tiger salamander larva help

[marinasalamander]

Hi. I recently aquired a tiger salamander larva. I have it in a fully aquatic tank. It has been doing well and is eating mealworms and night crawlers. I just noticed that it is shedding its skin and trying to burrow in the river rock. Is that a sign that I should change the tank so it is able to get on land if need be? The salamander is currently about 8'' long from nose to tail. It came with live minnow bait (I work at a marina) so was in rough shape when it arrived. It has put on a bit of weight since arriving. I fed it a night crawler and it has been fairly lethargic since. The tank is filtered and the water is cool. I have rocks, hides and moss balls in the tank, along with a couple of fake plants. Is there anything I should be doing differently? Thanks in advance.

 

[matt3civic]

The tiger salamander in my picture was from a bait shop. I had mine in the same type of tank and eventually it lost gills and became what it is now. I will say that I had it for nearly a year before it morphed. There were six when I started and only one survived. I heard they can be in really bad shape when you get them from bait shops. I thought two of them would make it, but when one morphed, the other died shortly after. As far as answering the question of the tank you have, I had a very basic setup and fed worms, as well. I don't think you are doing anything wrong. I would say that I was really bad about making sure the water quality was good. I kept them in my classroom at school and did not do water changes. I just topped off water and made sure not to leave any obvious pollutants in the tank.