Thank you for all your replies and suggestions. For tho=
Dear Ecolog-L,=0A=0AThank you for all your replies and suggestions. For tho= se interested, I paste below selected replies that include references.=0A= =0ACheers,=0A =0AAsaf Sadeh=0A=0AProf. Leon Blaustein`s lab=0AInstitute of = Evolution=0AUniversity of Haifa=0AHaifa 31905, Israel=0AOffice: +972-4-8240= 447=0AMobile: +972-52-6611614=0A=0A=0A=0A=0AIts called gastric lavage....= =0A=0AYou take a syringe and fill it with water and attach a very flexible = tube. You are better off using something like a 60cc syringe rather than a= 10cc syringe so you don't have to reload the water. I got my supplies fro= m a veterinarians office (the tube is dark orange). Hold the salamander la= rvae and CAREFULLY insert the tube - make sure the tube goes down into the = stomach and doesn't stay caught in the throat. SLOWLY push water into the = salamanders stomach while holding the animal at an angle with the head lowe= r than the body. Make sure you are holding the salamander over something t= o catch the stomach contents in. You are better off catching all the water= and not trying to drain off any of the extra water (unless you have a very= fine filter) because you'll want even the small insect parts to be able to= identify food items.=0A=0AI can't seem to find the paper that I used for d= oing this procedure, but if I find it, I'll send you the citation.=0A=0AGoo= d luck! If you have any more questions on this I'd be happy to answer your= questions.=0A=0AKerry=0A=0A=0A=0AAsaf,=0A =0AI too had planned on performi= ng "gut-flushing" for my ongoing doctoral field work with Ambystoma larvae.= The two references I came up with are as follows:=0A =0AWhiteman, W. H. a= nd W. S. Brown. 1996. Growth and foraging consequences of facultative paedo= morphosis in the tiger salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum nebulosum. Evolution= ary Ecology 10:433-446.=0A =0AZerba, K. E. 1989. Individual variation in di= et of larval tiger salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum nebulosum) in Arizona. P= h.D. thesis Arizona State University.=0A =0AI don't have copies of either o= f these papers, otherwise I would have sent them along. Basically, a cathe= ter tube was placed in the throat of larvae and water was sent through the = tube, flushing the stomach contents out. However, I've only seen this done= with tiger salamander lavae, which grow to fairly large sizes (< 10 cm tot= al length). I don't know if you would be able to use this method with much= smaller larvae, such as Salamandra. I would recommend trying to contact H= oward Whiteman at Murray State to see if he could give you any advice. Her= e's the weblink to his lab:=0A =0Ahttp://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/fa= culty/Howard.Whiteman/index.shtml=0A =0ABest of luck,=0A =0ACy=0A=0A=0ACy L= . Mott=0ACooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory=0ALife Science II Room 26= 9B=0ADepartment of Zoology =0ASouthern Illinois University=0ACarbondale, IL= 62901-6504=0APhone:(618)453-5495=0A=0AHi Asaf,=0A=0AWe use stomach flushin= g with a small syringe and nytex tube to collect=0Agut contents from pletho= dontid salamanders. It works great. Here is a=0Acitation:=0ALegler, J. M., = and L. J. Sullivan. 1979. The application of=0Astomach-flushing to lizards = and anurans. Herpetologica 35:107-110.=0A=0A-Winsor=0A=0AWinsor H. Lowe=0AD= ivision of Biological Sciences=0AThe University of Montana=0A32 Campus Driv= e #4824=0AMissoula, MT 59812-4824=0Aphone: (406) 243-4375=0Afax: (406) 243-= 4184=0Ahttp://dbs.umt.edu/research_labs/lowelab=0A=0A=0A _____________= _______________________________________________________________________=0AS= hape Yahoo! in your own image. Join our Network Research Panel today! ht= tp://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=3D7 =0A=0A
