Found two salamanders - care for them?

I was playing in my woods and found a whole bunch of salamanders. They are about 4 inches long, black and shiny with cobalt blue spots - very pretty. I made up an old fish tank for them - I layered gravel, then sand, then dirt. I have a heat lamp and have put some plants in as well. Can anyone help me as far as identifying what I have and how to care for them and feed them?
Thanks a lot!

First thing first...get rid of the heat lamp. They didn't have that kind of warmth in the wild so won't need it.

Second is to indentify them(if you could post a pic that would help) so you can find out more. Also, check your state laws to see if it is legal to keep them. I would reccomend only keep a small number of them.

Sounds like Blue-spotted salamanders (Ambystoma laterale) based on your description, but posting a picture would help to confirm this.

Joseph's right, get rid of the heat lamp. Not doing so could eventually kill them should it get too hot.

you will also need a cover too

http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Ambystomatidae.shtml

(Message edited by skylsdale on October 29, 2005)

Thanks everybody. What I have are, indeed, two blue-spotted salamanders. I have ditched the heat lamp and I have a cover. What, and how, do I feed these things?

Welcome to the forum, Anthony. Read:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/faq/faq.shtml
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods.shtml
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/worms.shtml
If you have some specific questions, write back!

My daughter found a red spotted salamander in our front yard and begged to keep it. We now have it in a frog habitat. It seems content, stays in the water part time and out some times, but this morning I noticed it now has a black ring around it close to it's back legs. Is this something that I should worry about? Also what should I be feeding it? The guy at the pet store sold us some food but I don't think it's eating very much. Thanks for any help you guys can give me.

Hi Cindy, the black ring is more than likely skin. When they shed their skin it comes off kind of like a stocking being rolled down.
I feed all my sals earth worms as a staple but they do also get waxworms, crickets,bloodworm etc...
Good luck!

I thought I posted something here, I must have been licking newts again.... I was going to say that the newt needs stuff like rocks and fake or real plants to help shed. Mine sometimes would spend 20 minutes trying out diffrent surfaces.

What kind of frog are you housing it with? Is the red spotted newt still in it's eft stage?

Thanks for all the help. There's not a frog in there. I'm just using an old habitat that I already had. What is eft stage? I know NOTHING about salamanders!

o.. maybe you are talking about some other species. I first thoguht you are talking about Red Spoted Newt (Eastern Newt). Which has an Eft stage.

Most Newt, born in the water, live as larvae in water and crawl out to the land and live a terrestrial life there. That terrestrail love is called Eft for the Eastern newt. While when they are sexually mature, they will go back to water to live permanently or just for the breeding season.