Is my Tiger Salamander carrying eggs?

[Dakota314]

First of all, hi! I've never posted on this site before, even though I joined months ago. So I've had a Tiger Salamander since last fall. I'm going to call it a him, since that's what I've been calling him since I've had him, but I now think it's a she. Anyway, he is doing really well, except a few weeks ago he wasn't coming out as much as usual. He was still eating as far as I know, but wasn't roaming his tank like usual. So I lifted his hide, and he was just sitting there. He looked really REALLY skinny, really dryed out, and was barely opening his eyes. So I gently took him out, set him on my lap on a damp kleenex, and gently sprayed him down with his spray bottle. I don't know if that was the right thing to do, but afetr about 10 minutes he started looking better, opening his eyes more and moving around. So I mixed up his dirt, and sprayed his whole tank down very well. When I set him back into his tank he went in his hide. I checked on him the next day and he loked normal again. Does that have anything to do with preparing to carry eggs? Which leads me to my reason for this post:

Today when I went to feed him, he wasn't sticking his head out of his hide like he always does when I go into his tank. So I lifted the hide, and he was really big. Massive. I'm pretty sure he, well she, is carrying eggs. Is there anything I need to do to prepare her? I'm assuming she'll lay in the water bowl, right? Her water bowl by the way is one of those from the pet store with little steps leading in and out, and it is plently big for her to get into. So when she lays, do I just scoop out the eggs and throw them out/flush them?

Thanks for reading that incredibly long post. I'm still new to salamanders, and any info you know about laying eggs or that weird dry sickness thing she went through let me know! Thanks!

[markrimn]

Originally Posted by Dakota314

First of all, hi! I've never posted on this site before, even though I joined months ago. So I've had a Tiger Salamander since last fall. I'm going to call it a him, since that's what I've been calling him since I've had him, but I now think it's a she. Anyway, he is doing really well, except a few weeks ago he wasn't coming out as much as usual. He was still eating as far as I know, but wasn't roaming his tank like usual. So I lifted his hide, and he was just sitting there. He looked really REALLY skinny, really dryed out, and was barely opening his eyes. So I gently took him out, set him on my lap on a damp kleenex, and gently sprayed him down with his spray bottle. I don't know if that was the right thing to do, but afetr about 10 minutes he started looking better, opening his eyes more and moving around. So I mixed up his dirt, and sprayed his whole tank down very well. When I set him back into his tank he went in his hide. I checked on him the next day and he loked normal again. Does that have anything to do with preparing to carry eggs? Which leads me to my reason for this post:

Today when I went to feed him, he wasn't sticking his head out of his hide like he always does when I go into his tank. So I lifted the hide, and he was really big. Massive. I'm pretty sure he, well she, is carrying eggs. Is there anything I need to do to prepare her? I'm assuming she'll lay in the water bowl, right? Her water bowl by the way is one of those from the pet store with little steps leading in and out, and it is plently big for her to get into. So when she lays, do I just scoop out the eggs and throw them out/flush them?

Thanks for reading that incredibly long post. I'm still new to salamanders, and any info you know about laying eggs or that weird dry sickness thing she went through let me know! Thanks!

Do you have two tigers?

What substrate do you use?

Hopefully someone with more info will chime in.

One last question, anyway to get us pictures of your tiger? Hopefully you have some before she gained in size, so pics of both.

[Dakota314]

I only have one, I keep him, well her, on soil right now but am planning on switching to a mixture of cocoa fiber and soil. I was going to clean his tank and do that yesterday but I decided to hold off because I didn't know what was going on with her.

Here are some before pictures, taken about 2 months ago.




And here is a picture I just took:

[Rodrigo]

It doesn´t look like she is gravid, but rather like she is bloated...the texture of the skin and the engorged tail are not good signs...

[Dakota314]

What could cause that and how can I fix it?

[markrimn]

Originally Posted by Dakota314

What could cause that and how can I fix it?

I don't know myself. Hopefully Jan can chime in. But, if you can I would definitely check and see if you have a local vet experienced with Salamanders.

My 1 tiger is a bit overweight but does not look like that. I hope your Tiger heals up fine.

[Jan]

Going from thin and looking dried out to really rotund with tight-appearing skin are not good signs. In the first two pictures, is that dirt on his face or does he have bumps and rough skin on his snout and head - I can't distinguish enough detail in the photo. If rough skin and bumps - another bad sign.

I would create a hospital tank using a different enclosure - see this article for how to do this: Caudata Culture Articles - Tiger Salamander 101. Keep the enclosure in a very cool area away from light and noise and let the animal de-stress. This type of enclosure will also allow you to keep an eye on him - if you have access to a herp vet it would be a good idea to have him seen.

Are you sure that his substrate, temps and care have been appropriate? Please refer to the above article for information on proper care.

[Dakota314]

That's dirt in the first 2 pics. Everytime I tried to brush it off him he would try to eat my finger, so I left it.


He is in a 10 gallon, with soil and cocoa husk and substrate. The room he is in is about 70 degrees. He is on my desk, shown in this picture, followed by a picture of his tank. I did end up cleaning his tank a couple of days ago.





There is a window on the right, providing ambient light but the sun never shines directly through it. I mist it a couple of times a day. Sorry about all the water spots. on the tank, but I think you get the idea of his tank. Hide on the left, water dish on the right, rocks and fake plants.

He eats on Monday Wednesday and Friday. His favorites are nightcrawlers, and he also eats crickets and the occasional phoenix worm. I hand feed him with tweezers. I don't handle him excpet when moving him to a different container when completly cleaning his enclosure about once every 3 months.

He's acting completely normal. Has a great appetite, moving around more, acting alert. I don't know what is wrong with him.

[Dakota314]

Window on the left* above the big tank.

[alleexo]

Did you read what Jan linked? You should modify your setup as it instructs, and perhaps put him in a hospital tank if she hasn't improved at all.

It sounds as if he is not getting enough moisture to begin with, which could be stressing him out a lot. Bloating is usually gastric problems but if you create a better environment for him he'll probably return to normal more easily.

You need more substrate as tigers love to burrow. 4 inches or deeper is good. If your sally is hanging out in the water all the time it probably means your soil isn't moist enough. Water should also be dechlorinated. Do you have a hygrometer in there? A basic one is only about 2 bucks. It should be around 70% moisture in there. The temperature should also stay around 20 degrees or lower, hot temperatures will shorten their lives. A leafier plant might also make him feel more at ease!

How much do you feed him at a time? Your foodchoices sound okay, but sallies will eat all they can get even if they aren't hungry, so be sure not to overfeed.

If he doesn't get better or symptoms worsen in some way, contact a vet.

If you choose the hospital tank method, you can also combine it with salt water which reduces bloating:

"For terrestrial animals that do not like to be submerged, an additional method that is less effective, but will help is to maintain or reduce the animals’ bloating, is to keep the caudate on unbleached paper towels that are heavily moistened with the hypertonic salt solution. This will reduce the stress on the animal while allowing it to receive the treatment. Change the toweling daily to keep the solution at an effective concentration and to prevent excess bacterial growth on the towels."

[Jan]

If you allow your animal to hunt for food rather than hand feeding, I would get rid of any stones that are small enough to fit in its mouth and the coco-husk. When tigers lunge for food while hunting they can injest other objects - which can cause gut impaction. Could this potentially be what happened? It can be life-threatening.

If you do not want to change to a hospital set-up, minimally create a deeper substrate. I like to use reconstituted coco-fiber blocks like Eco-Earth and Bed-a-Beast....even when ingested, it seems to pass through the gut.

I personally have never worried about maintaining humidity but rather assuring that the substrate is moist but not wet and that the temps stay below the very low 70sF.

[Dakota314]

Yes I read what she posted, and my set up matches it pretty well. Should I be misting it more often? The substrate is moist throughout the day, and not wet, but it gets a little dry at night while I'm sleeping. I'll add more substrate and replace the cocoa husk/dirt with eco earth/dirt mix. The link said not to use just dirt because it can get packed, which is why I added some cocoa husk. He doesn't hang out in the water all the time, goes in it about once every 2 days. I have a private well and my water contains no chlorine, so no problems there. I don't have a hydrometer in his tank, but I have an extra one laying around here somewhere that I can put in if I need to. The link says they do well at avg room temp, which he is at.

On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, he eats half a nightcrawler, which I cut up and tweezer feed to him, and 5-6 medium crickets, which I let him hunt on his own.

All the stones in his tank are river rocks that are slightly larger than his head, so he shouldn't have ingested any and got impacted. But like I said I will get rid of the cocoa husk and make the substrate deeper.

Over the past few days he has started to shrink down to normal size. He is acting normal again and has a good appatite (I think that's how you spell it, lol). Any ideas what could have caused the problem in the first place?

[markrimn]

Originally Posted by Dakota314

Any ideas what could have caused the problem in the first place?

Might have ingested some dirt or cocoa husk. I use ecoearth exclusively, and my Tigers have gotten a mouthful when missing a cricket, but never became bloated.

[Dakota314]

So you just use ecoearth, no dirt? I could start doing that, the small pet store out here has it for a pretty good pirce.

[Dom]

So what would it mean if the head is rough or has bumps? How would you treat impaction?