? Northern Slimy ?

[JenelleMicole]

Hello everyone! My name is Jenelle and I am new to this Forum. I should be posting in the introduction forum but I have many questions already. My husband found what I am about 90% sure is a northern slimy salamander about 2 weeks ago on our sidewalk. He is approximately 5 inches long. Black with grayish blue spots on his sides. His tail is almost as long as his body. This was quite surprising since we live in northwest Ohio and it's December. The weather has been a bit unusual this year though. Anyway our 9 year old daughter loves animals and had been begging for an aquarium with fish or a turtle or snake for Christmas, so we decided to let her keep him/her. We bought a 10 gallon aquarium and put rocks (bought in bag from Wal-Mart) in there along with a fake log and some fake plants. We have about 3 inches of the rocks in there and made a pond like area, and filled it with water to about the same level as the rocks. He seems to be happy and healthy although he will not eat anything I try. We bought pellets, soft moist food, and the freeze dried shrimp stuff, but he won't eat. I've noticed that he seems to be less mobile the last day or so and am afraid it's for lack of nourishment. I can't find anything about how often they eat or how much. Can anyone help us out. My daughter really loves this little guy and I don't want him to die. How long can they go without food? What else can we try? Do we have him in the right environment? Etc, etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank You all in advance!

 

[Azhael]

If it´s in fact a slimy salamander , the set-up you mentioned is not the best.
First off, it´s very important to stablish which species it is, so if you can, please try to post a picture of it, we will help you identify it
That food is not apropriate for it, specially since it´s a wild caught animal who has no idea about pellets being food hehe. Until it becomes tame, you need LIVE food , this is very important to get it to eat. Try earthworms, they are the best food you can give it, you can also try crickets, waxworms, slugs....
Change the set-up to a good layer (5-7cm) of soil, chemicals free, because these animals like to burrow. Forget about the pond, since this species is completely terrestrial (in fact it could drown), and all it needs is a moist environment (not wet, just moist).
Take a look at this article, it´s got great information:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Plethodon/P_glutinosus.shtml

I keep this species and i like it a lot, don´t expect a pet from it though....it will spend most of it´s time underground, and only come out at night to eat. Also, try not to handle it since it stresses them, and touching it can potentially damage it´s skin.
Also, very important is to keep it cool...ideally, under 20ºC.
Good luck with it

 

[blckkeys]

What you described could also be a blue spotted salamander or a hybrid, or another ambystoma (although I don't know if their tails would be so long). Blue spotted sals are on Ohio's endangered list, but that is only because NW ohio is in an extreme part of its range. They are fairly plentiful in Michigan.

If in fact it is a blue spotted, I would recommend letting it go near where you found it. I would do this before the temperature gets too cold.

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/spe...bluespottedsalamander/tabid/6563/Default.aspx

http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Ambystoma/A_laterale.shtml
http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Ambystoma/A_jeffersonianum.shtml
http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Ambystoma/A_texanum.shtml

If you could post some pictures, we could ID it better, and have a better answer for you.

Also, a slimy salamander would slime you fairly well, hence the name.

 

[JenelleMicole]

Here are a few pics they aren't very good as I had to take them with my cell phone. I don't believe he is a blue spotted. We researched him quite a bit. He may be a hybrid. We had a hard time deciding between the slimy and the small mouth. Thanks for any help you can provide and if you think he may be a blue spotted please tell me, because I would for sure let him go if he is indeed endangered. Anyway here are the pics. He is a cute little guy.

 

[Azhael]

I´m not certain what it might be but it doesn´t look to be a slimy salamander....i´m almost 100% it´s not.
It could be a smallmouth salamander (Ambystoma texanum) or something else, but i´d say it´s certainly an ambystomatid.

 

[JenelleMicole]

I was looking at the Ohio website from the link above and I cannot determine what he is either. His spots are scattered only along his sides and a very few on his tail none on his belly. The best description I have for color is black with lichen gray spots. His belly color is uniform to the rest of his body. He does go into the little pond in his habitat and swim around. So I do not believe he would drown. I do think we need to switch out the rocks with soil though. He does burrow into them. My husband is at the store now buying some worms and maybe some crickets if they seem small enough. I read on another site that you should roll the worms in fish food. Is this a good idea?

 

[JenelleMicole]

What kind of salamander is pictured at the bottom right of the Website Banner, because he looks very similar to that. Just noticed it. HaHa!

 

[Azhael]

Oh no don´t do that. Earthworms are a complete nutritious food on it´s own. Fish food sometimes contains a part of vegetable material in it, which is not prorite for caudtes, and even if it doesn´t it´s simply not good food for them. Avoid it. You can feed the fish food to the crickets before offering them to the sally though.

 

[Kaysie]

Looks like a slimy to me. I'd say with certainty it's not a smallmouth, and it doesn't look quite right to be a blue-spot (as in, it has white spots, not blue). The slimy complex is pretty variable.
http://caudata.org/cc/species/Plethodon/P_glutinosus.shtml

 

[JenelleMicole]

Better Picture?

 

[John]

It does look like Plethodon glutinosus to me.

 

[John]

Also, I would reiterate much of what was said earlier. These guys aren't great "pet" species. If you want a salamander that would be better as a pet, I would suggest a tiger salamander (if you like terrestrial animals) or an axolotl (if you like aquatic animals). If you do like aquatic animals, there are several species of newt you could try (not together) that beg like dogs.

 

[JenelleMicole]

:happy: I just wanted to update everyone and ask another question that I'm sure I can find an answer to here. Lucky, as my daughter has named her little pet, is doing extremely well thanks to all the great advice that we recieved on this site. We have made her a nice little home in a ten gallon tank that she seems very happy burrowing in and running around in on very rare occasions.roud: Obviously, we believe after much research that she is a girl, and she has a very good appetite for worms, and the occasional bug for a treat. She has grown quite a bit although we haven't weighed her or measured her I would quess that she is about 7 inches in length and much fatter than when we found her. The question I have is this. We would like to find her a friend, and after several days of "herping" we have been unable to find one. Plus, although she was a wild caught I'm not sure we should go that route again anyways. Do you think it would be okay to introduce a captive bred to her tank and if so where can we buy one? Should it be a male or female? I'm not sure of all the breeding stuff? I would have to educate myself some more on the issue. Anyway thank you all in advance for your time! I think this site is great! :happy:

Jenelle

 

[Jennewt]

Captive-bred slimy sals are very very rare. I believe they have been bred, but it isn't something you'll find for sale anywhere. So... you'll have to choose 'the single life' for Lucky, or find another in the wild nearby. Salamanders don't want or need "company" so there is nothing wrong with keeping her solo. I wouldn't encourage you to take one from the wild. And I would certainly discourage you, in the strongest possible terms, from buying one (inevitably wild caught) from a dealer of some kind.