So far no morphing

[Chinadog]

Snap! I was thinking the same thing, the gills are getting shorter too.
I am enjoying this thread, though, it reminds me of a young kid constantly asking their parents "are we there yet, are we there yet..." on a road trip! 8)

 

[Sarramy]

Really? Exciting! This is why I started this thread, I don't see any difference. Thanks!

And I totally was the "are we there yet" kid. LOL

 

[Sarramy]

I wasn't able to get any pictures today. My phone camera just wouldn't focus for some reason. I'll try again tomorrow. If he is indeed starting to morph what's an estimate for how long before he has to be in a terrestrial tank? I want to be sure I'm prepared.

 

[schmiggle]

Well, posting every day is happening after all, as predicted XD

I eagerly await new morphing news.

 

[Sarramy]

No pictures today. I did my best to adjust his tank to give him some way to get out of the water when the time comes and it kicked up all the sand. So now the water looks cloudy so no pics.

Slag did something cute though, but had my husband a little concerned. When I adjusted the tank I made a small land area in the corner with the sand. It's not much but it's something he can climb onto to. Well we left the room for a few hours and when we came back in he was on the sandy area, completely out of the water, standing against the glass. So like on his hind legs, standing up against the glass. My husband was worried he got stuck, so I kind of jiggled him a bit and he went back into the water. Could he get stuck like that though?

And he wouldn't be trying to get out of the water if he wasn't in the process of morphing, right? So this is for real happening, yes? Exciting!

 

[Donna001]

If you look at this thread it will show how long it took for Jabba to morph and how his tank was set up.
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...already-beginning-metamorph-what-do-i-do.html
Best of luck and I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures. :happy:

 

[Sarramy]

I've seen that thread. It was so cool to read. I don't have a tub to put him in in the middle stage though so I need to be able to transition him in the same tank. It's challenging but I think I have it set up well for him now. Made a few changes from yesterday and he has a larger, still moist, land area.

For when he's done I'm torn between organic soil and coco fiber. I found an organic soil at the store today for a great price but the ingredients concerned me. I took a picture. Does this look okay? It said it's organic but has organic fertilizer in it.

I also took a pic of Slag last night being all out of the water. I've now adjusted the land area and it's much bigger. I didn't have a way to block off the water more last night. I think he likes it.

 

[TheAmphibianGuy]

Maybe its an Ambystoma Velasci or a plateau tiger salamander, from so articles I found awhile ago (they could be very incorrect) is that they have a higher chance of being neotenic and possibly are related to all the neotenic Mexican speices.

 

[Bellabelloo]

I would just lower the water to maybe two or three inches and have a few rocks for him to haul out onto. Once the gills have receded then you can remove the water and substitute it with the soil. I have used coco fibre mixed with garden soil and leaf litter. Don't use garden soil if you use fertiliser/ pesticides/ chemicals. I wouldn't risk using the organic soil as I am not sure what the effect of the ingredients might be. Maybe try looking for 'topsoil' ? My tigers, while still quite young, would still like to submerge themselves in their water bowl, so I would suggest having one too.

 

[Sarramy]

I can lower the water a bit more. I wasn't sure how low I should take it at this point. I'll keep looking around for better soil. A pet store here sells coco fiber so I can do that if I need to, it's just so expensive (the bag I would need is about $30!). We live in an apartment so I can't use the soil here, plus in this area normal soil is terribly sandy. One of the downsides of living in a high desert. So I'm stuck looking for soil at Walmart, Home Depot, or Lowes. I can order online too of course, I just haven't found anything that looked right yet.

I'll be sure to get a big enough water bowl. That sounds adorable. lol

 

[schmiggle]

How big is your tank? I have a two inch thick layer of coco fiber for a 10 gallon tank from one brick of coco fiber ordered online; you can get three for $10 on Amazon (although shipping could be a problem). If you end up going for soil, just be careful about peat moss--it hugely lowers the pH of the soil as it decomposes, which is dangerous for amphibians.

 

[Sarramy]

He'll be in a 10 gallon to start, though I hope to eventually upgrade him to a 20 gallon once I upgrade my axies to a 55 in the future. So yeah, need enough substrate for a 10 gallon. I thought it needed to be 4" deep? I'll check Amazon again. Maybe I missed something.

 

[schmiggle]

I think it does have to be 4" deep, I meant that 1 brick got me 2 inches so 3 bricks should get you 6 inches. If soil works like that.

I was thinking of this product: http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Compr...TF8&qid=1463704835&sr=8-2&keywords=coco+fiber

 

[Sarramy]

Oh okay, gotcha. I'll check that product.

I already have a bark hide for him, and I want to put some plants in there as well. I know tigers are good at uprooting plants but I want to try. Aesthetics are important to me.

Not much to report on Slag today. He's been pretty quiet today, mostly hanging out in the shallower area but not completely on land.

 

[Sarramy]

Day 2 of no appetite. About 4 days ago he was ravenous, ate 4 feeder fish and two worms. He was a little piggy. He kept trying to nip our fingers as we were rearranging the tank too. Now he has no appetite at all. I've never found a definitive answer as to how often he needs to eat at this size so maybe this is just a normal lull, but it's weird. He's still very solid though so I'm not worried he's starving, I just want to be sure this isn't the beginning symptom of a problem.

 

[Chinadog]

He'll eat when he's ready. Morphing is a big deal for him, almost his whole body is changing very quickly! Once he's fully terrestrial and settled he'll soon become ravenous again.

 

[Sarramy]

I'm relieved to hear that. I had thought morphing might play a part. I wasn't sure if it would make him hungry all the time or curb his appetite. I could see it going either way.

It's hard to get good pictures of him now with the water level lowered. I'm doing a full cleaning tomorrow though so I'll try to get a picture then when I have him in the temp tub for cleanings. In the meantime, here's Slaggy poking his noise out. He spends a lot of time like this now. Not ready to leave the water full time but more often that not some part of him is sticking out now.

 

[Chinadog]

Won't be long before he votes with his feet and hauls out.
The loss of appetite is perfectly normal, I've had stick thin tiny Cynops morphs go without eating for three weeks at times! It worries me every year, but it's just how things are. He's built like a tank, plenty of weight to carry him through morphing.

 

[Sarramy]

Slag just came over to the side and posed for me. He's such a cutie.

*I keep saying he but I really don't know... could be a she*

The change is remarkable! It really does go rather fast, doesn't it?

 

[schmiggle]

Very nice! I think I read somewhere that some species can morph in a day, but I don't remember which ones. The vernal pools can dry up really fast in the wild.