Three years ago my wife and I bought an old marked gardener's house. The house has a cellar with a porous floor, i.e. bricks without mortar laid directly onto the earth. The cellar was used to store fruit and vegetables. Two years ago I discovered that the cellar was occupied by a resident fire salamander about 7" long, living in a space under some of the bricks in the corner. I subsequently named it 'Gollum', which I'm also now borrowing as my member name. I don't know how old Gollum is, what sex, how long it has been living in the cellar or how it got there (there is a small window at chest height, which is at ground level outside that Gollum may have come through). Gollum usually comes out at night (when not in hibernation during the winter) and I've discovered that it loves common earthworms, eaten whole and live. The cellar is usually fairly damp, more so when it rains and has spiders, potato bugs and other small creatures living in it. I don't pay Gollum much attention, feeding it a worm or two usually every week if I find it out and about the floor but sometimes weeks can go by without my seeing it.
My dilemma is this: is Gollum happy enough in the cellar which, apart from other salamanders with whom to mate, seems a fairly ideal environment, or is he/she actually trapped and possibly suffering and should I set him/her free in the garden?
Any qualified advice is welcome.
My dilemma is this: is Gollum happy enough in the cellar which, apart from other salamanders with whom to mate, seems a fairly ideal environment, or is he/she actually trapped and possibly suffering and should I set him/her free in the garden?
Any qualified advice is welcome.
