Can Giant Salamanders Eat Pork? Recommended Suitable Foods and Feeds

The giant salamander, also known as the Chinese giant salamander, is a common amphibian in Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Sichuan, Guizhou, Hubei and other places. It is named because its call resembles a baby's cry. It is a carnivorous animal. So does the giant salamander eat pork? What food or feed does it grow up on? Recommended edible foods.

I. Predatory habits of the giant salamander:

The giant salamander likes to hunt at night. It usually waits quietly among the rocks at the mouth of a shoal to catch food. Once it spots prey passing by, it suddenly attacks, and once food is caught it is hard to escape, because the giant salamander's teeth are sharp and dense, so the chance of escape is very small. In addition, the giant salamander can endure hunger; kept in cool water, it will not starve to death even if it does not eat for two or three years. It can also gorge itself, and one full meal can increase its body weight by one fifth. When food is scarce, it will even cannibalize its own kind, and even eat eggs to stave off hunger. It usually hides away, and likes to make its body color the same as the surrounding stones to avoid natural enemies.

II. What does it eat?

1. Edible foods

The giant salamander is fierce by nature and is a carnivorous animal. It often feeds on aquatic insects, fish, shrimp, crabs, soft-shelled turtles, frogs, snakes, birds, rats and so on. Its hunting method is “waiting passively for prey”; its teeth cannot chew, so it simply opens its mouth and swallows food whole, then slowly digests it in the stomach. For artificial feeding, natural bait is best, mainly fish, insects, plankton, as well as meat, shellfish and so on.

(1) Specific edible foods for wild giant salamanders:

① Earthworms: Aquatic earthworms are a relatively ideal feed, and a small amount can be added every other day; you can also wrap aquatic earthworms in a single layer of gauze, hang it in the water with a string, and the aquatic earthworms will stretch part of their bodies out through the gaps in the gauze, and the newt will swim over to pull at them.

② Small tadpoles: Tadpoles are the larvae of amphibians such as frogs, toads, newts and salamanders, also called toad eggs.

③ Daphnia: Commonly known as fish worms. Apart from a few that live in seawater, most are the most common zooplankton in various freshwater waters, and are excellent bait for fish.

④ Mosquito larvae (the larvae of mosquitoes), hatched from mosquito eggs in water. Their bodies are slender, with the thorax wider than the head and abdomen. When swimming, the body bends and stretches, commonly known as wrigglers.

(2) Specific edible foods for artificially farmed giant salamanders:

The giant salamander mainly eats some insects and meat. In artificial farming, farmers can catch some animal bait from rivers, ditches, ponds and other places as feed for the giant salamander.

① Moina: Moina grows in freshwater such as ponds, rivers, puddles and reservoirs. It is widely distributed, large in number and strong in reproductive capacity. In large numbers they float on the water surface, forming a red mass. So they are also called red worms.

② Pork: When small live animals are lacking, lean pork can also be cut into small pieces for feeding. But care should be taken not to feed too much, and it is best if there is no leftover food, to prevent the food from rotting and affecting water quality.

(3) What do baby giant salamanders eat?

Baby giant salamanders are relatively small, so when feeding them, try to choose small foods, such as small shrimp from streams, egg yolk, red worm, larvae and the larvae of other aquatic insects. In addition, try to choose bait that is easy to digest, and try not to feed anything too greasy.

2. Edible feeds

(1) Feed combination:

The giant salamander is a carnivorous animal, and its natural bait resources are very rich, mainly fish, shrimp, frogs, shellfish, loach, chicken and duck embryos, mutton, beef, rabbit meat, earthworms and so on. For artificial compound feed, eel compound feed can be used, and artificial compound feed for giant salamanders has now been developed. The feed coefficient of natural bait for raising adults is 3.5 to 6.3. The feed coefficient of artificial compound feed for raising adults is 2.8 to 3.6. Each place can decide the feeding varieties according to local feed resource conditions.

(2) Feed feeding

Because individual giant salamanders differ, their food intake and feeding frequency also change seasonally. In general, it can be adjusted according to individual size. Each feeding amount is equivalent to 2 to 4% of the giant salamander's body weight. For example, feed once every 3 to 5 days in spring, once every 2 to 3 days in summer, once every 2 to 5 days in autumn, and once every 4 to 7 days in winter. When feeding, control the water temperature well. Generally, they eat and grow above 12°C, and the food intake is greatest and growth is fastest at 18 to 23°C. When the water temperature rises above 26°C, food intake will decline, and feed can then be reduced.

(3) Feeding techniques:

When feeding giant salamanders, generally choose fixed feeding sites on the two ventilated and sunny sides of the pond, to make it convenient to observe the growth, activity and feeding of the giant salamanders and to adjust the feeding amount.

(4) Bait management:

① Keep a good feeding log for the giant salamander, establish detailed feeding and growth records, and weigh once for each one, so as to adjust the feeding amount in time and grasp the weight gain of the giant salamander.

② Regulate water temperature and room temperature. The giant salamander cannot tolerate high temperatures, so in summer and autumn, be sure to adjust the water and room temperature to below 25°C.

③ Do a good job every day of draining sewage and changing water in the breeding pond, frequently observe the growth of the giant salamander, and at the same time pay attention to anti-theft work and preventing the giant salamander from escaping.

④ Feed regularly at 5 p.m., and pick out leftover bait the next day to prevent residual bait from rotting and deteriorating and polluting water quality.

(5) Feeding precautions:

① Fixed time: Fixed time means feeding on time according to the nocturnal feeding characteristics of the giant salamander's biological habits, and also appropriately advancing or delaying according to season, water temperature and water quality conditions. General feeding times: 10 p.m. in summer, and 8 p.m. in winter.

② Fixed quantity: Fixed quantity means feeding an appropriate amount of feed according to different factors such as the giant salamander's feeding and digestion, individual growth, individual size, water temperature and water quality.

③ Fixed location: Fixed location cultivates the giant salamander's habit of feeding at a fixed location, which can promote concentrated feeding by giant salamanders. Feeding in groups can not only increase the appetite of giant salamanders and increase food intake, but also reduce the scattering of feed and improve feed efficiency.

④ Fixed quality: Because most prepared feed contains moisture, it should be stored in a low-temperature, dry place not prone to dampness. In addition, in order to improve the utilization rate of compound feed protein, an appropriate amount of oil (adding fish oil, vegetable oil, etc.) can be added when preparing the feed. The amount of oil added increases or decreases with different water temperatures. Generally, when the water temperature is below 12°C, no oil needs to be added; at 14-17°C, the amount of oil added is 5% to 6%; when the water temperature is 18-23°C, add 5% each of fish oil and corn oil. Natural bait is required to be fresh and clean; if it has spoiled, it must never be fed.