New to sallys and have a palm one!

hi!

i just bought two sallys. i have 7 axys but saw these in a pet shop n though they were cute. the pet shop dude said they were really rae and better than tiger ones which is why they are £50 each but i got him to go to £40 each. he said they climb more and can hang off your finger by their tail and tigers cant. is this true or was he just bull****ing me to buy them??

I have a tiger, but I kind of think it'd be dangerous to attempt to let her hang off my finger by the tail, plus she's pretty big, so I wouldn't expect her to be able to do that anyway.

Do you know what species you have?

If it's really a palm salamander, it should be Bolitoglossa dofleini:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Bolitoglossa/B_dofleini.shtml
Yes, they can hang from your finger and can climb branches. They are wild-caught and have a reputation for dieing within weeks after they are acquired.

http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/8/25183.html?1099572788 "are we just wasting our time?" Yeah, I think so.

Even Ed K. has been unsuccessful (at least in previous attempts) at keeping these animals. I'll go out on a limb here and say Ed has access to the most resources, being part of the zoo and all. If the person with the most resources available cant keep them, are you going to be able to?

Like Mike said, you KNOW better than to just buy animals that you have no clue what they are. Have we not taught you anything? Exercise a little control. Didnt your mother kick your animals out of the house because you couldnt take care of them all (your room was a mess, things were everywhere, etc)? but now you've got MORE?

If you think this guy was just bull****ing you into buying them, then you shouldnt have bought them at all. You are 18 years old, its time you picked up a little responsibility. I've had the chance to get lots of animals that I really wanted recently, but I know I cant take care of them. You need to figure this out.

I agree with whats been said here Jenny, you should know as much as possible about any animal before going out and buying it because its cute! Andy

Hi Kaysie,
Just as a slight correction. I have been successful acclimating B. dolflini at work. We just went through several batches before we figured it out and it was very labor intensive.

On that note I am looking for three or four more to try some different tricks at home.

Ed

Jenny,
Palm salamanders both B. mexicana and B. dolflini come into the pet trade and both are almost always dead within a matter of days to weeks due to a number of problems.
One of the first issues here is that the more you handle it the more likely it will die. These salamanders almost always are lacking any significant fat reserves and handling increases the stress and metabolism making it more likely that the animal will drop the tail and die.

Ed

I agree with all said above... yes she has been told that she couldnt keep them because of her room, and attitude to her mother.

I almost want to give up, every body is always giving adivce to people saying READ up BEFORE you buy an animal. If you dont do this the animal will suffer due to improper care

Im sorry to say I feel that we have lost the battle with some people. :'(

kim, how mellow dramatic.

if they do die soon then fine. im not bothered about the money spent on them or anything and they wont die because ive looked after them improperly. he told me how to look after them and everything i have read on the net is what he told me!

and i didnt get them because they are rare. i would rather have the fire or tiger ones because they are (and i dont care if you critisise me for it) cuter!!

I think everybody on here will agree just how "addictive" these little critters are.I almost "impulse" bought a fire salamander at the weekend,
housing it would not have been a problem,& feeding it i could have easily done too.But i also have 3 axies,1 c orientalis & 2 paras & i have to think about caring for them too. That may not be much of a collection in comparison to some people here but its just about right for me.So having read up a little & taking everything into consideration i have decided that at this time it would not be a good idea to get the fire sal.
7 axies seems like enough to be going on with jenny .have you ever tought about how you would cope if they mated & laid hundreds of eggs..??
Also if the pet shop dude told you the correct way to look after the sals you were lucky!Usually they
will tell you a pile of <font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font>.Quite often they are misinformed themselves...Having said all that I wish you the best of luck with them.

(Message edited by klash on November 09, 2004)

thanks karl. at least someone is being supportive!

if my axies have babies i will give them to pet shops and if i find i can not give them to pet shops and they breed again i will let them eat the eggs and separate them.

and kaysie, she didnt make me get rid of them because i couldnt look after them, it was because i left a small amount of sand from gravel in the bath or something.

plus its not that i dont know anything about them. i always read about animals n stuff for no reason. i know about iguanas but i dont intend on getting one. however if im in a shop and see one i fall in love with then maybe i will!

Well I agree with whats been said by the others here but i also think that now that youve got 'em i hope it all works out for you.By taking something out of the petshop youve probably increased its life expectancy considerably.That doesnt make it right but its up to you to treat them right now & I really hope that you can.By the looks of things if these are what you say they are then youve got a lot of work to put into these guys

how come these particular ones have a short life expectancy?

I just saw this thread and excuse me but....
Is this for real?

ha ha.

seriously...what is the point in that comment. it doesnt make you look big or funny! people have already made enough comments. and i willa dmit that i suppose i should have found out more about them first. even though i feel i know enough (i.e feeding and how to house them to keep me going for a couple of days till i find out more) and from other stuff i have more read up i havent learnt anything new. fair enough i dont know about that particular breed of sals but like i said im admitting it wasnt the most cleverest of things ive ever done. but i think some of you are really to harsh and hypocritical. i.e kim...criticising me for apparently not being able to look after my axys properly.(which i might add it hink are doing perfect and yes i have 7 but they have 4.5-5ft floor space by 18inches! yet you were the one who wouldnt take yours to the vet because you were getting your birthday party ready! so whatever!

how many parents buy their children rabbits for christmas whith a hutch they think is big enough and not knowing much about them. even little things like you shouldnt overfeed them on greens. which most people would probably think was the best thing for them.

and at least im being honest. i could have easily said im thinking of buying one.

Jenny,

I would like to correct you on a few things..

1. Where did i ever say that you couldn't take care of these animals?

What i have actually said is that more more you get it will get harder and harder, and what next if they breed. All well and good trying to give them to the pet shop, but from my experience they do not want eggs as it would be too much hard work for them.

2. Yes i did have a sick axolotl, and yes it was my birthday. I DID take it to the vet, i actually took it the day before my party.. I at the time did not have access to a car to take the axie on a round trip of 2hours! I dont have friend and family tha will run me every where I want to go.

Yes in the end my axie did die, but this had nothing to do with taking it to the vet or not, There was nothing he or i could/would/should have done to save Spunky.

I am glad that you have admitted that it wasnt the greatest idea about impulse buying these animals. And no one said it had anything to do with the cost of buying them.

But I thought that from reading others posts and problems you would have learnt that it is ALWAYS best to read up on the animal before you get it.

But you have them now, and i wish you all the best in keeping them.

I also have to say that how do you know how to take care of it if i quote 'i dont know about that particular breed of sals'?

One thing that does really bother me is your comment of 'if they do die soon then fine' how can you say that? I am personally very concerned.

(Message edited by jigglypuff on November 09, 2004)

The Bolitoglossa that were available back in June were dofleini. I am very surprised that the ones you have are still alive as I believe the wholesaler lost the majority of those imported along with most of the Eurycea longicauda that they had at the same time.

i have to say i think you may have done the right thing in getting them <u>ON THIS OCCASION</u>. the salamanders may well have gone to someone who was a first time buyer, and they would have not lasted long at all. at least you have access to information about the sals. i would read all the relevant threads in the species, genus section, and i wish you the best of luck with them.

However. this doesn't mean that impulse buying is good, far from it. please think before you buy, and only get them when you know everything there is to know about them.