Fire salamanders

[carl]

i have had a e-mail of a site member selling them and i was thinking of buying one but when you house them in a vivarium does it not smell where do you get the soil leaves from because they may have a parasites and how moist do they like there vivarium

 

[mike]

Hi Carl,
If you want a naturalistic set-up, and are concerned about the soil turning sour, use a bag of soil-based potting compost..."John Innes No.3" gives good results.
Stack pieces of cork bark and broken clay flower pots for hides, instead of using leaves. The fire sals can then choose where they feel comfortable.
The substrate should be damp at all times, ferns do well in this type of vivarium as they don't need strong light, and spraying them will keep the humidity high.
If feeding earthworms to your salamanders, use a pair of tweezers to hand feed them, so that you know how much they have eaten.

 

[carl]

thanks mike that was very useful

 

[jacqui]

Hi, I'm new to this forum. I would appreciate some advice.....

I would like to get some Gallaica Salamanders, I have a 140lt tank with hood. I'm hoping to get 6 of these creatures, is the tank big enough?? I do not want to breed the sals, how do i avoid this if i have male and females in together? Is it something to do with changing the temperatures?

I'm going to use cocoa brick and spagnum moss as the substrates. Will be using cork bark for hidey holes and plastic vines for decoration. The temperature within the tank will be between 16 and 19C.

If anyone is able to help a 'newbie sals keeper' i would like to hear from you, your help will be invaluable.

Jax

 

[mike]

Hi Jax,

Welcome to Caudata.org

What are the dimensions of a 140 litre tank?

Breeding Salamandra is all about temperature differentials, more so than what you propose.