Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello-

I was wondering if anyone out there could tell me how to tell the difference between a male and female Ambystoma tigrinum (tiger salamanders). I've had two living with each other for quite some time now and have never seen any differences in them, except body size.
Any help I can get is appreciated, thank you!

-crazysalamander

generally, the simplest way to determine the sex of a salamander, including tigers, is by observing their cloacal region, in males, espically during mating season, the males cloaca will appear to be slightly swollen, meaning they will have a swelling of the area right behind their hind legs at the base of the tail.
you should be cautious though and make sure that there is no unusual coloration, as well as swelling, such as red or marron on the underbelly of your salmander near the hind legs and tail, for this is a sign of redleg, a condition that is not common in salamanders, but is caused by a build up in toxins in the substrate. If this is witnessed, simply change the substrate.

Thanks for your help! Hopefully Beatrix and Polly will be able to keep their names after I check them out

Actually red leg is an infection which can be caused by a variety of different bacteria. If the salamander has redleg then changing the substrate will not cure it.

I would not consider redleg an uncommon infection in caudates.

Ed