Hi, and Help

[lscalong]

Hi,

I am new to this forum. I am 47 years old, am mostly into keeping and raising North American Native Fishes, and have always enjoyed amphibians, going out and looking in the woods and ponds, playing with frogs, turtles, fish and anything else I came across. I guess you could say I just never grew out of being that curious little boy!

Anyway, I have come into the possession of some larval salamanders that now have morphed out and am wondering what they may be. When I received them I was told they were newts, I did not disagree because I had never seen them before at that stage in the wild or any where else, and this person I believed to be knowledgeable. Needless to say he was wrong. If possible, I would like to know at what stage they are, so I have attached a few pictures to help with Identification. My guess is… A. maculatum, but I have only seen this once a long time ago and at the adult size. I did not know until recently that they morph out allot smaller than the adults. (They are about 1"1/2 to 2" inches long. I am more familiar with Tiger salamanders which morph out much larger. I would also like to know how to care for them, but I guess I can find that out in other areas of this forum. I have been feeding fruit fly and whiteworms, but have not see them eating. They are in a tank with damp sphagnum peat moss. Any info would be helpful. I am sure I will have a great time looking at this site and participating in this forum.

Leo S. Long
Troy, MI

 

[amkid247]

to me they look like spotted salamanders too. i actually grew two from larvals this summer! but i dont have that much experience. they look like their spots are a bit dark though almost as if they havnt fully grown out yet, but then again they also look really tiny! maybe someone else can help though... you can follow the same guidelines as tiger salamanders with these guys.

 

[oregon newt]

Re: Hi and Help

It looks like A. maculatum to me. Care for most species of the genus ambystoma is the same http://caudata.org/cc/species/Ambystoma/A_tigrinum.shtml It sounds like you're doing everything right, but I would get rid of the spanghum moss because i believe it's too acidic. Any more of your questions can probably be answered at caudata.org/cc

 

[flatsco]

I'd say it's a caucasian salamander (M. caucasica). I think your pictures bear a striking resemblance to the 1st and 3rd pictures there (body color and the gold spots in #1), but I've never actually seen one of these before, so I'm mainly guessing here. I'll leave the identification to the experts (I just wanted to give it a shot).

 

[jbherpin]

Re: Hi and Help

Hi,

I am new to this forum. I am 47 years old, am mostly into keeping and raising North American Native Fishes, and have always enjoyed amphibians, going out and looking in the woods and ponds, playing with frogs, turtles, fish and anything else I came across. I guess you could say I just never grew out of being that curious little boy!

Anyway, I have come into the possession of some larval salamanders that now have morphed out and am wondering what they may be. When I received them I was told they were newts, I did not disagree because I had never seen them before at that stage in the wild or any where else, and this person I believed to be knowledgeable. Needless to say he was wrong. If possible, I would like to know at what stage they are, so I have attached a few pictures to help with Identification. My guess is… A. maculatum, but I have only seen this once a long time ago and at the adult size. I did not know until recently that they morph out allot smaller than the adults (They are about 1"1/2 to 2" long). I am more familiar with Tiger salamanders which morph out much larger. I would also like to know how to care for them, but I guess I can find that out in other areas of this forum. I have been feeding fruit fly and whiteworms, but have not see them eating. They are in a tank with damp sphagnum peat moss. Any info would be helpful. I am sure I will have a great time looking at this site and participating in this forum.

Leo S. Long
Troy, MI

These look like Spotted Salamanders to me. Care, I agree can be similar to Tiger Sals, but I'd also include waxworms in the dietary offering as well as red wiggler tips, which is basically the very tip ends of small earth worms. From my experience newly metamorphed sals respond to this as long as you take time to place "tips" within view. Moss can be used, and the last "poster" was right, acidic levels can build up over time easily with a moss medium. Also prey can hide easily in moss. My recomendation is to keep set-up as simple as possible until reliable feeding has been observed.