Question: Plants and Invertebrates Appropriate for a Tiger salamander tank

Been working on a enclosure appropriate for Tiger salamanders for a couple years now. Used a 40B turtle tank and divided it using glass to create a small aquatic portion and a larger terrestrial portion. If I get a chance, I'll post up some pictures in the appropriate forum later on. Any way, I'm looking to plant the terrestrial portion of the tank at this point, and am looking for some idea of plants that will and won't work.

My initial idea was to include some bonsai trees which would emulate our native cottonwood trees to a degree, some moss, a native Forget-Me-Not that has done well in both terrestrial and bog type environments for me, and a native fern that has done well for me in another paludarium type tank. I'm looking for some additional suggestions, maybe some orchid suggestions if anyone has had good luck with any particular species in this type of environment? Also what invertebrates should I consider including?

I read through both the care sheets I found on this site, as well as several other threads, and saw a note that moss should perhaps be avoided as it may be acidic.

Appreciate any help you all can give in advance.

Tiger sals can be rough on plants... They love to dig and are heavy bodied so can easily trample/damage things. I wouldn't recommend anything expensive or delicate like orchids. Cheap, heavy duty plants like pothos, sansievaria, tradescantia, etc. would be what I'd go with.

Exception: I have a bunch of air plants mounted on the sides/walls of my tank. Tiger sals don't tend to climb much so if you're set on orchids and fancy plants, mount them up where your Sal can't get to them.

Cephalotus said:

Tiger sals can be rough on plants... They love to dig and are heavy bodied so can easily trample/damage things. I wouldn't recommend anything expensive or delicate like orchids. Cheap, heavy duty plants like pothos, sansievaria, tradescantia, etc. would be what I'd go with.

Exception: I have a bunch of air plants mounted on the sides/walls of my tank. Tiger sals don't tend to climb much so if you're set on orchids and fancy plants, mount them up where your Sal can't get to them.

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Thanks, I'm going for more of a natural/native look, so I'll stay away from the pothos and sansievaria, but the tradescantia has a number of possible options.

Is mint an ok plant to use?

That is a good question, I am not sure. I would have some concerns about the essential oils in the mint irritating the sal's skin since it is so permeable. Native mint does grow naturally around the wetlands where tiger sals breed but I doubt they get prolonged exposure to it as they would in an enclosed habitat.

All the previous plants are some good suggestions, and I have a few invertebrate suggestions too. Canadian night-crawlers and (Possibly if your Tiger sal will eat them) red-wigglers can live in the tank (Even though the Night-crawlers won't breed) and won't harm the animal living in there, and will provide food for the salamander as well. Springtails are good too, as they combined with the worms will serve as a "cleanup crew" in your tank. A few more suggestions are white-worms, slugs, and woodlice. A good website to help you out on plants and invertebrates is here: Caudata Culture Home Page

Sith the turtle said:

All the previous plants are some good suggestions, and I have a few invertebrate suggestions too. Canadian night-crawlers and (Possibly if your Tiger sal will eat them) red-wigglers can live in the tank (Even though the Night-crawlers won't breed) and won't harm the animal living in there, and will provide food for the salamander as well. Springtails are good too, as they combined with the worms will serve as a "cleanup crew" in your tank. A few more suggestions are white-worms, slugs, and woodlice. A good website to help you out on plants and invertebrates is here: Caudata Culture Home Page

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Thanks Sith, appreciate the input on the invertebrates, was wondering about adding both worms and springtails. Bit confused by the web link however, as that is the home page for this site? I've already looked over the care sheets for this species, and both are lacking on plant or invertebrate suggestions, which is why I asked for more specifics.

Well we have a worm culturing guide on here too, but I'm not too sure about springtails. I know Josh's frogs has one though:

Temperate Springtail (Colombella) Culture (32 oz) | Josh's Frogs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mILeE-yGg4s

By the way, maybe some people with extra time could write a springtail guide on the CC articles, they're a good feeder for smaller animals, and are helpful for setting up terrestrial tanks