Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have recently been given an adult tiger salamander... i have experience with frogs and turtles and some native salamanders (duskys and two lines) but never had one that required more land than water.. right now it is in a 20L with eco earth bedding, driftwood hiding spots and a large philodendron (sp?) plant from home depot.. and areas of moss in the hiding spots and around the driftwood.. as of right now i have a large shallow dish of water for him to get in... i am looking to setup a more permenent and naturalistic tank for him.. he seems to mess the water up daily so i am not sure if simple is better, if i set something up with a larger filtered body of water, will it still stay dirty all the time? im changing it out twice a day as of now.. a lot of it seems to be that he drags the dirt into the dish with him...

what i am thinking is a 30 gallon with 1/3 of the tank as shallow water.. with the frogs and turtles i would do this with sloping gravel and large rocks keeping the water on one side but i am concerned that he might end up eating the gravel... if anyone has a link to some pictures of a tiger setup or how to's it would be greatly appreciated...

the other question is .. will he trample and destroy if i landscape with plants... also how do you tell male from female?

thanks so much in advance. .
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my pets: clown treefrogs, reed frogs, big eyed treefrogs, tiger leg monkey frogs, gray treefrogs, milk frogs, cuban treefrogs, whites tree frog, green treefrogs, squirrel treefrogs, blue webbed gliding treefrog, chameleon treefrogs?, dusky salamanders, tiger salamander, veiled chameleon, box turtles, mud turtle, map turtle, yellowbelly slider, florida softshell, two saltwater tanks, four cats, two chinchillas, and a boyfriend.

oh also, would it benefit from having a friend or are they ok on their own? if its not difficult i might try breeding him or her...
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my pets: clown treefrogs, reed frogs, big eyed treefrogs, tiger leg monkey frogs, gray treefrogs, milk frogs, cuban treefrogs, whites tree frog, green treefrogs, squirrel treefrogs, blue webbed gliding treefrog, chameleon treefrogs?, dusky salamanders, tiger salamander, veiled chameleon, box turtles, mud turtle, map turtle, yellowbelly slider, florida softshell, two saltwater tanks, four cats, two chinchillas, and a boyfriend.

Tigers are terrestrial salamanders. The only time the adults go to water is to breed. They spend almost their entire lives underground in tunnels only surfacing to breed or during heavy rains. They breathe air with lungs even though when breeding they can absorb oxygen through the skin underwater. They are bast kept alone with no other tiger or other amphibian and especially turtles. Tigers are solitary except for breeding. They are voraciuos eaters consuming anything they can overpower. They breed in predatorless waters, meaning no fish, turtles or other species of salamanders that may eat the eggs. The enclosure should be all land and kept moist and humid but not hot. They require no light or heat source. The light can cause skin cancer and heat would dry them out. You can use a low wattage/low or no heat nocturnal light since they are never out during daylight hours. Males tend to be thinner looking than females and their tales are much longer and "paddle like". Females are plump looking with shorter stocky tales. Hope this helps you some. Let me know how it goes
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"I am all that is Divine, I am all that is Evil.
I am the one who brings forth Death,
On the wings of a Weevil." JSKII

so does he still need a dish of water? or is he just knocking dirt in it as he roams around at night?
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my pets: clown treefrogs, reed frogs, big eyed treefrogs, tiger leg monkey frogs, gray treefrogs, milk frogs, cuban treefrogs, whites tree frog, green treefrogs, squirrel treefrogs, blue webbed gliding treefrog, chameleon treefrogs?, dusky salamanders, tiger salamander, veiled chameleon, box turtles, mud turtle, map turtle, yellowbelly slider, florida softshell, two saltwater tanks, four cats, two chinchillas, and a boyfriend.

I agree with almost everything you said except the statement that light causes skin cancer. What reference are you basing this on? I’ve kept Tigers in naturalistic settings for decades with plants, mosses logs etc. and the lighting I’ve used to keep the plants healthy has never been a problem. I’d be most interested if you could point out a reference to skin cancer in salamanders caused by fluorescent or any other kind of lighting.

I must say that i disagree with some of what was said regarding a tiger salamander set up. I have kept several tiger salamanders over the years including one that i have had right now for over 8 years. Some seem to enjoy having a area of water in which to go for a swim, in fact i had one tiger salamander who almost never came out of the water even though over 2/3 of the cage was a terrestrial forest floor set up. I would offer the salamander the choice of going for the occasional swim. Having a water componet to the setup also makes it easier to maintain a high humidity level for the tiger. If you want to sex the salamander you can look at the appearance of the cloaca to sex the animal, there are probably some pics online showing the difference.

Adult tigers do not 'go for a swim' in their natural habitat. The only reason they may choose water over land is that there is something wrong with the land habitat they're offered.

Keep your tiger in a terrestrial set up. a small water dish may be offered. I keep one in with my ambystomids. They usually just burrow under it.

First, sexing is so easy.. Look at the anul area. and if you see a large bulge..those are the testies..if you see nothing..it is a girl.. Plus there is the shape of body, females are round in middle..like humans, and males are slim built with larger heads..again, like humans..

I keep my male/female pair in 30 long with bed-a-beast soil, several half log hides and very large water bowl. The male likes to soak often, but female rarely goes in it..except when very hot in house.. I tried using pothos plants and they just rooted them up with their digging. If you need a natural look.. go for silk or plastic plants..Or keep plants in pots and change them out often.

tigers do ok with others.. I have always had more then one in same tank and have done so for over 15 years... (10 with same animal).. They WILL compete for food, they WILL eat anything that moves and MIGHT fit into mouth.. Including other tigers. So make sure you have same sized animals. I do not know if males are territorial with other males.. I only keep one male & 2 females in each setup..

hope this helps some..

sorry i wrote a book..i tend to do that

harpy
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Have You Hugged Your Herp Today?

#1: The reference to the skin cancer is from a book I read over 10 yrs ago that a friend of mine had on amphibian diseases. I no longer know where my friend is as I have moved to South Carolina and he went back to Florida after his divorce. The cancer would be from exposure to high outputs of UVB. I have a 3-toed amphiuma that I know for a fact has gotten skin cancer from this. It was lucky to be benign, but none the less skin cancer. Now I know an amphiuma is nothing like a tiger. But it doesn't matter if the tiger is wild caught or captive bred it's genteic makeup is not changed. These salamanders almost never see any kind of light that puts out UVB.
#2: I've been keeping tigers for over 11 yrs and I have never, ever had to provide a "swimming area" in their enclosures. When it was time to try and breed them I had a special container(childs swimming pool) fixed up with aquatic vegetation and areas on the sides for getting out if and when they wanted to. As far as their permanent homes yea I would put in a dish of water or bowl(sunk below dirt level) but I kept the enclosure well sealed with minimal ventilation to provide high humidity.
But just forget all that I have said as my experiences are just too unjustified for anyone else to believe.
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"I am all that is Divine, I am all that is Evil.
I am the one who brings forth Death,
On the wings of a Weevil." JSKII

do any of you have pictures of you salamander setups? i cant find any good ones on google... would like some idea of where to start... also.. any suggestions on plants? thanks so much for the information already provided.. !
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my pets: clown treefrogs, reed frogs, big eyed treefrogs, tiger leg monkey frogs, gray treefrogs, milk frogs, cuban treefrogs, whites tree frog, green treefrogs, squirrel treefrogs, blue webbed gliding treefrog, chameleon treefrogs?, dusky salamanders, tiger salamander, veiled chameleon, box turtles, mud turtle, map turtle, yellowbelly slider, florida softshell, two saltwater tanks, four cats, two chinchillas, and a boyfriend.

Skin cancer is not benign. You can't have a benign cancer. All cancer is malignant. That's the definition of cancer.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/popularity_kills/detail?.dir=ca48&.dnm=0d5e.jpg&.src=ph

If you can access this, this is a picture of one of my Ambystomatid setups. It currently has more plants in it though. I use Pothos ivy in all my tanks. It grows in any condition. Indestructable!