how to rear them

[phil]

can anybody offer any suggestions into the best way of rearing my baby salamanders. they are currently in a large plastic box with damp sphagnum moss. what would be the best way to feed them? and what are the prefered foods? the adults love grey slugs but i'd struggle to find them small enough for the babys.all they seem to do is bury in the moss and hide, so how would i keep an eye on what and how much they're eating

[Andy]

Hi Phil, with these Terrestris i'd use an exo terra faunarium with damp kitchen towel (i use bounty) as the substrate, some pieces of cork for hides and that it!
For feeding i use mainly pinhead crickets at first, earthworms and waxworms and any other suitable sized bugs. If there are any sals not getting enough food you'll spot them easily enough and it's just a case of making sure they get food by giving it a worm and waiting to you see it eaten. I don't think you'll have any trouble with these as they're vorracious and generally very easy (and quick growing) to rear.
I also dust my Salamandra food with limestone flour every week or so.

[phil]

thanks andy. it makes sense now. i used to raise snakes in a similar fashion. its just that its the first time i've raised salamanders and i didn't want to lose any
best regards
phil

[Pollywog]

I used damp paper towel but gave up on that and now use a layer of wet sphagnum moss compresed down into an almost solid block so they can't burrow into it, and then as Andy said a few bits of cork for a hide and thats it.
I feed juvie sals on a number of things including earthworm, whiteworm, bloodworm, & sml crix dusted with a good calcium suplement.

When it comes to feeding bloodworm if you dry it on a bit of paper towel first they are more willing to accept it in my experiance.