Tiger Salamander - Moral Dilemma....

My beautiful Skaddi, my rescued Ambystoma tigrinum, has been with me since last September. I found her on a busy highway, injured and malnourished. She's now a fat, happy and healthy girl and I love seeing her that way. But now I'm having a moral dilemma. I think she's...unhappy.

Discontent is more of the word. I'm not for anthropomorphizing, but she is restless. I've been looking to get her a new, larger vivarium, but now I doubt she would be happy in that, no matter how large I make it. She obviously spent most of her life in the wild, so she remembers it and is always seeming to want to roam.

I have a few places I could release her, where I know there are others of her kind and she would be safe from human activity. I have worked very hard to keep her free from chemical contamination, but the possibility of pathogens always exists. BUT, I have had wild specimens for longer and released them when working with the MN DNR approval.

I want her to be 'happy' more than anything, and I believe she would do fine back in the wild. She defends herself, fights for food and would be a great addition to the breeding population locally. I still have the concern about introducing pathogens into the environment, but I doubt that with her being in captivity since last fall and having no exposure to other amphibians, I think she would be okay. I've used substrate and objects from outside, so she's not been isolated from the normal organisms she would come across.

If she trully hasn´t had any contact, direct or indirect with other amphibians (not even sharing the same tweezers or something like that), then i think it´s pretty safe. The only source of possible patogens would be the tap water, and if that were the case, those patogens would already be around....
However, if there are other amphibians in the same room, or you share equipment, plants, whatever, then the risk is something to consider more carefully.
You might need to consider the possibility that releasing animals is illegal in your area, too.

Hard call to make. You have to way up the options ( which you have already done) you have probably decided on the course of action you need to take already but want others to talk you out of it. 10/10 for nursing it back to health.

The tapwater is from a deep water well, so it's basically the same thing she would come into contact elsewhere in the area. And I've kept things sterile if it was used in other habitats. Whatever she is carrying, it was already present before I rescued her. I've taken into consideration the normal roaming range of these salamanders and how far pathogens usually travel, but considering the introduction of these pathogens are done regularly by waterfowl and migrating arthropods, I think it's an allowable risk.

The law allows it as long as it's not an exotic, which she isn't. We've got local populations, though not as many as the Blue-Spotted. I think she would be a lovely addition to the breeding population.

I appreciate any and all input from your experiences and knowledge, and though I'm just about 99% sure of releasing her, I am open to your opinions!

I would agree that the risk of pathogen transmission on release would be small. The one thing I would consider is that her lifespan will probably be a lot longer in captivity than in the wild. All my tigers have lived into the double digits. Roaming behaviors can also be induced by stress from a less than optimal environment - I would just reflect on this to be sure that this isn't the reason for her seeming restless.

In the coming weeks, I will wait for cooler temperatures to do the release. I am going to start acclimating her to the temps outside again (without risky exposure, of course). The spot I'm thinking about releasing her has optimal habitat for her. It is near a breeding pond that always has a decent amount of water in it, plenty of thick woods to hunt in and plenty of places to hide during the heat and cold. It's on land that is owned by someone who protects it fervently, so she'll be safe from human-made harm. I just think she would be 'happier' out there. I would rather give her quality of life than quantity. It'll be hard to say goodbye, but I'm glad I got to rescue her and get her healthy again. I suppose it could be called an 'extended rehabilitation'.

I'm sure someone else will come along to take her place in my care. There are always critters that need our help, and I can offer it to them. In the future I plan to purchase captive-bred individuals that I can give optimal conditions to, but for now I'll just be a 'rescuer'.

The notion of quality of life in the wild versus captivity is very tricky indeed. The mild, sheltered conditions of captivity, the lack of predators and disease (in principle), the constant suply of food, etc...all make captivity look pretty good if you are an animal that spends most of its time buried anyway....
I would say the main pro-wild argument, apart from the fact that it´s where the animal came from, is the chance of reproducing.

That palce sounds great, but make sure it´s within proximity of the place where you found it. The closer to that spot you can safely release it, the better. Don´t release it somewhere that wouldn´t be readily accessible from the original location, to avoid unnecessarily mixing separate populations.

Unfortunately, the area where I rescued her is not ideal in the least. Some of it has been developed over the winter, and the rest is either in poor condition due to droughts or is farmland and is exposed to crop-dusting chemicals. I believe she was migrating when I found her, since her entire underside was callused and 'road-worn'. It's a sad situation where her home was.

I'd rather not introduce anything 'foreign' to the population here, but it's unlikely that I'll find anywhere suitable where she was originally found.

In that case i´ll be the one to encourage you to keep it in captivity xD There´s just too many things you would have to know, and you don´t, in order to be sure that releasing it in the new area was really safe and consequence free.

I don't have a strong opinion about releasing it - you probably know better than I do what the risks and benefits would be. But I do think you might be reading too much into the salamander's behavior. It may just be the warm weather making her restless.

It may be. It's hard not to 'anthropomorphize' in these cases. I do hope it's just restlessness. It's a lot to take into consideration!

I'm just happy I still fret this much over her. She may not be fuzzy, but she is cute and not disposable.