Question: Help! My Tiger Salamander is morphing, and I am leaving tomorrow!

[Audwar]

Hi!
I noticed this morning that my Tiger Salamander is starting to metamorphosis. His eyes are bugging out more and his gills are shrinking tremendously! I of course still have him in an aquatic set up with pool sand, a hiding place and a land/water area that I got at the pet store that is in the water part way and then floats on top of the water, so he will be able to get up on the land part. The problem is is that I know that he is fine in the aquatic set up till his outer gills completely go inside of his head, and by then he will have to be in another kind of set up that is land(w/ soil, etc.), but I am leaving tomorrow morning which is Sat. and will be back by that next evening. How long will it take him to completely metamorph?? Will he be ok till I get back on Sunday or should I do something different with his set up now? I do not want anything to happen to him!!!! Sorry if this question has been posted before!
Thank you in advance!

 

[Nathan050793]

Don't panic, If you will be back Sunday evening, he should be fine. Metamorphosis usually takes about a day or two, and he may even stay in the water a little while longer. My only other advice would be that you could add some rocks that break the surface, to provide him with another option to get out of the water. Good luck!

 

[Audwar]

Me again! Of course I am back and Slimy my Tiger Salamander was fine when I got back. I do have another question though(you can tell this is my first experience with a TS). I am not sure if my morphing Salamander is completely metamorphed yet. His gills have shrunk a lot and his tail still has a flat look to it, but I think I still see a VERY LITTLE bit of his gills. This morning he was completely on top of the land area I have for him, but when I used the turkey baster to get rid of his waste he went back into the water. Does that mean he can live safely on land and I need to change his half water and half land to full land (I know I am to have a little water bowl or something like that for him to get into)? Another thing that worried me was he was not real hungry last night when I fed him his nightcrawlers, and I know that when they are metomorphasing that they lose there appatite, but when I got up this morning the worms that he did eat he threw them all up. Is that normal?
I have read everything about how to do a full land set up when Slimy has Metamorphed so I am ready, but is he???
Thank you in advance!

 

[Nathan050793]

Firstly, If Slimy was entirely on land, this is him telling you that he is ready for a terrestrial tank. You are right about the water dish; I'd put one in the terrestrial tank anyway, in case he needs/wants to be in water. You are also right that during metamorphosis they may appear less inclined to eat than usual. I don't know why he regurgitated the earthworms, however, I'd keep feeding him as normally scheduled. You sound ready, and I think he's ready too. Good luck!

 

[Audwar]

Thank you so much!!!