Introducing myself, and my young A. gracile, Eve ^^

Hello! I'm Liorah and I recently acquired a juvenile A. gracile salamander who I've totally fallen in love with. I know absolutely nothing about amphibians, I'm not going to lie, but I've been trying to read-up on as much as I can. From what I've deduced through this 'research,' "Eve" is an Ambystoma gracile, and is between 1 and 3 years old.

I'm currently trying to find a food that she will gobble down regularly; she's quite picky So hopefully tomorrow's splurge on meal worms and earthworms will prove fruitful! The man at the pet store said I had a few weeks to get her to eat something before I needed to start being severely worried; does this sound accurate? (He was wrong about a lot when it came to my little girl originally, so I'm getting second opinions on everything he says ) I think though that now that her tank has been modified she might be more willing to eat something. (See: http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-...-feeding-tips-juvenile-ambystoma-gracile.html And feel free to offer opinions!! I really want to make sure she's as happy, healthy, and content as can be!)

So far I've found this forum incredibly helpful, and am thrilled to have found it!

Hi Liorah,

You've certainly come to the right place! Enjoy your new(t) pet, and learning all about how to keep him well.

I've been searching the Forum for info on A. gracile lately, mainly because I think the name is pretty and there aren't any photos of it here (hint, hint). Ok, that isn't entirely true: there is one photo, from IanF, in the gallery (here).

Welcome to the Forum!

-Eva

Sorry for the double post but I can't edit the above one anymore, grrrr.

Just wanted to add for the sake of accuracy that I found more pictures under "Species" on the Caudata Culture site; I had been looking for a caresheet there (none).

-Eva

I was told that the care sheet for tiger salamanders would be sufficient to use for an A. gracile, but yes, they are very hard to find care info for It's been rather unfortunate for a noob like me!

If you come across anything regarding the life span of them, would you mind letting me know? The best documentation I've found so far is 'at least 5 years,' usually coupled with, 'the full lifespan of this species has never been documented due to their highly sheltered, secretive lives.' One site claimed a study had been done on them in captivity, and the salamander studied in that lived past the 10 year mark. I've noticed that 10 - 15 years seems to be a fair average for most species, but I really want to know what I can expect for mine...

Also, thank you for the welcome! ^^ I'll try to get some pictures for you the next time she's out and about!

I want to see a picture of Eve!

She's sinfully cute

Welcome! A few weeks is not right. Maybe...5 days to 1 week before you get worried. take this as a lesson: Never trust the people at the pet store. All they want to do is sell-they don't care about the health, only a special few do. But the ratio is a little too high to trust a the pet store employees all the time.