New to the salamander world

Just received a blue spotted salamander from my mother inlaw. We have our guy in a little aquarium, one of those ones for kids for insects. My question is what do i need to do to start a half decent home for this guy.

Right now i have some mossy grass from my garden, with a little bit of dirt underneath, cedar chips under everything, some bark and leaves, and a dish with water. I am looking for an aquarium not to sure what size i should go with. any suggestions would be great.

First off, I would get rid of the cedar chips as it contains chemicals that are toxic to amphibians. Other than that everything else sounds great. Oh, you'll probably want to put something in there for it to hide under if the leaves aren't big enough.

A ten gallon tank would be of perfect size for a blue-spotted salamander.

Thank you. My next question is, I have received a tank from a friend who had it sitting around. We don't know what exactly was in it, but i need to clean it and was wondering if anyone knew what i could use or how to clean it so i can use it to house my blue spotted salamander and not harm him/her. And how can you tell the sex of a salamander. Any assistance would be great.

You can find some sexing information here but not all species can be sexed and some can only be sexed at certain times. In focus closeups of the cloacal region (at the base of the tail) of the salamander in both profile and directly above could help our experts help you.

When it comes to cleaning I would just wash out everything you can with tap water and a clean rag. If you have limescale buildup on the side of the aquarium a razor blade will help scrape that off (glass aquariums only!) as can lemon juice or white vinegar.

If you are worried about disease and want to disinfect the surface make sure you rinse and clean off all dirt and other detritus as it will deactivate the bleach. Mix up a fresh 1 to 10 solution of bleach in water and spray liberally over the tank. Let this stand for at least 20 minutes and then rinse off. Rinse with copious amounts of water. A good idea would be after all your rinses to fill the aquarium with water in the sink and add dechlorinator drops and let that sit for 10-20 minutes before dumping out the water. Residual chlorine from the bleach is toxic to amphibians.

Thank you very much, the info was very helpful. I am going to clean the tank and get my little guy into a bigger home.