Hello

Hello
I am from Alberta, Canada.
I have recently aquired a tiger salamander ("Waldo")
I joined the forum in order to access information from experienced keepers and to learn as much as possible about my new little critter.
I have set up a vivarium for him with plants, a pool, and a submersible filter that pumps water from one end of the tank, down a stream (constructed from pop bottles cut in half and filled with rocks) back down hill to the pool. The filter is located in a well on the dry end of the tank (yes, another pop bottle with the top cut off this time and holes cut into the bottom so the water can flow into it - the gaps are stuffed with some old fish tank sponges that I had so that Waldo will not get stuck down there). The filter creates a nice little water fall that he sometimes walks under. So far the ammonia and nitrites havent seemed to spike - I used fish tank gravel in the bottom under his hill that had a good bacterial population in it already so hopefully this will act as a good bio-filter for the pond. The plants, moss and java ferns will hopefully keep the nitrates from building up between water changes. Thankfully, I have a huge fish tank and I keep a 90gal tank of fresh / conditioned / dechlorinated water in the basement handy for water changes so I can change his water as often as I like. His water/tank temp is holding steady at about 19-20C. I will be changing the little fishtank rocks for large ones when I need to change the coconut fibre bedding that is layered on top of them. I used those because they were handy and I wanted to establish a healthy bacterial population for waste management. I hand feed Waldo with tweezers so hopefully he won't swallow any rocks in the meantime.
I have been feeding Waldo a combination of wax worms, butter worms, earth worms and pink mice. I have been feeding him 2 times per week. I have an aversion to crickets so hopefully he will do okay nutritionally without them in his diet.
He spends time in his cave during the day and usually comes to the "door" and peers at me when I walk by his tank. He burrows about in the moss and plants at night and is sometimes moseying about during the daytime as well. He is pretty social and likes to pose for pictures - especially if he thinks that food may be forthcoming.
I hope that I can learn lots of new information, get useful suggestions from those more experienced than myself and chat with some interesting people with similar interests on this site.






Oh, and here is Waldo - the photogenic salamander
Have a great evening!

Welcome. I'm new to this forum, but not new to keeping amphibians. Thanks for the photos, they bring back memories of past tiger pals. And thanks for the detailed description of your habitat. It always interesting and useful to know what other folks are doing and how it's working.

The only thing I wonder is if the diet with wax worms, butter worms and pinkies might, in the long run be a bit high in fat. I never used either was worms or butter worms in my own practice...so I don't know...but that is a thought that came to mind.

What I like about crickets in a diet is that they can be gut loaded easily with stuff (earthworms too, if you raise them yourself). But I understand your aversion, I have a son with the same issues. (21 and big into herps). How about isopods? (rolypolys), and small feeder fish. I used to supplement my ambysomid's diets with minnows from time to time...either by letting them fish themselves, or holding a minnow in front of them on land.

that being said...when I die...I'd like to come back as a tiger salamander in your set up...sounds sweet!

Linette

Hi
Thanks for the reply!
I'm glad you like Waldo's house.
What do you gut load your earth worms with?
I sprinkled a little bit of fish food into thier container with the intention of trying to keep them alive for longer. I got a packet of red worms from the local bait shop and transferred them to a plastic peanut butter jar with the lid on very loose. I have been storing them in the fridge. They have been alive and quite wiggly for several weeks now.
I looked into the fat content of butter worms and thankfully unlike thier name would imply they don't seem to be high fat (hopefully my resources were reliable). They said that they were very high in calcium and sweet smelling (to a salamander I assume). The wax worms are pretty high in fat , and the pinkies are really high, but I havent been giving him alot of either of those. I suppose that I may be convinced to feed him creepy crawly crickets (do you know if they will live if you keep them in the garage? - the crickets that is...). I've never seen a roly poly before - do you purchase them or do you collect them from the outdoors?
Hope you are having a great day.