My odd little Fire salamander.

I raised four of these from newly morphed larvae approx July 2010. This first one seems to have a different in body shape from the others. It looks like he/she is shorter between the front and back legs. It moves and behaves like all the others, it just looks shorter and squatter then them.
This is the first group I have raised, so there may not be a problem. I am hoping to breed them once they are mature, but if this one is 'deformed' I shall raise it separately.
I would appreciate your opinions.
Julia

How big are they.
You could be growing them on to fast but as its only one it could be just deformed

The biggest is close to 4 inches.
When you say that I could be growing them on too fast, would that be by offering too much food? What would the consequences be if this is the case ? Sorry for the questions Billy.

I think its a combination of both the factors mentioned, 4 inches of growth in under a year i would say is a bit fast, and i expect the slightly stumpy one could have a slight curvature of the spine or similar which would lead to the slight difference in shape.
Whilst terrestris seem to cope well with being 'power fed' and growing faster than perhaps they would in the wild, other types such as longirostris and algira can suddenly get massive curvaturs of the spine, pretty much over night,
Keep him under observation, sometimes they can catch up and look almost normal over time, remember they have another 3-4 years before they will be mature enough to breed, and it may be worth sourcing some different bloodlines to pair yours with.

Good luck

Ben

Thanks for your response Ben.
I have always fed these earthworm, usually every 3 days or so, plus the odd wood louse. I now feel terrible that I may have potentially caused this. I have never thought that they where particularly plump. However having thought about it further since it was first mentioned, maybe as they are unable to roam over largish areas looking for food, they just haven't been using up the calories.
I have kept am eye on this one and I haven't seen any noticeable curvature, but I will keep a closer eye on this.
Now they are in an outdoor enclosure, it is over twice the size of their original home. I have fed them worms once since they have been in, but should I cut their feeding down ? I worry that twice weekly may not be enough.
Once I am able to identify what sexes I have in this group, I will certainly be wanting some additions/ substitutes.
Finally, having looked through Caudata I can not find any reference to the dangers of overfeeding...could any one advise me where to look .

Fire salamanders do not need feeding no where near as much as most amphibians to stay in good health.
If i feed my newts the same as my fires they would be skin and bone. Two times a week is fine unless you see wait loss/no growth.

These are my 2010 terrestris now at 7 cm, my 09s are 11/12 cm.

BILLY JAMES said:

These are my 2010 terrestris now at 7 cm, my 09s are 11/12 cm.

Click to expand...

Thats the sort of growth rate i would expect to see!!

I just went out to see if I could see them, and three where out exploring so I quickly measured them again. The biggest was 10cm from nose to tip of tail, the stubby one was 8cm. I'll keep a close eye on them .
Thank you both for your advice .