Spending a Litte too much time in H20

He may be dehydrated, or just getting ready to shed. My ambystomatids soak a lot when they're shedding. How often do you mist the tank?

Have conditions in his environment recently changed? Tigers may retreat to water when they are stressed by their environment (e.g., unsuitable substrate) or when the substrate becomes too dry. As Kaysie mentioned, they may also take a 'dip' around time before shedding.

What type of moss are you using - sphagnum? How long has it been since you changed the eco-earth? Any other factors changed recently, e.g., higher temps?

SlickSam said:

The environment has changed a bit, I just moved him to a different room and I guess the temp could be a little warmer, he was in the basement. Also I changed his substrate to eco-earth, maybe its dries out faster then the other stuff (recently added). How many times should I be spraying the tank a day, should all the dirt be moist or just the top?? Is the eco-earth substrate okay to use? Also I have a little bit of Beaked Moss scattered around the tank, on the back of the package it say that it is preferred for newts/salamanders, but that could be wrong. I think that I'll start misting a little more often.

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Coco-fiber (Eco-Earth and other brands) is a very suitable substrate for fossorial sals. It can be used alone or mixed with organic topsoil. When used alone, I like the moisture content when one brick is reconstituted with 4 liters of water. I use treated dechlorinated water or spring water to reconstitute.
I always keep one end of my tank at this moisture level and the other end slightly drier and use a 3-4 inch coco-fiber depth. When kept around 68-70F, I notice that the top layer starts drying out in ~2 weeks. At this point, I mist the side that I want more moist to maintain a moisture equivalent to freshly constituted coco-fiber (a few times a week seems to work). At the other end of the tank, I allow the top layer to dry out a little and mist less frequently...to give the sals a moisture gradient. I completely change substrate every 6 weeks or so - others on this board change less frequently. I've never had an infectious or disease problem in my tanks, so I just stay with what I've always done...lucky perhaps.

I'm not familiar with beaked moss other than its use in some snakes bedding. Not sure what type of moss it is or if it can impart acidity as does sphagnum moss or if it is truly safe for amphibians.....perhaps others here will know.

As you know, tigers like cooler temps. As long as the new room is around 70ish, that will be fine. Prolonged exposure to temps over 75ish, however, are not. If you have had the animal for 7 years, you are doing many things right.

Mine also sometimes do this before they're going to shed.