Tiger Sal juvies - advice requested

Hi,

I purchased a pair of juvenile Tiger Sals about a week ago, and I looking for some advice.

1. I am new to this species, and noticed that my sals look quite different from each other. One is yellow & black with a distinctive spotted pattern and a long, thin body, while the other is a mottled grey colour with a shorter, more blocky body (see pics attached).The pet store told me that they are CB, and are thus presumably siblings. Is this conceivable given how different they look?

2. In terms of behaviour, the yellow salamander is quite outgoing and gregarious. The grey salamander, however, is not very active or responsive and spends most of its time sleeping in its burrow. It comes out every other day or so to swim in the water dish. After some difficulty attempting to feed the grey salamander, I discovered that it will only eat when it is in the water. It does not seem to notice food on land, but is very responsive in water. Any idea why this might be? Could this be because the salamander is young and has not learned to eat on land yet?

3. The pet store suggested that I sprinkle a calcium supplement on all food fed to the sals. I have heard of this with crickets, but I am feeding them earthworms & grubs. Is a calcium supplement necessary with these food types?

Thanks!

They are both tiger salamanders but they are of different subspecies. One is a barred tiger salamander and one i believe is either a california/eastern tiger salamander. Someone correct me if I am wrong

I doubt those are different species. Ambystoma mavortium, in particular, can display such a wide variation in pattern than it could be mistaken for another species.

I can almost bet that the pet store person is yanking your chain by telling you they are captive bred. Captive raised from larva maybe, but captive bred is a little wishful thinking.

As long as you are feeding them worms then you don't have to worry about a calcium/vitamin dusting routine.

Thanks, azn567 and Justin!

My initial thoughts were that they were both A. Mavortium, as the Caudata Culture entry suggested that there is a lot of pattern & colour variation in this species. There are a couple physical differences, however, that I was wondering about.

I have noticed that the grey salamander's feet are quite different from those of the yellow salamander. Yellow's feet are what I consider normal (see the pics from my original post) - he holds his toes apart from one another and walks with his body held quite high off of the ground and with his legs underneath him. Grey's feet are much different looking. I have attached a pic to this post that shows one more clearly than the earlier pics. Basically, she almost never spreads her toes apart, and she walks by thrusting her legs out to the side almost as though she were swimming, and consequently holds her body very close to the ground. Any thoughts on why this might be?

Thanks azn567 and Justin!

I was originally of the opinion that both sals were A. Mavortium, as the Caudata Culture site suggests that this sub species can exhibit substantial colour variation.

I have noticed some substantial physical differences between the two salamanders and was wondering if these are still consistent with A. Mavortium, or perhaps with age differences? In particular, the two sals have very different feet. The yellow sal has feet that I consider normal - he walks with his body lifted off of the ground, his legs underneath his body, and with his toes spread out (See pics posted earlier). The grey sal, on the other hand, walks with her legs splayed out to the side - almost as if swimming. Her body is barely lifted at all and her toes are almost always together. I am attaching a close up pic of one of her feet to demonstrate. Does this suggest anything important? Is this something to be concerned about?

Thanks for your help!

Sorry to post that twice - I thought that my original reply had been lost in the thread switch.. oops!