husband rescued a salamander...now what?

[moondncr]

Hi all. This is my first post here. My husband rescued a salamander yesterday, and I believe I've indentified it as a Barred Tiger Salamander. He also told my 6 year old that we could keep it. :wacko: Now what do we do with it? I've searched online, but there's a lot to process, and I just really need someone to tell me what to go buy for it first. I ran by the local pet shop this morning, but they were less than helpful. I'd really like to be able to go get what we need after I pick my son up from school today. Right now the salamander is just in a plastic box with the lid askew, but I know it needs an actual setup. I was just going to suggest we release it outside, but then he went and told my son we could keep it. Now, he's super excited and has even named it.

Thank you in advance!!

K.

 

[Azhael]

Well, the first thing would be to check if it´s legal. I don´t know much about your laws so checking just in case might be a good idea.
If it´s legal to catch and keep them, then you just need some chemical free soil, or coco fiber, a small dish of water(2-3 cm deep is good enough) and some cork bark to provide hides. Keep the soil moist but not wet, and feed it earthworms, slugs, dusted crickets, cockroaches, waxworms, etc. They are known for being agressive eaters so i bet you won´t have trouble with getting it to eat.

 

[Neuter]

Does it look like the salamander from this picture? Here is a care sheet.

http://www.wnyherp.org/care-sheets/amphibians/tiger-salamander.php

I am a new keeper myself and do not know the species so I can't give much helpful information but there is one thing you should not do.

DO NOT give it any tap water. Chlorine is very dangerous for newts and salamanders. Don't worry, if you keep it you do not need to get it bottled water, you can buy powder in petstores to make tap water safe.

If you want to use untreated tap water, leave it out in a containenr open to the air for 24 hours. A bottle has too small of an opening, a bowl is better, that will get rid of much of the chlorine.

Also, as much as your son may love it, salamanders are look but don't touch pets. You won't kill it by touching it as you take care of it, but their limbs are gentle and it is not all that hard for a 6 year old to break them. Their skin is sensitive and absorbs things which cause your hands no problem, but will give it trouble. A fun thing for your son to do without touching it will be to dangle food in front of it, so he still feels involved. Don't worry that it is so fragile but touching it will poison it immediatly, but lots of contact with them is bad for them.

Also, good news, in the right conditions they can be long lived pets! They are not expensive to setup either.

 

[IanF]

Unfortunately the survival rates for wild animals being kept is quite low, so your best option is to release it. If you are going to keep it though, here is a reliable care sheet http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Ambystoma/A_tigrinum.shtml . It's alot to take in so here's a run down. First you'll need a substrate of sterile top soil and a mixture of coconut fibre. You'll need to keep the tank moist. Also add several hiding places and mabey a plant or two. A 15 gallon terrarium is suitable for one. Any water you use in the tank to spray or fill a water bowl with must be dechlorinated.
Feeding should be a variety of worms, crickets, etc. This is a very BASIC idea of what you'll need so make sure to read through that link. Anyway good luck, hope it goes well.

 

[Kaysie]

And tigers can climb, so leaving the lid askew is asking for trouble!