Keeping a Northern Red Salamander

[michele]

<font color="aa00aa">Hi! I just found what I believe is a Northern Red Salamander. I found the little guy lying in the middle of a parking lot and decided to keep him as he would have surely been squished by a car. I have never had a pet salamander before and I need some info on what to do to keep 'Sally' happy and healthy. From his (or her) size and color I think it is a sub-adult. He's about 3 inches long. I got a 2.5 gallon glass aquarium (the 10 gallon will have to wait a couple of weeks because I'm kind of poor right now) and some moist Bed-A-Beast to keep him in. Tomorrow I'm getting something for him to hide in, a water dish, some silk plants, thermometer and hygrometer, and some tiny crickets. I have calcium dust for the crickets and some small newt pellets already. What else can I do to make sure he will do well? I got him home today and put him in the moist bedding and he burrowed right in and appears to be sleeping now. I'd like to make sure I can take good care of him and I'd also like to know if any of you have a Northern Red Salamander? Any tips for the newt noob (me) would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! </font>

 

[paris]

a photo would help ID it for sure -if it isnt a red sal (could also be a spring sal) the husbandry will be different depending on it. i keep spring sals which are similar to reds in husbandry (and also in the fact they are lungless). the bed a beast probably isnt a good idea-these are stream side salamanders and im not sure if damp bed a beast will be ideal-the water dish will be too little -you may want to reverse the set up-put mostly water in it and put dirt/rocks in the water dish. my springs are kept mostly in a water set up-but with lots of cork bark tubes and stacks of water tolerant wood on top of the water level. heat is going to be you biggest problem - since they dont have lungs they must be damp to exchange oxygen and the warmer the temp -the more water will evaporate and the less oxygen water will hold-since the set up is so small both water quality and temp will not be as stable as in a larger set up. here is a link with some data on them from caudata culture -i know of a few who keep them and i would expect they will post something more definite for you soon
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/Pseudotriton.shtml

 

[michele]

Well, I tried getting a pic of him, but he was pretty annoyed with me for uncovering him and was in the process of burrowing back into the substrate when I took this. It was the best of 4 I could get before he was buried with just his tail sticking out. Sorry it is so blurry, I did not want to blind him with a flash. There is a lot of the Bed-A-Beast stuck to him in this pic, I was hesitant to try and wipe it off as I don't really want to handle him and risk hurting him. If this isn't helpful I'll try to get another pic with my webcam and see if that comes out any better. I'm sort of confused about you saying it is a creature found near streams...there is no creek, ditch, stream or any running water near where I found him.

http://photopile.com/photos/pissy_kitty/Misc/152765.jpg

 

[paris]

from the spots he looks like a red but he seems to match the substrate -is he red or brown? had it been raining in that area-or is there a bog or swamp near?

 

[michele]

He is red. He looks exactly like a Red Salamander in pictures I found online while I was Googling to figure out what kind of salamander he is. I'm going back to my store today to get what I need to make it more of an aquatic setup and I will get a better pic to show you what he looks like after he's gotten into some water and rinsed himself off. Sorry about the crappy pic from last night, I just didn't want to stress him out any more by handling him and I didn't want to put him in a cup of water since I don't have any water conditioner to put in it. I didn't realize chlorine was an issue with these critters just like for fish so I thought it best to leave him alone for the time being. I'll be back soon with better pics and some better water for him!

 

[michele]

Here is a better pic, after I let him swim in some dechlorinated water to rinse off. Is he a northern Red for sure?
http://photopile.com/photos/pissy_kitty/Misc/152796.jpg

 

[michele]

I work at a new PETsMART store not far from Greer. I found him yesterday when I went out for a smoke break at 2pm. It had rained a little that morning, Paris was asking about that. It was cool and cloudy and he had crawled pretty far out onto the asphalt, right out where some cars go around the back of the building. I remember seeing one as a kid when I was goofing around in the woods with my cousin around here, so when I found this little guy I just wanted to keep him. He would have gotten killed in the parking lot if I had not picked him up. I thought of a friend I had in Michigan that kept a salamander she found in her basement. He was about 8" long and she had him for 3 years when I last saw her. She kept him in a 10 gallon tank with moist dirt in it and fed him crickets and worms.
Sally's now in a new 'house' I made for him out of a plastic rock thingy for fish tanks.He headed right for it after I made it and took his pic. I put some dusted little crickets in the tank with him, there were 7 but I only see 3 now...maybe he ate. It is 72 degrees in the tank and 85% humidity. Do you think he'll be all right?

 

[edward]

I would suggest trying to keep the tank a little cooler than the 72 F. As long as most of the tank is aquatic you really don't need to worry about the humidity as the salamander will be moist.

Ed

 

[al]

They seem to do well in a mostly aquatic tank that has many hiding areas/rocks and plants. Good filtration as well. They are found near large streams in "seepage areas" among rocks and wet leaf litter. I've heard they are in wet lands and bogs as well, but have never came across any there. Keeping him in cool temperatures will be crucial in the summer months. A basement is good. They love earth worms and night crawlers. I had one that would eat from my fingers once he associated my movements with food. They turn a darker salmon color when they get older (may be only with females though). That one seems pretty large, he is at least well over 5-7 years old (they have a long larva period up to 3-5 years)
I think they are one of the most beautiful local species we have around here (NC). Good luck.
Al

 

[michele]

Ed, I have my house at 70 degrees right now, how can I keep the tank cooler than that? I don't have him in an aquatic setup right now, I will get a bigger tank and what I need to do that when I get paid. Do you have any suggestions for keeping the tank cooler than the room when I have the aquatic setup going? I'm making sure now to keep him moist and as cool as I can (I like a dark, cool environment myself, hahaha) until I can get a bigger tank and some gravel, an underwater filter, etc. Will I need a chiller, perhaps? Since we're heading into fall keeping it cool in here won't be a problem since I'm a cool weather-loving person anyway, but it might be when summer rolls around again.
I don't see any crickets hopping about this morning...could he have eaten 7 of those little boogers in one night or are they hiding? I don't want to poke around in there to find out and disturb him. He hides all the time. I'll look and see if the crickets are still in there when I get home, about 10:30pm. How often does a salamander need to eat? Will he need crickets every day? I'm going to go get some small earthworms from a bait shop tomorrow to see if he likes them too. I once heard mealworms can eat their way out of a reptile's stomach if you don't cut their heads off, so I think I'll avoid them.
I'm glad you guys don't mind all my questions, I really want to make a nice home for Sally. I poked around a bit on this board last night and realized I put this topic in the wrong place, it probably should be in the Newt and Salamander Help thread. Sorry about that! Thanks a lot for all of your helpful suggestions and hints! Al, next time there is a hockey season and I go up to your town for a Detroit Red Wings away game at Carolina we should have coffee and compare salamanders!

 

[jennifer]

You can keep a tank cooler than the room temperature if you use a screen lid (rather than a solid lid), keep the tank as close to the floor as possible, and avoid using any electrically-driven filter. See:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/faq/faq.shtml
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/articles.shtml

 

[edward]

The amount of food needed is dependent on the temperature. The warmer it is the more often the animal needs to be fed. At 70F I would offer food three times a week.
You can continue to offer crickets but I would suggest feeding the crickets for 48 hours to replace lost nutrients such as fats and protiens. Otherwise pieces of earthworm, and wax worms can also be offered.

70 F is getting into the region where I would be worried about a small scale temperature spike as this does not give you much leeway for error.

Ed

 

[paris]

alot of salamanders will calm down in captivity and soon become shameless beggars when they finally figure out you are actually a large and oddly shaped automated food dispenser. i have a pair of forceps i offer many of mine chunks of worm from -we all have a system, tim uses chopsticks!

you can offer them by hand, its just that fingers are big fat things that get in the way. you mentioned you smoke - nicotine is a poison and they are pretty sensitive to it (as are all amphibians), not only is airborne smoke bad for them but also when its on your fingers (if you happen to need to hold it-wash your hands first)-this sensitivity is extended to all chemicals, especially those in aerosols -like furniture polish, incense, room deodorizor, hair spray..etc.

 

[joseph]

Paris: Actually...chopsticks are a pretty drat good idea!

 

[michele]

Hey guys! Sally's doing really well, thanks a lot for all your help!

Remember the 7 crickets? He ate 6 of them, there was one left yesterday and I looked around in the bedding and there was just one left still today. He looked a lot plumper yesterday, so I guess I know where the crickets went. Tomorrow I'm going to find a place to get him some worms and see if he will eat those. You guys were a tremendous help and very nice too. Anytime someone comes into my store asking about newts or sals I will tell them to come here for the best information. Oh, BTW...I read the article about species mixing disasters and told my manager at work about it, she agreed to keep the FBN's and FBT's in separate tanks. I saw from the labels on them they were planning to put them together when we got some newts in.
Thanks again, everyone!

 

[kim]

Well done you!

Im very impressed you got him to change were they will be kept, its normally very hard to get any pet shop to do that!