New here ??? about Tiger salamanders

I just picked up 5 tiger salamanders this pass weekend and currently have them house in a 30g green plastic bin with 2-3" of eco earth substrate with a large flat waterdish. So far they all have eating great, just like how tigers are supposed to, even got them eating from feeding tong already.


A few questions, what kind of signs I should look for in the next few weeks or months to make sure I got healthy animals? Anything special I should do to ensure the best care possible? What kind of precautions I can take to [SIZE=-1]minumise[/SIZE] risk of transferring illnesses to my other amphibians. I keep two pyxie frogs and a pacman frog (cranwelli). I use the same tong to feed all my animals, should I get another one to reduce the risk of transferring illnesses? I do run the tong in very hot water for 5-10 minutes after each feeding (hope it's enough).


I do dust their foods with calcium and vitamin supplements (not at same time). Crickets are gutload for at least 24 hrs prior to feeding. Food they're have eaten, crickets, lobster roaches, and nightcrawlers.


Link to some pics I took of them.

http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?p=126929#post126929

It sounds like you are generally doing things right - I suspect you don't deserve the "noob" in your username.

A better way to sanitize the feeding tongs would be to soak them between uses. You could use various things for this, such as diluted bleach, diluted Nolvasan, or rubbing alcohol. You would need to be sure to rinse off all chemicals before using them again. In the long run, you might find it easier to have a separate pair of tongs for each group of animals.

Jennewt said:

A better way to sanitize the feeding tongs would be to soak them between uses. You could use various things for this, such as diluted bleach, diluted Nolvasan, or rubbing alcohol. You would need to be sure to rinse off all chemicals before using them again. In the long run, you might find it easier to have a separate pair of tongs for each group of animals.

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I just want to note that you will not want to use a sanitizer if you are using porous tongs like the bamboo set that are sold at PetCo. Also, over time diluted bleach can corrode metal so it might be best to go with denatured ethyl alcohol or rubbing (isopropyl) acohol. Sterilizing would be a good practice even if you do get an extra set of tongs, which I would recommend.

It's certainly been the perfect weather for picking up tiger salamanders in the TC area with all the rain lately. I managed to find some chorus frogs, Pseudacris triseriata on a rainy day walk the other day.

Thanks for the response.


I was fortunate enough that I also frogs so basically I just used the same things for the salamanders.

The tong I'm using is 12" stainless. I'll pickup a bottle of a rubbing alcohol.


The lady I got it from said her son finds them in window sills (think that's what they're called, them underground windows). So I'm guessing these were out and about doing same feedings before it's too cold.