Question: Salamanders in old age: Any information on aging in caudates?

[pete]

I have an older caudate. He has his fair share of bumps from living with me over the years, and I've watched his pattern fade and colors run. Recently, I've noticed that one of his eye has gone cloudy over the past few months, most-likely a cateract of sorts. This got me wondering how salamanders decline with age.

Certainly, a large number of caudates die a bit premature in the pet world (from harsh conditions, ignorance, and various accidents), but I'm sure the opportunity also exists for a number of them to live to a ripe old age in "Salamander years".

With dogs and cats there is a host of information on age-related diseases, but caudates it seems little is known. Do axolotl's get hip dysplasia? Are C.O.'s prone to blindness? Will your Notos end up with kidney failure? And, what about senility in Salamandra? Perhaps all of this is trifling for the marvel of regeneration that is caudate. So I was wondering is there any common ailments seen in old caudates? Perhaps anecdotal stories from personal experiences with an old salamander?

I've seen a very old tiger (15 yrs) before, and noted that head to body size ratio was much larger than in the more common observed recently metamorphs, his colors were quite drab, but he never showed any sign of waning fitness. It eventually died of a pathogen, though not likely "old age-related", since it killed the younger ones as well. Maybe pathogens are the norm in determining caudate lifespan.

 

[SludgeMunkey]

Re: Salamanders in Decline: Any information on aging in caudates?

There have been some well documented reports of various Ambystomids and Cynops that have lived 20+ years in captivity. In the case of the Cynops, they were still actively breeding at those ages.

Just recently, I caught a web news article about a pet tiger salamander that outlived its owner.

There is a paper called :

Age related Effects in Tiger Salamander retina

And another called:

Study of the effects of aging on macromolecular synthesis in various organ systems using microscopic radioautography

I do not have either of them yet, they are on my very long list of scholarly papers to get.

A bit of google searching will find you many more.

 

[futura2000]

Re: Salamanders in Decline: Any information on aging in caudates?

I have a w.c P.caudopunctatus that i've had for 14 years and was an adult when i purchased it. Its still in good health and show's no sign of deterioration what so ever. Hope thats of interest.

Dean.

 

[Jennewt]

Re: Salamanders in Decline: Any information on aging in caudates?

I am compiling a list of anecdotal reports of long-lived newts and sals, so thank you Pete and futura for adding to the list! It will eventually be posted on CC.

From what I've seen, some of the common "end-points" in the life of long-term captive caudates are:

• accidents (household catastrophes or husbandry issues)
• bloat (in old newts, probably cases of organ failure)
• infection (either an "outbreak" in the collection, or perhaps due to old age causing greater susceptibility)
• indeterminate - the animal just dies, no obvious symptoms

I'm probably forgetting a few. Old age is certainly not an easy thing to study in amphibians. Since frogs are shorter-lived, you might find more info for them.

 

[pete]

Thanks Jennewt and others. Mainly what got me thinking about this, was whether this "cataract" thing. Perhaps is a result of nutrition, aquarium lighting, or just old age... Then I started wondering.... "What is old age to a caudate?"

At least in my hands, my caudates of past have died of disease or accident. I will keep an eye out for what develops from this thread.

 

[John]

Are frogs really shorter lived? I thought they had similar life spans to salamanders, just fewer "record" species.

 

[Greatwtehunter]

I wouldn't think they are shorter lived. I have heard of Whites tree frogs living for 15+ years. I personally have had a Red-eye tree frog for 9 years and I bought it as a WC adult so who knows how old it really was.