

[Jennewt]

Similar to your idea (getting nematodes from vegetables decaying in soil), I'm thinking that soil from a worm bin might be a good source of nematodes. I plan to try this.

Fruit fly maggots are a good food. I've used them for small terrestrial newts, and there's no reason they wouldn't work for aquatic larvae. You'd need to find a good way to separate them from the "goop" they live in. Any goop that went into the tank would cause the water quality to go downhill fast.

 

[TroySoldier]

I tried this but with a completely different setup (was very inexpensive)
and it worked great I had a operational culture in 2 days (Saved my spotted salamander larvae)
Thanks for the idea!:happy: