Bad habit sal kicking dirt into water

mandygurl

mandygurl

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I have 2 tiger sals (Squirt and Tony) in a 10 gallon tank with a dirt substrate with a water dish. Squirt has a bad habit of kicking dirt into the water dish till their is not water left. I"ve tried different substrates such as moss with the same problem (they prefer the dirt substrate). I clean the dish every couple days but is it ok to leave them without water? Can i leave it for longer say if i go away?
 
I used to just take pieces of slate or shale and ring the inset water dish with them about 4" wide immediately around the dish... most of the times it kept the soil out as the salamanders had to sort of wipe their feet before entering. It would certainly set up a barrier so Squirt wouldn't have an easy job kicking the substrate into the dish. ;)
 
Tigers do not need a water dish as long as the substrate is kept moist and clean with temps at/below
72ish F. Tigers will retreat to a water dish if their substrate becomes fouled, dry or if temps become high. I have raised tigers for 50 years. As full grown adults, mine rarely go into the water and then for only for a quick dip - seems to be a correlation with shedding - but certainly not with all sheds.

If your tigers are adults and not juvenilles, you may want to consider getting a larger tank for the pair - something with the surface area of a 20 gallon long.
 
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