Redback Noob (hope someone reads this)

[OliveSings]

I’ve read the caudataculture care sheets and lots of other information but still have a few remaining questions. I have two wild caught lead phase redbacks found in a crack in our driveway. They are in a partially set-up tank (partially cuz we didn’t really plan this and I know ideally we would have the tank properly cycled and all). It’s been about 3-4 weeks and they seem to be doing…fine? Or at least, no obvious illness or weight loss, and they eat.

Deets on the tank:
…5.5 g glass aquarium (on small side but the sals seem to be paired since they were found snuggled together with no other sals around, and still snuggle on occasion)
…70-90% humidity on average, 60-65 deg F
…DIY screen lid with removable sliding plexiglass that covers about half the screen
…Substrate is approximately 2/3-3/4 coco coir, 1/4 standard indoor potting soil, a few handfuls of perlite and pumice
…Plants include mood moss, frosty fern, and pothos
…Two 12” Barrina T5 LED lights on 12 hour cycle
…Two 2” pot “hides”
…A tiny bit of leaf litter but will be adding more

1. I haven’t “cleaned” their tank cuz I hardly ever see any poop. I *do* pick up dead bugs they haven’t eaten, but that’s mostly it so far. I haven’t even added cleanup crew yet (believe me, I’m still trying). Am I doing something wrong?

2. I’m pretty sure they have worms—see attached video for one example (EDIT: video was too large so I did a screenshot instead, sorry!) I don’t think fungus gnat larvae “whip around” in that manner, and I assume the worms are still alive, just burrowed in the soil. I saw them only once and not since then. I read this is normal in WC animals and requires no action unless they get sick. However, since their enclosure right now is kind of bare-bones, should they be treated preventatively?

3. I’ve found that the salamanders’ required temp range is below or at the lower end of many terrarium plants. All the plants in there are languishing. Are there other plants that grow (not just “survive”) in 70%+ humidity and low-mid 60s F? I’m also working on trying to get the humidity down.

4. Despite all I’ve read, I still don’t have a good idea of how much and how frequently to feed them. The most clear guidelines I’ve come across said to feed however much they can eat in 10 minutes, every 2-3 days. But they don’t usually come out to eat, I can only go by how much is leftover the following day, and even then, the mealworms probably all burrowed into the soil and the fruit flies are so tiny that it’s hard to tell how much is leftover. God knows where the one earthworm I put in there went.

4. Will springtails and isopods maintain a colony at this temp range? I did manage to find *one* springtail culture—a container at a petsmart dated late October so not in great condition—but I don’t think it’s thriving enough to put in the tank yet. There’s a good number of them but it’s not all-out infestation dense like the pics I see online. Is it supposed to look like that before adding them to the enclosure?

5. They sometimes seem overly docile bordering on lethargic. I freaked out at first, but they’ve been like that from the beginning, and 2 other redbacks that the kids caught in different parts of our yard on different days were totally the same way (those were both let go). Our neighborhood is about as urban as you can get in a mid-Atlantic metro area and still have a house with a yard. So finding salamanders, even a species that is probably boring to people on this website, was totally shocking to us. It’s not like what Ive read where someone lifts a log in the middle of a forest and there’s dozens. Should I still be concerned? Do urban red backs behave differently? Have they all been mildly poisoned by urban runoff?

Thank you for reading and apologies for the long post!!

 

[Herpin Man]

I've kept red-backs on occasion- I'll share my thoughts.
5.5 gallon is very small for a permanent enclosure. The lid should absolutely be escape proof. Red-backs can climb glass, and squeeze out through the a much smaller opening than you may realize.
The droppings are very small, and easy to overlook in a planted set up. If you can get some springtails and/or dwarf isopods going, they will consume much of the droppings. The salamanders may eat the isopods, too, so you should culture them outside of the enclosure as well.
I don't have any hard and fast rules for you about feeding schedules and amounts. The animals girth over time, as well as the time it takes for prey items to disappear, should give you an idea.
Red-backs have tiny mouths, which would suggest tiny prey- however, I have seen wild specimens regurgitate earthworms longer than they were! My favorite prey items for these guys are dusted fruit flies and tiny crickets. I would skip the mealworms, although lesser mealworms (Buffalo beetle larva) are smaller and contain less chitin. They will burrow, so should be fed in a tiny dish, sunken into the substrate. The salamanders will find them, and probably hang around the dish when they are hungry. They will also eat blackworms- feed in a Gatorade lid in a small amount of water.
Your humidity sounds fine, as long as the enclosure isn't overly wet. I'm no green thumb, but there are several plants I have successfully kept in cool terrariums like this: pothos, spider plant, heart leaf philodendron, grape ivy, wandering jew, etc.
The lethargy may be related to the cooler temps. If they were chemically poisoned, they would be dead. If you want to see them active, lightly mist the enclosure right at lights out, dump in some fruit flies, and come back with a flashlight in an hour or so. You will see them climbing in the plants, stalking and zapping the fruit flies.
Good luck, I think these are under rated little sallys.

 

[Newthanial]

The Herpin man is absolutely right! Springtails tails and isopods are a must in any terrestrial enclosure they will clean any mold and most likely handle the sals droppings and any decaying waste. I have a pair of northern two lined salamanders that are also a fairly common and overlooked species. I think they're stunning creatures and who cares what anyone else thinks. Definitely make sure any holes are non existent or on the lid are small enough so they can't get out because it is a usual occurrence for them to sneak out if they have a chance and I'm sure the last thing you want is to find the salamander you lost under your furniture shriveled like jerky. My two lines at this time of the year love hiding under their water bowl. It is common to not see them this time of the year so try not to worry. I have a glass Tupperware full of water and they must like cold and moisture it puts off cause they're most likely hiding under there or I have a pile of inert slate rocks that I properly cleaned and piled in a corner with cave like holes for them to hide in and usually soon as I mist the enclosure they go straight to the wet rocks. As far as food goes I feed all my newts and sals live blackworms from my local fish store. They absolutely love them and my 2 lines and cynops cyanurus wont eat anything else once they got blackworms. They only eat 2 or 3 times a week and I personally tweezer feed mine since they were in larvae form so I can see them both eat because they will skip meals or 1 will be out and other hiding. Most likely 1 will be eating more than the other but it is common to have a better eating sal or chunkier and one that's not as hungry as the other and sometimes visibly smaller it's okay for them to skip a meal this time of the year and even in warmer months. So I would encourage more spots for them to hide and climb and if you put a few spots for them to get cozy they like hides at different levels or heights of tank and that will allow for differ levels of moisture and humidity that they can find on their own. I personally only have a number of different mosses that I found outside in local woods but it's important to clean and sanitze moss so you don't introduce pests and disease. I quarantined the moss and made sure after a month or two there was no pest and it was growing on it's own. I personally had a mold issues in the beginning but as long as you try and pick up any tiny white balls of fungus and remove them from the enclosure should be okay. I would encourage spaghnum or spanish moss just because it's usually dry and holds more moisture and less you have to mist and less likely to grow mold. I plan on making a more aquatic setup in a month or two for my 2 lines and hope they are a mating pair. Mine are a year or two old. Do you plan on mating yours if they are a pair? Do you have pictures of them?