Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I found a lesser siren yesterday and put it in a 10 gallon tank that already contains a small bullhead catfish and a couple of mosquitofish. The siren is about 6 inches long. None of the fish are over an inch and a half. Would this be sufficient as a temporary setup for the siren? Has anyone kept a similar amphibian? I'd like to get any other care info that you have.

Also, I am fairly sure it is a lesser siren. I live in East Texas so that rules out a greater siren. Dark color, eel-like with only two small forelegs. All the pictures I've seen though, have very noticeable external gills. I can hardly tell if the one I caught has external gills or not. Any ideas?

Thanks

If it looks like it doesn't have external gills then you may have found a three toed amphiuma. (Look very closely for 4 very small legs)

See http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Amphiuma/Amphiuma.shtml for the three toed's care and
see http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Siren/S_intermedia.shtml for a lesser siren.

Ed

When I first caught it I thought it was an amphiuma, but it only has two legs. After closer inspection I see that it does have very small external gills. Nothing as large as the pictures I've seen of this species. I wonder if this is because of the time of year it was found? I'm sure it was getting ready to hibernate for the winter. It was hardly moving at all. Now that it has warmed up though it is extremely quick. I don't see how anybody would catch one during the summer months.

Thanks for the link, that will help out a lot.