Salamandra enclosure

Hey guys i posted pics of my female back in june with the flesh eating disease and am pleased that she has recovered so well (neosporine works wonders) thanks for the tips. I was keeping the pair in plastic tubs seperated with paper towels as substrate but got tired of the constant cleaning. I have moved them to a more naturlaistic enclosure with pothos growing in gravel today. There is a pump in the water that moves it back to the land area. I have read that the pothos roots act as a type of filter for nitrate build up and helps keep the water cleaner. I realize that i will still have to do partial water changes but was wondering if you guys think this idea will work and help cut down on maintenance. Here are some pics just after setup.

I don´t think that´s a good choice of set-up for this species...
The terrestrial area is quite small. This species needs more space. Also, one hiding spot is not enough. You should have at least one for each animal, and ideally more, so that they can choose.
They don´t need so much water. In fact there is a risk of drowning, even if the land section is easily accessed.
The gravel substrate is a pretty bad choice. Such a deep layer of gravel is going to accumulate a lot of waste, and that will foul the water. There´s also a risk of impaction if they swallowed some of the gravel.

If you want to keep them in a naturalistic set-up, a soil based terrarium is your best choice. A deep layer(so that they can dig) of well drained soil, topped with moss, or leaf litter, with many hiding places, will be excelent. I´d recomend a bigger enclosure too. You can find many examples of salamandra set-ups in this forum, and in the CC article for terrestrial set-ups.

hi, thanks for the tips i will keep them in mind. I saw this setup in a De Vosjoli book. He recommended flushing the land area every now and again to wash out the bad stuff. I do agree that the land area is probably too small and i do have a 20 gallon long tank that i will probly move them to eventually and will have less water. The impaction thing with the gravel has never been a problem for me with my tiger salamanders who were trained to eat from my fingers and my fire salamders do it as well but i use tweezers with gut loaded crickets. But yeah the land area is pretty small your right but for the time being i want to try it and post back with you, this has got to be better than thier plastic tub and paper towel setup cause it always smelled of amonia. Thank you very much for the tips!!!

I would definitely get soil, especially for the tiger salamanders who love to burrow. It also looks more attractive.

Will, this is not a tiger salamander.

hi, thanks for the tips i will keep them in mind. I saw this setup in a De Vosjoli book.

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In this book setups like this were suggested for semi-aquatic species like FB newts or frogs, not for fire salamanders.

As azhael said, your tank should basically look like this:

You can make tank even without water or with just small bowl- salamanders don't enter deeper water (except for females borning larvae), they can only get crossing small rain pools or very shallow streams. Terrarium for fire salamanders should be with nice soil, some mosses, wood to provide cover and some plants like ferns for example, which makes the tank look naturally for salamanders as that is how their natural environment look like.

Based on my experience, I think that Janusz's setup looks good for a fire sal, and the setup with water and gravel does not look right for this species. Keeping them in conditions that are this wet could dispose them to further infection problems.

My salamandra setups are soil-based. I don't have any ferns or moss, but I do have plenty of cork bark and clay pot hides. In the setup where I have a pair, I provide a large water dish, just in case the female produces offspring.

Hey Yahilles, I realize this is not a tiger salamander. I was just referring to when Yager said in his most recent post that he had never had any trouble with his tiger salamanders and gravel.

Jennewt said:

Based on my experience, I think that Janusz's setup looks good for a fire sal, and the setup with water and gravel does not look right for this species. Keeping them in conditions that are this wet could dispose them to further infection problems.

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For being clear: this is not my tank, this one was first encounter in word "woodland terrarium" on Google Graphics, but it was what i wanted to show.