Surprise development.

[SweetApples]

Help with possible baby salamander wanted.

I have found what I think are baby salamanders of unknown species in my parents mini pond and I'd like to move them to my place. They look like tadpoles with front legs and branched gills. Species is currently unknown, but I am guessing they are the brown ones with red speckles as that is the most common one found in this area.

If anyone is opposed to me catching and moving them, also keep in mind my father has drained the entire pond with a bucket to clean it, dumping out every tadpole in there to die on the ground. So if he does that again, I would be saving them.

My idea so far because I do not have a pond, is to setup an thirty gal. aquarium outdoors on a patio as a substitute for a pond, net as many tiny pond critters as I can so they can eat these and put the baby salamanders in there. I would setup a ten gal next to it for water changes since this would be a tiny "pond".

Looking for tips here on raising them. Would the salamanders be off indoors or outside on the patio?. I figured being kept outdoors algae will grow and feed tiny critters the baby salamanders can eat.
If I am right about the species, I assume I will need to put something floating in there so that when the salamanders became red efts, they can climb out of the water.

After that I could release some back into the wild, keep some in a tank as pets, re-home some with someone else?...I guess I won't plan that far yet since I'm not sure how many there are or if I can successfully raise them yet.

 

[SweetApples]

Re: Help with possible baby salamander wanted.

I have a batch of these baby salamanders in what I'll call a "pondarium" on the patio now. Because I don't have a pond here, this is the pond substitute.
I have filled my pondarium mostly with goop and pond water so the baby salamanders have tiny aquatic critters to eat.

Some have developed hind-legs by now so I am certain they are baby salamanders and not frogs. Due to sizes differences among them, I am planning to part out the smaller ones into another aquarium. I am unsure if the smaller salamanders are runts or from a younger litter.

I hope it's normal for them to surface for air sometimes?.

 

[Jennewt]

Re: Help with possible baby salamander wanted.

Surfacing for air could indicate two possible things: they are close to metamorphosis and will start climbing out soon. Or that there isn't enough oxygen in the water. Do you have any kind of bubbler in there? What is the water temp?

 

[SweetApples]

Re: Help with possible baby salamander wanted.

Currently temps here are 69F, warms up more during the day.
I do not have a "bubbler" in there as it's outside on the patio. I could try putting an internal filter in there if the cord would reach into the garage. The mini pond they came from wasn't filtered either.

 

[SweetApples]

I found one of the baby salamanders from the patio emerged metamorphized , ready to crawl out today. More may have left already as I left floating objects on the top so they could crawl out of the water not wanting to miss when they were ready to go and have them possibly drown.

Picking the little salamander up in my hand, I realized why these salamanders have not been turning orange as expected, they seem to be spotted salamanders not Eastern newts as expected. I am excited to have this rare salamander( rare around here), but it's with mixed feelings as I am planning to bring the lot of them back where they were found this week so they can crawl away there.

I'm planning to be away in Sept so that messes up my plans to keep a few of them as pets in terrariums as I'd need someone to come and feed them.

 

[Bellabelloo]

Could you maybe add a few photo's of these?

It is generally advised not to release these now into the wild population. There is a possibility that these newly morphed animals could potentially carry pathogens to a wild population.

 

[SweetApples]

Could you maybe add a few photo's of these?

It is generally advised not to release these now into the wild population. There is a possibility that these newly morphed animals could potentially carry pathogens to a wild population.

These are wild salamanders simply being relocated back to where they were found, they have never been kept in captivity.

Going to take some photos this afternoon, but don't expect much. My camera is an older model and these salamanders are small.

 

[SweetApples]

I snapped some photos of a squirmy little salamander on my hand. Gosh are they adorable in their faces. I hooked up my camera to my computer and something is not being cooperative as the photos are not loading.

 

[Otterwoman]

I think it's OK to release them as they've been kept so naturally.