I am taking care of a pet for a female friend of mine. She bought at the mall in some kiosk. She told me they were selling it as an "pre[bleep]oric Water Dragon" or some crap like that. She did her internet research and assumed that what she had was an Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicana). That did not bode well with me. It looked like a cannibalistic larval tiger salamander to me. I have never seen a actual tiger except in slides and pictures in books.
I even looked at Cuadata.org and everything that site told me I was caing for a tiger salamnder. I told her I was wrong to shut her up because she was right.
I noticed a few days ago that his gills were shrinking, but I thought I was going crazy or something. Today I looked at his gills and hey were extremely reduced. I figured by the end of the weekend he'd be ready to come out of the tank and into a new setup.
A few hours later he is resting at the top of the water clinging onto some fake vegetation with his nostrils out of water. I knew that it was time. He had switched to his lungs. I have him in a small rubbermaid container just for the weekend with some sphagnum moss I pulled out of my leopard gecko cage. I need to buy some more. So anyway...fun story. I was right. I just can't wait to see her face when she thinks I switched her salamander for another one. "Sexy" just ate his first terrestrial meal or earthworms. yaay! I'll get setup ideas by checkin out the posts and going to caudata. Welcome to amphibs! I'm sure I'll have to keep this tiger now. She can't have land animals in the dorm. Happy Easter. Bye.
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14 Leopard Geckos 5.9.0
2 Tokay Geckos 2.0.0
1 Graybanded Kingsnake 1.0.0 (on vacation in my house)
1 Baird's Rat Snake (Thanks Vadoni!) 1.0.0
1.0 Ambystoma tigrinum
