# Other Animals > Other Amphibians >  New tiger salamander

## Emily

Two weeks ago tomorrow, I got a tiger salamander, shipped from an online retailer. Cute little one and always hungry. I've read differing opinions on how much to feed them. My little one is maybe 6 - 8 inches long including tail. He's tong-fed well from his first day here, eats crickets, roaches, and earthworm pieces. I've mostly fed him 2 or 3 1-inch pieces of nightcrawlers per day, and have only skipped a few days in feeding. How can I tell if he is getting too fat?

I'm hoping to get one or more other salamanders this week -- hoping to get a barred tiger salamander, a fire salamander, and/or a couple of marbled salamanders if I can find any in stock.

I have my tiger salamander set up in a 10-gallon aquarium, with about an inch of moist coconut fiber, a water container with about 1/4" of water in it, and a couple of hides, although he seems to like to hide in the substrate (as can be seen by the dirty look in the pics). He'll come up at feeding time, though  :Smile: 

A couple of pictures, taken this evening:

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## NatureLady

The second photo is stupid cute!!!

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## Pluke

That's an awesome little guy you've got there, Amanda is right about that second picture, haha. LOOK AT THAT FACE!

I really have no idea how much you should be feeding him though, Cam is the guy you want to talk to about that. He has a couple of big tigers.

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## NatureLady

Yep I agree Cam (kingcam) would be the one to ask!

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## Emily

> That's an awesome little guy you've got there, Amanda is right about that second picture, haha. LOOK AT THAT FACE!
> 
> I really have no idea how much you should be feeding him though, Cam is the guy you want to talk to about that. He has a couple of big tigers.


Thank you. I think he is saying "I want more food!" as he had just jumped up for my finger which was above him outside the glass.

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## KingCam

I feed my tigers daily if they are begging for it (which they always are).  I give mine 2-3 large roaches or 1 large nightcrawler every day.  

Once I decided to see how much my female would eat in one sitting, so I started feeding lobster roaches.  She ate ELEVEN adult lobster roaches before she was done!!! O_O  They can eat SO much food, it's ridiculous.  I would not reccomend doing that on a regular basis, but every once in a while it's okay to "gut load" your salamander.  If you do it will probably burry itself and come out a week later when it's hungry again.

Some people feed their tigers pinkie mice.  Personally I have never done this, but if you do choose to feed pinkies make sure it's only 1 every couple of months or so.  Too many pinkies and they will get obese.

As far as knowing when enough is enough?  Well.  You just kinda have to watch them.  If you notice they are getting overly fat, then cut back on feeding a bit (either less food per night, or only feed every other night, etc).  But honestly, tiger salamanders like to be on the pudgy side.  Don't be afraid of letting it put on a bit of weight  :Wink:   It seems like no matter how much I feed mine they stay about the same weight. Judging by your photos you have a long ways to go before your salamander needs to start worrying about it's figure :P

Good luck, and congrats on your new tiger!  No doubt it will quickly become one of your favorite species.

ps.  Here's a photo of my tigers, just for the fun of it.

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## Emily

Thanks for the info. It looks like I will be getting 2 barred tiger salamanders either tomorrow or Friday. I hope they feed as well as this little one has.

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## trkyhntr

we have a tiger Sallie too. Ours will eat as much as you feed him, although our yellow spotted salamander is even more voracious.Be careful as Salamanders can easily become obese. Our Spotted started looking like a bratwurst with legs so we now feed every 3 days no matter how much they beg. (and they beg ALOT) Nice thing is they eat any and everything that fits in their mouths. Mine love to burrow and build a tunnel system in the substrate resting with their heads sticking out of a hole waiting to be fed

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