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Illness/Sickness: Salamanders dying

Person243

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Hello, I've had a few salamanders die recently and was wondering if anyone can help me figure out why. They would start gaping their mouths frequently, get weaker and weaker and die after a few hours. They had just metamorphosed a few months ago and I believe they were barred tiger salamanders
 

Otterwoman

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It could be so many things, maybe no one knows where to start. From genetics to their enclosure, to temps, to substrate, it's hard to tell. Can you show us a picture of their enclosure?
 

Person243

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I had it set up with about half water, and I had some moss on the land side.
 

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jewett

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Setups such as this are notorious for bacterial buildup- debris sinks into the stones and nitrogenous wastes build up, creating a toxic environment. Aquarium gravel can also be ingested by caudates, which can in turn cause intestinal blockages. Do you know what temperatures the salamanders were exposed to? High temps could also have been a contributing factor in their deaths.

For future reference, morphed tiger salamanders should be on a substrate such as cocoa fiber or organic potting soil so they can burrow- in the wild, adult tigers really only enter the water to breed but then return to land to hide in their burrows. Most salamanders also need to stay cool, with temps no higher than the mid to high 60sF.

Hope this information helps. There are excellent care sheets and housing ideas on Caudata Culture that will provide even more info for you.
 

Person243

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The temperature was steady around the high 60s, and I also changed the water about twice a week.
 

caudated

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I keep all my caudates on bare bottom during their transition. In my experience, a lot of them die during transition states due to deep water. I would reduced the water to barely cover the salamander and provide it with a slate to climb on. Once its out of water then transition it to coco like said above. That set doesn't look good for caudates at all.

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