Question: Eastern Tiger help

[KrmKendall]

We have an Eastern Tiger Salamander subadult; morphed during the summer and still growing. He eats great and does not seem to freak out when we have to pick him up/dig him out. The problem we are having is he never comes up on his own. We have to find him to feed him every time, then within 5 min of finishing his worms, he burrows again. I know they are fossorial, but I am wondering if there is something we can do or change in his enclosure to help him feel more comfortable being topside. I see other people's come up and ask for food, but he never does.
Any thoughts?

(He currently has several fake plants providing lots of hiding area and a fake wood shallow arch thing, as well as a slate water bowl. He has about 4 inches of substrate, currently the compressed coconut stuff, but planning to mix in soil next time we change his substrate.)

Thanks!

 

[John]

Some individuals are just this way and there's not much you can do about it I'm afraid. You could try keeping it in shallow substrate with lots of hides but I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you. I collected a bunch of Barred Tiger larvae in 2007 and to this day, one of them is still like the one you have.