Spotted Salamander so pale

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jeskduh

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Mine died a week after same symptoms :eek:

naw just kidding:D
I get some individuals are just like that, like some are totaly melanistic...
But one thing is for certain he looks underweight. If I were you I'd check and really certify he would eat.
Best of luck,
Jorge
 
Many caudates experience variations in their base color due to temperature, among other things. They may also become paler when the lights are out.
There doesn´t seem to be anything particularly wrong with the color of your animal.
It would be better if instead of simply putting ice in the container, you put ice bottles. That way you are not constantly adding water to the substrate, whcih you do not want to be soggy, you want to be just moist.
You can also wrap the bottles in cloth to allow for a slower delivery. that way temp changes won´t be so drastic and the effects will last longer.
 
Azhael said:
Many caudates experience variations in their base color due to temperature, among other things. They may also become paler when the lights are out.
There doesn´t seem to be anything particularly wrong with the color of your animal.
It would be better if instead of simply putting ice in the container, you put ice bottles. That way you are not constantly adding water to the substrate, whcih you do not want to be soggy, you want to be just moist.
You can also wrap the bottles in cloth to allow for a slower delivery. that way temp changes won´t be so drastic and the effects will last longer.
Click to expand...

I have tried the water bottle thing before and it didn't work for me. Keeping my two tanks cool is my biggest struggle. Because like I said, I live in Houston Texas and nobody understands how hot it is here until you live here. And on top of that I live in a third floor apartment where the heat rises. Just leaving my AC on 75 all day makes my bill be about 200 bucks in a 1 bdrm apt. Anyways, point being is its extremely hard to keep this tank cool AND moist. Because of the heat, the water evaporates like crazy. I have to mist it like 20 times a day. And add the ice every day. But perhaps I will try with the towel wrapped around the bottle and see if that makes any difference. Thanks!
 
The substrate only needs to be moist - in the second photo it definitely looks too wet. It should not be so wet that you could squeeze water out if you picked up a handful.

Spotted sals are secretive eaters. The other food you could try would be chopped nightcrawler offered in a shallow dish near his hiding place. Given the heat, he probably needs to eat daily.

In the long run, given your living conditions and Houston heat, I'd recommend choosing different animals. All of us love sals, but there are some situations where it's too much of a struggle to keep them.
 
I am going on a hunch that maybe s/he may be having a heavy shed?

To keep your tank cool I would invest in an aquarium fan, and the Reti fogger... I live in south florida, and that keeps my tank at 70.
 
Fans are not a great idea for terrestrial enclosures. They evaporate too much water and there´s a real risk of desiccation. They work wonderdully in aquariums, but their usage in terrariums is more complex.
 
nursemelody said:
I am going on a hunch that maybe s/he may be having a heavy shed?

To keep your tank cool I would invest in an aquarium fan, and the Reti fogger... I live in south florida, and that keeps my tank at 70.
Click to expand...

I looked up that Repti fogger and that looks awesome. I read that you can also buy a cooler with it. Sounds greats! Thanks for the product info! I am going to look into buying two for my two tanks.
 
It is true that the fan I am using is for an aquarium with eastern newts, and I could see how it would possibly dry out a terrestrial enclosure... But I can't think of anything negative about the Reptifogger as far as keeping things moist... I also at one point had a Habba mister, and there is really no comparison..
 
There's a lot of concern about the ultrasonic vibrations you get with a fogger and their effects on amphibians.
 
IMG_20110517_215544.jpg picture by ashxtrayxgirl - Photobucket


Oh and about the food thing. I'm not really sure if I think Jonny (my spotted sal) is really under weight or if that was just a bad angle. I meant it post this earlier. But I am going to try feeding him worms. Right now they eat crickets. It was mentioned to put some chopped up worms in a feeding dish next to his hiding spot...well he doesn't use his hiding spot. He just digs in the dirt in random places. So I guess I can just place the dish any where???
My marbled sal, man he loves his hiding spot! He has this awesome tiki hut and ever since I put it in his tank he fell in love! But anyways, back to the feeding of my spotted. How small should I chop up these worms also??
 
Kaysie said:
There's a lot of concern about the ultrasonic vibrations you get with a fogger and their effects on amphibians.
Click to expand...

Are there any articles on this?

I would be nervous to actually put a fogging plate in water in a terrarium... but the reptifogger just basically has a plastic tube that pumps cool humidity into the terrarium.. I can't see how the vibrations would affect them... Are they somehow in the mist?
 
Vibrations affect everything! Have you ever put your ear up to your aquarium? It's LOUD in there, from vibrations (the filter, a bubbler if you have one, the vibrations of your house, like the furnace, etc.). Since salamanders 'hear' based on vibration, I would be concerned that a constant barrage of ultrasonic waves would affect their normal processes, like finding food.
 
Nursemelody - if the fog is being pumped into the enclosure through a tube that's fine. The concerns relate to the unit actually being in the enclosure where it generates heat and vibrations.

If the salamander is digging it would suggest that the hides on offer are not to it's taste. For my spotted salamanders I use black plastic drainage pipes buried into the soil at a slight angle with some soil inside the tube for grip (see pic). They love them and because I know where they are it's easy to offer prey at the tube entrance. It took a long time and a lot of patience for them to start taking worm chunks from forceps.

Personally I don't think your sal is unhealthily underweight.
 

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Mark -Yes the fog is being pumped into the enclosure... And I now have two females and 1 male... The male is the only one who digs... I have three hides, but he prefers to go under the moss....the two females use their little caves.....the females also aren't as shy and ate worms from my hand as soon as I brought them home...

jeskduh - I hope everything works out... I would certainly go for the fogger, and might try covering the hide with some leaf litter or moss or something.
 

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Is that just bendy drainage pipe from like home depot or something??? That seems like it would work really well with my salamander.

And yes, I am still going to do some more reading on the fogger. I don't see any harm in having a tube run into your tank that emits cool fog.
 
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