Rehoming a fire Salamander.. Help!

[esoteric]

Hi,

I've just agreed to offer a home to an unwanted fire salamander. I've checked over caudata culture obviously and I found some other caresheets via google; I've also read through loads of posts in this forum and I feel confident I can give the little fella a home.

The problem is, I'm out of work right now and need to do this as cheaply as possible. I'm collecting the Sal on Saturday and from what I hear the little fella is in a plastic tub with some kitchen roll and the lid off a coffee jar with some water in.

I have a 36" x 15" x 18" tank for him to go in and I've sourced some moss and some coconut fibre soil stuff online (which I will be able to buy next week) I have plenty of earthworms and a local shop with live crickets (i can buy now). I have an oak tree in my garden that still carries an abundance of brown leaves.

What I don't know is if I can pop over to my local mixed deciduous wood and grab a broken oak branch, some ivy and the odd interesting rock. There seems to be mixed messages on the suitability of certain things like wood. Also, I have a garden planter, free of chemicals, with lots of moss growing in it - is this safe?

I have to run .. be back later to see if any one has any money saving tips for me.

 

[Bellabelloo]

How can someone not want a fire salamander ? You sound like you are doing all the right things, and your set up seems similar to mine. I have used just garden soil, but currently use coconut fibre as the ground had been too hard. They like to be able to hide, so I have a flat stone propped up one end and bit of wood the other. I do have some regular garden moss and some plant, but this I feel is more for my benefit than theirs. I feed mine mostly earthworm, will happily eat waxworms, calciworms and woodlice. In fact they adore food I occasionally hand feed them, otherwise I leave their food in a shallow bowl .I have only just introduced a shallow bowl of water, which they now gleefully use as a toilet.

 

[Ken Worthington]

This is an interesting article on wood; Caudata Culture Articles - Wood in Vivaria

Hope this helps :happy:

 

[esoteric]

Thanks for the replies.

I popped over to the local wood and I identified oak, beech, birch and chestnut (all baddies according to the Caudata Culture article above). It looks like I wont be using found wood then.