Neotenic Northwestern salamander

..ok so no pics yet i will get a video up soon.

I rescued what i believe to be a Northwestern salamander...it is Neotenic

he/she is about 6 1/2 inches long and has a full set of gills.

the question i have is are they able to lose there gills at this later date in life or is it always going to be aquatic?

As far as I know, once they reach sexual maturity in the aquatic state, they'll always be aquatic. I'm no expert though. Perhaps they are like Axolotl's and in very rare cases may morph at a later date but even so such cases would be extremely rare and likely it will stay aquatic.

Metamorphosis can happen at any time. They're not necessarily permanently neotenic.

Kaysie said:

Metamorphosis can happen at any time. They're not necessarily permanently neotenic.

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alright awesome, ..are there steps i can take to keep it in this state?..or will it randomly switch ..sayy if it wants to crawl out of its tank and walk away.

Im new to salamanders..but i have been keeping fish for a few years now..i have some heavily planted tanks and was hoping he would be happy in one of them.

...oh and suggestions on what to feed him would be wonderful i offered part of a night crawler today and he refused it.

He is currently in a 40 gallon with a few small fish hob filters and a few large masses of floating plants he loves to hide in.

By providing adequate aquatic habitat, you're doing the best you can to discourage metamorphosis. Be cautious with fish; they can nip gills.

thanks for the info so far^_^..

what in your mind is an adequate aquatic habitat..and again what foods should i offer it..to try and get him to eat?

Others would be better suited to advise you about the habitat, but I as far as food goes, with any newt or salamander, earthworms or nightcrawlers are the best food you could feed them. They should be their staple diet and you can then add some variety with the occasional crickets, bloodworms, or other feeders. If the earthworms aren't too large you can feed them whole and since your salamanders are aquatic that would be ideal since earthworms can survive for some time underwater and there will be less chance of uneaten food going unnoticed and fouling up your water. However large worms can be cut up and fed in pieces though like I said, a piece might go unnoticed if it isn't eaten, but you could feed them a piece one at a time to make sure they are eaten. And I've seen it posted here often that you should feed them as much as they each can eat in 15 minutes.

Disregard my earlier post about the metamorphosis though, I had no idea that they could morph at any time and figured they'd be like Axolotls. Guess you learn something new every day. Next time I'll reframe from posting on something I don't really know much about lol.

so...any one have any suggestion for a proper aquatic environment for on of these guys?

Kaosu said:

so...any one have any suggestion for a proper aquatic environment for on of these guys?

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Kaysie told you that if you provide an adequate aquatic envir. which seems to be the case, the salamander is likely to remain aquatic, meaning it will not morph!
So maybe it needs a more "swampy" set-up!

If he's aquatic and you're having trouble getting him to eat, try attaching a small needle to some thread or finishing line- make sure the needle is secure before continuing. We don't want any accidents. Then take your earthworm, nightcrawler or whatever you're trying to get him to eat (at 6 and a half inches he probably won't need you to cut anything up for him, they're mouths are about the size of their heads when fully opened).

Then impale the worm on the needle, without the needle protruding from the bottom of the worm. If you wish you can chant to the pagan worm gods, but that step isn't necessary.

Lastly lower your impaled worm on the needle gently down in front of him. If he's not immediately interested tease the line a bit. This method has never failed me for an aquatic newt (or frogs, for that matter) and if done properly is perfectly safe for your little friend. It's actually my preferred method of feeding so I know everyone got ample food and none of it goes and rots on the bottom of the tank (my guys are tiny, so I do need to chop up worms for them- thus the only movement comes from me)

Good advice, Crippster. I use a similar method when smaller caudates are still afraid of a tweezers. Instead of a needle, I use those long wooden kabob skewers.

SpaceCadetHayde said:

Good advice, Crippster. I use a similar method when smaller caudates are still afraid of a tweezers. Instead of a needle, I use those long wooden kabob skewers.

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I prefer the needle/thread as 1) I think it wiggles more and 2) my tanks are HUGE. The kabob skewer wouldn't reach the bottom... and thinking about it, I don't know if I'd want to attach an earthworm to a kabob skewer.. those things are pretty big. What a mess.

Haha. Yeah. They're far too big to use with small earthworms but they work great for getting my P. Waltl's attention with chopped nightcrawlers. I'll have to try that needle trick.