Weird Behavior

[tekishi13]

Last night while I was sleeping my biggest salamander, (Spunky) was acting weird. He was making a weird kissing kind of sound, then he was thrashing his head around while in the water dish and didn't come up for a long time, then he went into the cave and thrashed around in there for a good 20 minutes. I've had my salamanders for a while now and I've never seen any of them act like this, not even the new member. Also he bit me for about 30 seconds when I picked him up, but that seemed normal. Right now he's just chillen in his dish but I noticed he shed his skin too. (I only know about this because someone I live with told me this morning) So if anyone know what up please tell me.

 

[Mark]

It sounds like very normal shedding behaviour. They "yawn" to loosen the skin around the head, hence the odd sounds. They'll take to the water to soften the skin and then either rub themselves on a rough surface or thrash around until the skin is removed. Usually salamanders eat the shed skin too.

The whole process is very entertaining to watch!