Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all! I'm a snake owner, and I've been left with a salamander who I don't know what to do with. A friend of mine from work found the little guy in the wood pile in her basement, and by then it was too cold to put him outside, she said, so she kept him. She's moving to another state ina few days, so she left him with me, thinking that I could care for him, since I have experience with snakes. I'm willing to try, but I know nothing about salamanders. I've tried looking up care sheets, but they all say something different, and there are, apparently, salamanders that live on land, some in the water, and some in between. I have no idea which he is.

I live in Maine, and the ground is covered with snow right now. He's a little black guy with yellow spots. He's about four inches long from head to tail tip. My friend told me she put worms in his tub, which he probably ate because she hasn't seen any worms, live or dead, in his tub. I have a pair of geckos, so we have mealworms at all times. Can we feed him small mealworms? I'm planning to put him in a larger tub with a water tub in one end. He's just on backyard dirt right now, which we've been keeping damp. He has a piece of bark to hide under. Does he need any heat? Our house is around 68 degrees at all times.

I'd really like this guy to live through the winter so we can let him loose in the spring. Thanks in advance for the help!!

- Victoria

You have a spotted salamander. Go to the species account on www.caudata.org and follow that care sheet.

RUSS

Hi, that last person gave you crap information. Just follow this information I am going to give you, It is information for a tiger salamander, but just go with it, and every time it says tiger salamander, but in spotted salamander.

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Adults can be maintained in a variety of enclosures depending on the keeper’s wishes. The simplest enclosure is a large plastic storage box. Alternatively, the salamander can be housed in an aquarium or other enclosure that allows better viewing.

Substrates in tiger salamander enclosures should be moisture retentive to provide for adequate humidity to prevent desiccation of the salamander. There should ideally be a moisture gradient in the enclosure to allow the salamander to osmoregulate. This can be accomplished by sloping the substrate from one side of the enclosure to the other. All substrates used in terrestrial salamander enclosures should have the pH of the substrate checked prior to placing the salamander on the substrate. It has been shown that substrates with a low pH, like peat moss or sphagnum moss, may cause ion loss and eventual death of the animal. One option is moistened unbleached paper towels, with crumpled pieces of moist paper towels provide hiding areas to minimize stress. These bare enclosures are excellent for quarantine purposes and collection of fecal samples for parasite checks. To prevent accumulation of bacteria, paper toweling must be changed every few days, or when soiled. More natural substrates include moist topsoil or coconut fiber bedding. Soil should be changed every one to two months, and feces removed daily.

If the salamanders have a substrate that does not allow them to burrow, then alternative hideouts need to be provided to relieve stress. If the keeper desires to observe the salamander in its burrow, the terrarium can be constructed with a center area consisting of gravel. Loose soil is provided around the center area to allow for burrowing. Pieces of PVC tubing can be cut in half and placed with the cut side against the window with an entrance above the soil level. If the side of the tank is covered with dark paper the salamanders will adopt the burrows and the paper can be removed when observations are desired. A water bowl may or may not be necessary depending upon the moisture gradient in the soil. However a water bowl will help prevent deaths due to desiccation as the salamander will retreat to the water bowl if the soil becomes too dry. If a water bowl is included in the enclosure, then the water should be changed either when it is soiled or every few days with dechlorinated tap water.

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Feed him worms, and occasionally cricket covered with reptile calcium powder. When the weather gets back up, release that little guy close to where you found him, that will be awesome. Try some of these ideas for the enclosure

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/setups3.shtml

Good luck, and I would love an update! Email me anytime at MarkMark6464@yahoo.com .
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Mark B.

What is wrong with the info on caudata.org as you copied the information from the care sheet I (and two other people on that site) placed on that site without my permission, the permission of the authors or the permission of that web site?
See http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Ambystoma/A_tigrinum.shtml

Also the information on marble salamanders works just as well
http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Ambystoma/A_opacum.shtml

Ed

Mark, the information given by Rust is not "crap". It may be incomplete, but I see nothing wrong with it. You, on the other hand, are copying text from another website without telling where the information came from. That is called plagiarism, and it is both unethical and possibly illegal. Next time, just give the person a link to the information.

Wow! What I meant to say, was giving someone a link to caudata will not solve all there problems! I was simply trying to help this other person by using information from caudata culture, Here is the link that I forgot to put in, and got everyone so mad at me for.

http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Ambystoma/A_tigrinum.shtml
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Mark B.