DarlingJack
New member
I’ve got a barred tiger salamander, Jelly Belly, who has been weirdly chatty today, and I can’t figure out why or what it means (if anything).
He’s currently in a smaller bin, and has been for about two days, while he gets itraconazole baths for a potential exposure to Bd (it’s a long story.)
He’s got about three inches of coco coir, two hides, a shallow water dish, and a heating mat on low to keep him around 50, since my house has been averaging a little higher than 45 for the past few days. After each treatment, he goes into a new bin with new, oven-sterilized coco coir, sterilized hides, and a sterilized water dish. I used a bleach solution to sterilize these. His appetite is normal, his skin looks normal.
But today, it’s been pretty much nonstop chirping. I’ve managed to record a couple little snippets of it (it’s a little hard to hear), but he’s switching between those little chirps (like a dying squeaky toy or a rusty door), louder peeps, and something that sounds like a water droplet. I haven’t been able to catch either of the latter two—when I move to record it, he stops making noise. That’s been the weirdest part. If it was involuntary, he wouldn’t stop when I’m moving around, making noise, whatever.
I’ve only bothered him once, to make sure he wasn’t stuck or injured or something. Nope. Just huddled under his water dish, chirping.
Should I be… worried? He’s made these noises before but never this many, or for this long. I can’t find anything to suggest this is a symptom or a side effect, but I can find plenty that says tiger salamanders don’t make any noise at all—and I can confidently say that’s completely false. I attached the clips of him chirping (please ignore my air filter buzzing in the background)
Anyone have any thoughts on what’s going on?
Picture of the little dude in question:
He’s currently in a smaller bin, and has been for about two days, while he gets itraconazole baths for a potential exposure to Bd (it’s a long story.)
He’s got about three inches of coco coir, two hides, a shallow water dish, and a heating mat on low to keep him around 50, since my house has been averaging a little higher than 45 for the past few days. After each treatment, he goes into a new bin with new, oven-sterilized coco coir, sterilized hides, and a sterilized water dish. I used a bleach solution to sterilize these. His appetite is normal, his skin looks normal.
But today, it’s been pretty much nonstop chirping. I’ve managed to record a couple little snippets of it (it’s a little hard to hear), but he’s switching between those little chirps (like a dying squeaky toy or a rusty door), louder peeps, and something that sounds like a water droplet. I haven’t been able to catch either of the latter two—when I move to record it, he stops making noise. That’s been the weirdest part. If it was involuntary, he wouldn’t stop when I’m moving around, making noise, whatever.
I’ve only bothered him once, to make sure he wasn’t stuck or injured or something. Nope. Just huddled under his water dish, chirping.
Should I be… worried? He’s made these noises before but never this many, or for this long. I can’t find anything to suggest this is a symptom or a side effect, but I can find plenty that says tiger salamanders don’t make any noise at all—and I can confidently say that’s completely false. I attached the clips of him chirping (please ignore my air filter buzzing in the background)
Anyone have any thoughts on what’s going on?
Picture of the little dude in question: