Help with imported flower stowaway

[haley]

My friends at a local flower shop received a little one-eyed surprise on the bird of paradise they imported from South America and sent him home with me today. They've had him for over two weeks and have put crickets in, but they don't know if he's eaten. I've had newts/salamanders before, but I didn't know if there was anything special/specific I should do for this fella.

 

[Kaysie]

That's a Bolitoglossa. I couldn't begin to tell you which species though. Here's a link to the photo gallery; you can browse through and see if any species fit the bill. It's helpful if you know what area it was collected from. Maybe your friend can remember if it was written on the packaging or something.

These guys are extremely rare in the pet trade, and usually don't thrive long in captivity. What is your setup like?

You could also try contacting Dick Bartlett. He's quite the expert on tropical herps (and bugs and all manner of things). He may be able to point you in the right direction.

 

[haley]

Thanks for the quick reply. I went through a Bolitoglossa gallery on another site but couldn't seem to match him up. Maybe this one will help. I want to say this batch was from Mexico.

I just brought him home, so I haven't set anything up yet; I wanted to make sure there weren't any wildly different environment needs before I put something together so I didn't have to end up relocating him twice. He's currently in a small tank with a chunk of moss (what they had him in at their shop).

 

[Kaysie]

The best setup for these guys is something with lots of foliage and 'levels', and a big moisture gradient. You can try stacking up cork-bark and misting the substrate (not the bark) so the bottom is damper than the top. I think almost all of these species are arboreal, so I would definitely try to grow some plants (pothos is a good ol' standby).

Hopefully someone with more information will see this. I know Tim Teharman has kept this species at the zoo, as has Ed K., I think.

Good luck!

 

[Jan]

See if these threads may help:

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-...plethodon-etc/49991-tropical-salamanders.html

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-...don-etc/72219-bolitoglossa-dofleini-pics.html

 

[nwmnnaturalist]

Poor little guy! I'm sure he's had a very rough trip. Thanks for helping him out.

For something of that size, I would recommend getting Springtails or Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies. Ed's Fly Meat is an online store that I purchase mine from, and they are very reasonable in price and helpful.

Buying small potted plants requires a bit of careful practice. When I buy them, I wash the leaves and plant material off as much as possible, rinse them a few times afterwards and also change out as much soil as I can. That makes it less likely that chemicals are left behind that can harm them. You can also buy plants from growers that specifically grow plants for these situations.

You can substitute real plants for fake terrarium plants and plastic-based fake foliage until you have some good stock growing. Rinsing is still a good idea. For misting, I recommend distilled water. It's safer and also doesn't leave hard water stains!