Tiger care for winter months

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jessica

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Jessica J. Miller
hi,
i have a barred tiger salamander that some neighbor kid caught while on vacation in colorado. i offered to take him after the kids lost interest and the quit feeding it. i have never owned a reptile before and am getting conflicting info on their care. one thing im very concerned about is what to do with him during the winter. i have been told that they hibernate, but have not found any info to support that. during summer i kept him outside in an aquarium and hes done fine so far. i live in texas so we get an occasional freeze, but i dont know where these animals seek shelter in their natural envir. or how to replicate that for him. i feel like he should be outside changing with the seasons but im afraid he might freeze.?
any suggestions?
 
http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Ambystoma/A_tigrinum.shtml

thats a link to the care sheet for them, for winter you can just keep on doing what your doing(probably bring it inside over winter)

I noticed you said you were keeping it in an aquarium, did you mean a cage with water like a fish tank?
if thats true you should change it to a totaly terrestrial set-up, here are some examples
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/setups3.shtml
you can find more in the vivarium picture section of the forum
 
Hi Jess,

I used to keep Tigers when I lived in Austin and I kept them inside year round. I wouldn't recommend keeping them outside in the summer as I remember the heat index regularly reaching 100F.
 
Outdoors might be great for him in winter. As long as he can burrow into some kind of dirt, he should be safe from a light freeze. What kind of tank/tub/container do you keep him in? Could it be half-buried below the ground? Summer is a different story - Jim is right, too hot.
 
ok, i think i need to redo his cage. theres only gravel and water and a dry place for him. i was under the impression that these guys liked to be submerged most of the time. oops. can you recommend some safe (small) plants that i could add to the tank in addition to top soil and peat moss? those pictures of aquariums were very cool. also, any good sites on cleaning/care for terrestrial cage.
thanks so much for your help guys!
jess
 
Peat moss is usually a bad idea because it can be acidic. I use organic top soil (no fertilizers or manures) and coco fiber for mine.

Cleaning a terrestrial cage is as smiple as emptying it out every couple months and putting in fresh substrate.
 
Also, don't be alarmed if your tiger burrows most of the time----mine spends 90% of his days (and nights!) under the substrate, which is 5" thick and which needs to be kept moist but not overly damp. Good luck!!
 
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