nwmnnaturalist
New member
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2011
- Messages
- 229
- Reaction score
- 9
- Points
- 0
- Age
- 42
- Location
- Hubbard County, MN
- Country
- United States
- Display Name
- Cassie
Hello! This is my first post here. I'm looking forward to the community!
Over a month ago, I was driving back from a hike with a local mycological club when I spotted something on a busy highway in between a couple of busy cattle lots. I had a nagging feeling, so I did a U-turn and waited for traffic to clear. Crossing the road was this beautiful but weary A. tigrinum. The area was very cultivated, and it appeared it had been traveling along the ditches and shoulder to find a new home for winter. The ditches are regularly traversed by OHV/ATV traffic, and the area is fairly well cultivated. So I quickly donned some surgical gloves and scooped it into a bucket I had in the car.
It was pretty banged up, the soles of it's feet and belly scraped up and looking worn from travel. It was quite thin, fairly weak and seemed dehydrated. I had some distilled water in the car, which I gently sprinkled on it since the ride home was a good half-hour.
I cleaned out a 10 gallon tank and fixed it up for it. I put in a mix of leaf litter and untreated wood mulch. Some mossy pieces of bark, a saucer of water with stones and some cover. I've nursed it back to health with juicy wax worms and earth worms, occasionally treated with Herptivite. I've cared for both salamanders and frogs before, so I feel pretty confident that it's in good hands. It now is in a healthy weight and showing little sign of it's rough journey, save for some scars. It is a seemingly incurable beggar, though I've kept it's feedings regular to prevent obesity in it. It's fairly tame, coming to the glass when I come near and trying to climb on my hands (wearing gloves to protect it's skin, of course ^^). Normally I don't like to interact with the critters I have, but I think this one may have found a 'forever home'.
I am thinking about getting/crafting an expanded habitat for it. It seems to be wanting to explore more, and I would like to create a larger vivarium for it to keep it healthy and well-stimulated. I like creating habitats that mimic the local woodlands, so you won't find any fakey-fossils or tiki heads in mine!
I've included a lousy photo that I took of it about a week and a half after I rescued it. It's put on weight in the photo, but is still showing some of it's wounds.
Over a month ago, I was driving back from a hike with a local mycological club when I spotted something on a busy highway in between a couple of busy cattle lots. I had a nagging feeling, so I did a U-turn and waited for traffic to clear. Crossing the road was this beautiful but weary A. tigrinum. The area was very cultivated, and it appeared it had been traveling along the ditches and shoulder to find a new home for winter. The ditches are regularly traversed by OHV/ATV traffic, and the area is fairly well cultivated. So I quickly donned some surgical gloves and scooped it into a bucket I had in the car.
It was pretty banged up, the soles of it's feet and belly scraped up and looking worn from travel. It was quite thin, fairly weak and seemed dehydrated. I had some distilled water in the car, which I gently sprinkled on it since the ride home was a good half-hour.
I cleaned out a 10 gallon tank and fixed it up for it. I put in a mix of leaf litter and untreated wood mulch. Some mossy pieces of bark, a saucer of water with stones and some cover. I've nursed it back to health with juicy wax worms and earth worms, occasionally treated with Herptivite. I've cared for both salamanders and frogs before, so I feel pretty confident that it's in good hands. It now is in a healthy weight and showing little sign of it's rough journey, save for some scars. It is a seemingly incurable beggar, though I've kept it's feedings regular to prevent obesity in it. It's fairly tame, coming to the glass when I come near and trying to climb on my hands (wearing gloves to protect it's skin, of course ^^). Normally I don't like to interact with the critters I have, but I think this one may have found a 'forever home'.
I am thinking about getting/crafting an expanded habitat for it. It seems to be wanting to explore more, and I would like to create a larger vivarium for it to keep it healthy and well-stimulated. I like creating habitats that mimic the local woodlands, so you won't find any fakey-fossils or tiki heads in mine!
I've included a lousy photo that I took of it about a week and a half after I rescued it. It's put on weight in the photo, but is still showing some of it's wounds.
he looks lovely