Anyone else's ambystoma take looooong naps?

L

leanne

Guest
My tiger salamander "hibernated" ALL summer, and then emerged just the other day---ravenous of course, and healthy as usual. Weird? He loves just sleeping in his substrate, which is not very exciting for me, but I guess it's normal? In the past I've dug him out and fed him, but this time I just let him stay underground, just to see how long he would keep himself buried----well, turned out to be over 3 months! I just watered him like a plant during that time!


(Message edited by Tadpole on September 17, 2006)

(Message edited by Tadpole on September 17, 2006)
 
they do stay underground all the time, do you keep food in the terrarium with it??
it may have just been in the dirt eating stuff and not actually sleeping
 
If it was buried for over 3 months then I dont think it was there eating the whole time. Whats the tempature over there?
 
I don't keep any food in the terrarium, since I don't trust crickets and their munching habits (even with cricket food in the enclosure, I have seen them munch on the salamanders themselves), so I monitor how much Fatboy eats as well that way. The temps here all summer have been very balmy---mid-upper 80's. Have kept the soil damp but not moist.
 
Maybe he "hibernated" all summer because it was much cooler in the substrate than up on the surface.
 
Leanne, I'm not too surprised. In the wild, it's a lot cooler underground during the hot summer months. I would imagine if you flooded his cage (simulating a heavy rainstorm) during this time, he'd come out looking for dinner.
 
Leanne - East Tennessee and Indianapolis have approximately the same weather. My tigers have been as active as ever - they always are under their hides, but like to keep their heads or one-half of their bodies out. They tend to be pretty bold. We do keep the the AC and/or heat set at around 71 degrees. Interesting about your little guy.
 
Mine has been doing the same thing as Leanne's. It did it around summer too, so I guess that makes sense. But the temperature in my house during the summer was pretty cool, so I don't really know if that was the problem. I get real excited when he comes above ground, anyway, cause that means I get to feed him! But is it bad if they sit around for weeks at a time and only come up to feed? Won't they get fat with no exercise? Just eating and sitting around underground? I worry about that, he eats crickets and mealworms... I don't want him to get obese!
 
Hmmm...perhaps now that it has cooled off above ground he will emerge....I might try and simulate the rainstorm too, like you said Joan, and see what happens. Sarah, I wouldn't worry about your guy getting obese, that's never really been Fatboy's problem (even though that's his name, heh!)---it's just in their nature, I think, to be a burrowing species.
 
I saw a pic of a tiger sally that was fed on pinkie mice, really obese, and i got scared my lil one would get like that! Just don't want him to get unhealthy.
 
The problem is with the frequency of the feeding not the food item...

Ed
 
Reid, that's probably not enough. You might want to monitor their weight. Mine eat ~3 inches of nightcrawler 3 times a week.
 
Looks like I'm not going to have to simulate a rainstorm---Fatboy is emerging every other day now, go figure!
 
The amount to feed depends on the temperature at which the salamander is kept. A little as 5 degrees F can make a significant difference in the amount of food needed.
That said I would offer an adult tiger more than 6 crickets in a 7 day period...

Ed
 
well, when mine decides to come out (or i'll dig him out if he's been under more than a month) i'll feed him maybe 5 crickets, or 3 large mealworms, or some combination of that, i try not to feed too heavily on mealworms since they are fatty. but he'll usually eat a bunch, then when he burrows back under again i know he's done. is it ok to feed like this? i figured my salamander would know better than i would if he was full or not.
 
Joan, I think that is good enough because if I try to feed them more than that they seem to to loose interest in the food. I feed them large crickets about 2 inches long.
 
I use the "shish kebab" method to feed, since Fatboy doesn't like to eat his vegetables (i.e. nightcrawler pieces or earthworms). I have a needle and thread, put one live cricket on it, string a nightcrawler segment on next, then string one more cricket on. When I hold the closely-threaded food in front of Fatboy, he grabs the cricket immediately and ends up eating all 3 food items in the process while I gently pull the end of the string out, as soon as he has all of them in his grasp.
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