Fire salamanders arrived!

[petlover516]

Yeah!
Today my 2 juvenile S.s.gallaica arrived! Right now I'm letting them acclimate. Last time I checked they were busily exploring the perimeter of the tank together. They are very well-colored, black with scattered yellow spots and a splotch of purple-red on their face, mostly on the paratnoid gland. 1 of them likes to burrow and the other likes to hide in his moss that came with them when they arrived. They are in a 15-gallon glass aquarium(24"x12"x12"), with Coconut Husk fiber as a substrate, a red incandescent dome light, a plain rock in the corner of the tank, a water bowl, and the moss they came with. Unfortunately, a piece of grapewood I had in there started to grow fungus, so I took it out just before the salamanders arrived. So tommorrow me and my Dad are going to get plastic plants, a new piece of wood-type decor, a small rock to climb ib/out of the steep water dish, and maybe another clump of moss, as well as crickets(with a gutloading container) and vitamin food dust. Pictures will be a definate tomorrow, and maybe a feeding video.

(Note from John: This is not advanced section material)

 

[benw]

Glad you have some salamanders and i hope you do well with them, but 2 things have alarm bells ringing in my post that could harm your sals

1 the incandescent light, sals need to be kept cool, and lights like this can very quickly turn a tank into a greenhouse with fatal consequences, they need to be under 20c, so i would serious, look at alternative lighting.

2 the deep water bowl, a shallow one please unles you stones in the bottom so there is water in the that wont allow the sal to getits head under the water, they arent very good at swimming, and only use the bowl to deposit young or hydrate themselves.

Sorry to be negative on these points but if not corrected you could have a couple of dead Galliaca.

Ben

 

[Azhael]

Ben is absolutely right.
The light needs to go out right away. This species is very sensitive to heat, and quickly stresses out, which then can develop in skin infections, anorexia, or sudden death. Keep them cool and they´ll thrive, and when these animals thrive they are an asbolute joy.

 

[petlover516]

Sure.
1.Well luckily my Dad has a whole lot of fish tanks, and probably has 24" fluerescent lying around somewhere.
2.Ok I'll try looking for a shallower 1 today.