Tiger awareness and/or senses?

[king]

I can't seem to understand this. Do tiger salamanders have heat pits? How is their vision and memory?
I brought my guy outside, and served him some earthworms. Anyways, I put him down, and walked about 10ft away, and he followed me.... It took him a little while, one step at a time , but he did it eventually.
This kind of relates I guess to when I find him staring at me when I'm going about my daily business, he just kind of gazes at me through his tank, sometimes giving a grab or two at the enclosure sides.

Does anybody know how aware they are? If they know the hand that feeds them, and if so, is it by vision, scent, sound...?

 

[JoshBA]

Tiger salamanders hunt by movement, so when it sees you moving around it will see you as food. Captive specimins will do this because over time when its fed by the owner (especially hand feeding) they will associate their owner with food. Mine do the same thing as yours is doing...

 

[king]

Thanks JoshBA,

When you say "by movement", do you mean with their eyes (sight), or are you referring to hearing movement (such as what cats do in the dark when listening for the footsteps of small prey such as mice),
or feeling vibrations through the ground (more like tarantulas)?
What is their chromatic (visible light spectrum) range?
Any idea what their flicker threshold is (visual refresh rate, per say)?

I'm really curious about the details of their senses.

 

[king]

Echo...echo......
Am I the only one who finds it ironic that this thread was moved to the beginner forum yet apparently nobody can provide an answer?

 

[king]

SCIENCE WATCH - SALAMANDERS HAVE A SENSE OF MAGNETISM - NYTimes.com
The blind cave salamander: a small creature with a large ability, by Maggie May | UW-L Ecology