Marbled in trouble!!!!!!! Please help!!!!!

[max]

I have had a marbled salamander for 3 years now and he has been fine till i checked on him today and his skin has gone ridged and bumpy, he has lost a lot of his color and to start with he was very sluggish but he is moving better now!! there were bloated dead black crickets in his water that he hasn't eaten and what looked like oil(!!!!) on the top of the water!!! he was fine when i put the crickes in last week..what has happened??? i'm really worried about him any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!

 

[jennifer]

A marbled salamander should not be living in water, except perhaps a small water dish. He needs soil and places to dig/hide. Sounds as if he may have an inapproriate and/or poorly-cleaned habitat. Move him to a container of soil that is moist, not wet, and see if he does better.

 

[(unregistered]

ok i have redesigned and cleaned his living area according to the details on the site before i read that reply, thankyou Jennifer, but while i did i noticed he has lost two toes on his right front foot. i've given him some crickets (mostly black, 1 brown) but he is not eating. the crickets seem big and aggresive could they be a problem? i've put a waxworm in aswell but he hasn't eaten that either!!! what should i do as he still seems unwell!!! is he going to die???? PLEASE HELP!!!!

 

[max]

ok me again i have just read some other messages and i have had spagnum moss in his tank all the time i have had him is this a bad idea????

 

[cindy]

I'd remove the sphagnum. There's an article here which talks about ion loss associated with this kind of moss.

 

[jennifer]

Yes, don't use sphagnum moss. Also, big aggressive crickets CAN be a problem. Crickets can bite salamanders. Until your sal gets back to health (I hope he does) I'd say don't use crickets, keep trying the waxworms, and try earthworms.

 

[max]

he died.....sniff....

 

[cindy]

I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[jen]

I bought two newts from the pet store and they said that I could put them in with the toad I had also bought there. Soon after they both died, looking kind of like another animal bit them or ate their stomach area. Could the frog/toad they were living with could have killed/(ate!!) them??

}

 

[jennifer]

Hey Jen, if you are going to start a new topic, you should start a new thread. This is a discussion of care for a marbled salamander.

In answer to your question, the pet shop told you wrong and the toad killed them. For other similar stories, see:
http://www.caudata.org/caudatecentral/articles/Mixing_disasters.html