Salamander diet changes with age. Young salamanders will often eat small daphnia or cyclopsen (small microorganisms in pond water). After a few weeks they will eat larger daphnia. A few weeks later they’ll eat tubiflex worms or mosquito larvae. When they are almost two months old they’ll eat the same food as an adult salamander
Behaviors
The easiest food to find to feed captive larval salamander or neotonic salamanders (those that remain aquatic) are brine shrimp and black worms. Cut up the black worms for the very small salamanders as it is difficult to feed them whole worms. When they get bigger introduce the tubiflex worms, earthworms, small fish, ghost shrimp, crayfish and other small animals.
Defensive Behaviors
Their permeable skin usually makes them reliant on habitats in or near water or other cool, damp places. Some salamander species are fully aquatic throughout their lives, some take to the water intermittently, and others are entirely terrestrial as adults.
Daphnia young salamander's food
Feeding Behaviors
Adult Salamanders are extremely carnivorous, eating almost anything that moves. They’ll readily eat maggots, mysis, springtails, buffalo worms, fruit-flies, or crickets. I will often offer them red mosquito larvae on a wet tissue.
Adult salamander's food
Aposematism
Skin secretions of the tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) fed to rats have been shown to produce aversion to the flavor, and the rats avoided the presentational medium when it was offered to them again.[39] The fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) has a ridge of large granular glands down its spine which are able to squirt a fine jet of toxic fluid at its attacker. By angling its body appropriately, it can accurately direct the spray for a distance of up to 80 cm (31 in).
The Iberian ribbed newt (Pleurodeles waltl) has another method of deterring aggressors. Its skin exudes a poisonous, viscous fluid and at the same time, the newt rotates its sharply pointed ribs through an angle between 27 and 92°, and adopts an inflated posture. This action causes the ribs to puncture the body wall, each rib protruding through an orange wart arranged in a lateral row. This may provide an aposematicsignal that makes the spines more visible. When the danger has passed, the ribs retract and the skin heals.
Camouflage and Mimicry
Although many salamanders have cryptic colors so as to be unnoticeable, others signal their toxicity by their vivid coloring. Yellow, orange, and red are the colors generally used, often with black for greater contrast. Sometimes, the animal postures if attacked, revealing a flash of warning hue on its underside. The red eft, the brightly colored terrestrial juvenile form of the eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens), is highly poisonous. It is avoided by birds and snakes, and can survive for up to 30 minutes after being swallowed (later being regurgitated).[42] The red salamander (Pseudotriton ruber) is a palatable species with a similar coloring to the red eft. Predators that previously fed on it have been shown to avoid it after encountering red efts, an example of Batesian mimicry.[42] Other species exhibit similar mimicry. In California, the palatable yellow-eyed salamander (Ensatina eschscholtzii) closely resembles the toxic California newt (Taricha torosa) and the rough-skinned newt (Taricha granulosa), whereas in other parts of its range, it is cryptically colored.[43] A correlation exists between the toxicity of Californian salamander species and diurnal habits: relatively harmless species like the California slender salamander (Batrachoseps attenuatus) are nocturnal and are eaten by snakes, while the California newt has many large poison glands in its skin, is diurnal, and is avoided by snakes.
Autotomy
Some salamander species use tail autotomy to escape predators. The tail drops off and wriggles around for a while after an attack, and the salamander either runs away or stays still enough not to be noticed while the predator is distracted. The tail regrows with time, and salamanders routinely regenerate other complex tissues, including the lens or retina of the eye. Within only a few weeks of losing a piece of a limb, a salamander perfectly reforms the missing structure.
Offspring Behaviors
All salamanders lay eggs, with one exception. The fire salamander has live offspring and gives birth to 10 to 30 young at one time, according to the San Diego Zoo. Depending on the species, other salamanders lay up to 450 eggs at a time. The Santa Cruz long-toed salamander, for example, lays 200 to 400 eggs at a time according to the ADW.
Spiny salamanders guard their eggs by curling their bodies around them. They also turn them over from time to time. Some newts wrap leaves around each egg to keep them safe.
Salamander eggs are clear and jelly-like, much like frog eggs. In fact, baby salamanders are just like baby frogs; their eggs are laid in water and the young are born without legs. Young salamanders in the larval stage are called efts, according to the San Diego Zoo. They resemble tadpoles, and as they get older, they grow legs.
Some salamanders don't become sexually mature for up to 3 years and some live up to 55 years.
Salamanders are typically more active during cool times of the day and are nocturnal. During the day they lounge under rocks or in trees to stay cool. At night they come out to eat.
Salamander’s sleeping habit (when do we sleep?)
Hibernation
Salamanders from cooler climates bury themselves in soil or in the mud at the bottom of ponds, going deep enough to avoid frost and to maintain an even temperature. During this time their metabolism is greatly reduced, thus reducing the amount of energy (calories) burned in the effort just staying alive.
Failure to hibernate will not only affect their ability to breed, but it may shorten the animals' life as well. Hibernation is an important part of their life cycle, one we may not yet fully understand. Although it may not be much fun having an "empty" tank sitting around for several months each year, the anticipation of the spring emergence should be enough to ensure your patience!