Need ID on salamander

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Terris

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Hi! My husband and I found a very long, dark salamander in a pile of wet leaves this past Saturday. He/she is about 5 inches long from head to tip of his tail, and has a lot of tiny spots (pale yellow or white) all over. Cutest little thing, and pretty active. I have a water dish and it is usually in there. It has 4 little toes.

I think that it might be a Slimy Salamander, as we live in Tuscarawas County in Ohio. I don't know if it should be in an aquatic environment or land environment or both. What should I feed it-it is not interested in small mealworms. I have found dark excrement in the tank. Right now it is in a small aquarium with paper towel, water in a shallow lid, and a rock hideout. The temperature in our home is 68F.

Thanks for any advice-we want to give it a good home with us.
 
Wouldn't it have a better home in its natural environment?
In Canada, it is illegal to bring captured wildlife inside to become a pet.
You didn't even know what species it was, yet you took it anyways?
 
In many cases, collecting and removing one or two individuals from a population is much better than purchasing animals from a pet store. Those animals have usually been mass-collected, shipped in horrid conditions, and displayed in completely unsuitable fashions for the unsuspecting public to purchase. It then promptly dies, and the person goes back to the pet shop and gets another one, perpetuating the mass-collection cycle.

By collecting a small group of individuals from a population rather than purchasing a mass-collected animal, you're actually less likely to damage populations.
 
Aren't captive bred animals a better choice than wild caught animals?
Weren't you concerned that the animal was taken from the environment before even knowing what species it was?
 
Not many animals are available cb. As Kaysie said, it's not bad to take one or two animals from a healthy wild population. That is how many future herpers and breeders start their interest in the hobby.
Please be respectful of differing opinions. You only need to make your point once.
 
Thank you otterwoman. Yes, we believe it is the Northern Slimy Salamander. I have tried petstores, and ended up with small mealworms. Most are out of the other food due to Christmas. But I will keep searching!


ecoreptiles: Thank you so much for your support:rolleyes:
I have just joined this forum and have zero experience/knowledge of these creatures. We were cleaning up around our garage and found this salamander-we wanted it to live so we brought it indoors and have joined this forum to learn how to take care of it. We had no idea that they can withstand cold temperatures, and we unsure where to put it if we did leave it outside.
 
Terris, try local bait shops. They usually carry either waxworms or earthworms most of the season. I buy my earthworms from Wal-Mart. Mealworms aren't really the best food.
 
Thanks. I will try to find something today. Also, what kind of substrate should I use? Do I dig some dirt from around where I found it, or purchase something? And I need to keep the substrate moist-should I also have small shallow water dish in there, too? I read that they can drown if it is too deep and too wet of an environment isn't good either.

I have been doing some more reasearch, and I think I might have a ravine salamander. It looks more like that than the slimy, and mine doesn't have the gooey stuff on it. I am trying to get a decent up close picture, but my camera isn't cooperating.
 
I think you could do either one (as far as substrate). However, it might be more convenient in the long run to buy some pet soil substrate (I like Jungle Bed) , because if you do tank changes, it might be easier. Then again, you probably only have one tank (so far:p) and it might not be so much trouble. Some moist dirt, some leaves on top, mist the tank as necessary to keep it all moist, a shallow water dish in case it wants to soak, a hide/house, a food bowl.
see:

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/articles.shtml

specifically, the housing section, and start here:

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/setups.shtml

Good luck!
 
Last edited:
Terris said:
Hi! My husband and I found a very long, dark salamander in a pile of wet leaves this past Saturday. He/she is about 5 inches long from head to tip of his tail, and has a lot of tiny spots (pale yellow or white) all over. Cutest little thing, and pretty active. I have a water dish and it is usually in there. It has 4 little toes.

I think that it might be a Slimy Salamander, as we live in Tuscarawas County in Ohio. I don't know if it should be in an aquatic environment or land environment or both. What should I feed it-it is not interested in small mealworms. I have found dark excrement in the tank. Right now it is in a small aquarium with paper towel, water in a shallow lid, and a rock hideout. The temperature in our home is 68F.

Thanks for any advice-we want to give it a good home with us.
Click to expand...
When you say that it has 4 toes - are these on the front feet or the back feet? If on the back feet that would be indicative of the type of sal.
 
Hey Terris, I wasn't trying to be mean there; I was just concerned for the salamander.
I know it can be a nerve-wracking time when you are trying to help an animal and aren't sure what to do.
I'm sorry I even made the comment. I wish you and your salamander health and happiness.
 
You want to be very careful raising these, I had found one under a rock, but sadly I couldn't get him to eat.:(
 
Our salamander is not a Slimy, but resembles the closest to a ravine salamander. Very long and slender, dark coloring and the spotting looks exactly like the pictures.

I have it in a plastic terrarium with soil from the yard, crushed leaves, and a little bit of shredded coconut fiber. I mist the soil to keep it moist. I also have a rock hidey, shallow water dish, and have put in small earthworms, small pill bugs and a slug from under a rotting board. I am trying to get some other worms today from a fish bait store. I bought a dozen of the smallest crickets, but I'm sure now they are too big.

It is very active-in and out of the water and its hidey. Anything else I should be doing?

Apology accepted, ecoreptile.

Jan-it has four toes on the back, and three on the front.
 
http://www.ohiodnr.com/Home/species_a_to_z/AZReptilesandAmphibians/tabid/17914/Default.aspx

Here is a link for the Ohio Division of Wildlife and their page for the amphibian and reptile species.

Here is a copy of the rules and regulations for amphibians and reptiles for Ohio, as some species are endangered in Ohio, such as the cave salamander, blue spotted, and hellebenders.

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/portals/9/PDF/pub03.pdf

The Ohio Division of Wildlife is not the most user friendly page out there, so keep that in mind when trying to find out more about the rules and regulations for non-game species like amphibians.



It may also be a long tailed salamander. If the earthworms you get a too big, you may have to try chopping them up as well. If you do buy soil I would purchase it from the pet shop like mentioned previously. As you want a substrate that would be pesticide free.
Hope all goes well and welcome to the forum.
 
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