Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey, I was wondering if any of you use a divided tank system, where one side of the tank is water and the other is land. I've seen them used before, like with turtles. Do tiger sallies enjoy this kind of set-up? MIne seem to enjoy taking a swim in their water dish, so I thought it might be nice to give them a little bit more. : ) If so, where could I find one of these for a reasonable price?

Divided terrariums are actually pretty easy to make. What you can do is take an allglass aquarium, cut a piece of thick plexiglass so it's flush to the three sides and use a nontoxic sealant to secure it in place. (Plexiglass is tough to cut with a saw as it tends to crack. I use a dremel tool with a silicone carbide wheel. the wheel heats as it cuts making the plexiglass pliable and therefore no cracking)After it sets and you check for leaks fill one half with water and the other with a layer of large gravel covered with a pesticide/fertilizer free soil/mulch mix and some live plants if thats your thing. However I dont know if tiger salamanders will do well in such a set up. Tigers love to hide out on dry land and don't necessarily need a large water sorce. What type of enclosure do you have them in now? I keep my fire salis in a 20 long with cypress mulch/live moss substrate and plenty of cork bark to hide under. I keep a small shallow dish filled at all times but they dont often use it. If you want to do the half and half terrarium try Fire belly toads or a similar species. I have my FBT's in a half and half and they love it. Its important to make regular water changes and if its a big water section you may want to use a filter like a fluval to keep the water circulating. good luck.

If you do use this type of setup for tiger salamders, make the land area at least 75% of the total. Most people just use a water dish large enough for complete immersion for this species.

Although that kind of tank looks neat, I wouldn't recommend it for 3 reasons. First, unless you have the right tools, it will cost you significant $ to get the glass/plexi cut to size. Second, it's difficult to prevent water from wicking into the substrate on the land side. And if the land side gets waterlogged, it's chore to fix it. Third, a tiger sal does not NEED any standing water. There's no harm in having a water dish for him to dip into, but it's not biologically necessary. My advice is stick with the simple arrangement that you have.

Actually, it's not expensive to make a tank divider. You can buy a piece of plexiglass and have it cut at Home Depot for a couple of dollars. Then aquarium sealant is only a few dollars too. And the divided tank setup is good for many different species, especially if you want to try and breed your salamanders next breeding season. I have also noticed that so called "completely terrestrial" salamanders will occasionally go into water if it's provided.

For my t. shanjing i'm using a vivarium split into 1:2 water-land. its a perspex divider, firmly fixed in place using aquarium safe silicone sealant - pretty easy to do but effective.

The pic below is of the whole tank. To see close ups of the water and land areas and pics of my mandarins go to the "newts" section of my homepage http://www.walkagood.vze.com

Best of luck

Mark

Zero - Mark Naguib's Latest Website