My new female ruber!

The sal looks good, the tank... doesn't.
 
What exactly is the problem? It is 10 gallon, 1 salamander, places to borrow, hide, water. Good humidity, cool temperature?
 
This species lives in cool streams, underneath rocks and leaf litter. They really need a set up with some watr flow and lots of stones etc to hide underneath.

C
 
Yes Melody, they need a stream like set-up, 5 to 6 inch of fairly cool water, with good oxygenation, some land area... imagine a spring with water flowing, a little pool, sand, flat rocks, plants etc....
 
I have heard of people keeping them more terrestrial, and more aquatic... I am maintaining temps of 65-70 in the summer in florida, 70 percent humidity.... have frog moss, spanish moss, moist coco fiber, and change the water daily.. It is a 10 gallon tank and has a hide...

She likes to burrow under the coco and come out for worms and sometimes take a dip, which of course then I have to change the water...

Do you really think she would be happy if the tank was filled with water, and then a land mass created? If you will look at my other setups, I think I do a fairly decent job...
 
I have read on several occasion that a terrestrial setup is fine so long as there is cool water, and the humidity and temps are low...
 
If it is a female, she's pretty thin!!! At a glance I would say it's a male!!!
 
Caudata Culture Species Entry - Pseudotriton ruber
As you can see they like water. They are among the trully amphibious species always living in very close proximity of streams, in and out of water as they please. Some people even keep them aquatic.
You can read all sort of non-sense and bad info around the internet, but for what is worth, people have adviced you well here. If you study their behaviour and habitat in the wild you´ll see that flowing water is what they like. A water dish is hugely insufficient.
 
I dont know for sure that she is a female.. I was judging on the cloaca...

The information I got were on previous posts on this site, and from books.

I will try to come up with some sort of semi aquatic design..,

I do have an extra pump and plenty of flat rocks and cork bark..

Can anyone give me a link, or post a picture of a semiaquatic tank example that someone has set up for a ruber?
 
It is a useful thread, except for the breeding since I only have the one. :( I still dont think I would want to go as deep as that, but will make the tank more water based. I have had more luck with keeping caudates terrestrial, or semi aqautic, then I have aquatic. I have an idea of what I will attempt.. 3 inches of water with light sand and aventurine rocks... slate for the ground part (which will hide my pump, and the water will flow through them, creating the flowing waterfall like effect)...and a back wall of cork bark with air plants placed in.

Oh and a couple of those liverworts.. I checked them out, and am fond of them...

Thanks everyone... I will post a picture of this tank in a couple weeks after I am finished constructing it. I hope it comes out good.
 
Its always best to give them an option of land and water. I've seen someone flip logs on high steep dry hill and find just one P. ruber. I have to say that was luck! In other cases I've found a bunch of them in shallow streams not far from each other. They seem to be more plentiful in a aqua habitat for sure. Cool flowing water seems to be essential in their life at some point and time. So offering moving water wouldn't hurt. At best I'd just mimic the habitat that I seen them in.

That habitat would be shallow rocky streams with large flat rocks. Usually significant water flow. They'll be under the flat rocks waiting on a meal of some sort. If your not going to be simulating rain and high humidity to get the P. ruber to roam about terrestrially then a lot of land is not necessary. Here is a pic to help guide you with constructing a set up if you already don't have a image or idea.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2357.jpg
    IMG_2357.jpg
    206.1 KB · Views: 344
Well, time for my two cents.

I would first like to say that the white ceramic cat creeps me out!

Here's how I keep my 4 Northern Red salamanders (Pseudotriton ruber ruber): I have them in a 15 gallon sterilite storage container with several larger holes drilled in the lid and along to top half of the side. In the container, I have approximately 3-4 inches of coconut fiber bedding. I keep the coconut bedding thoroughly soaked, so much so that there is about 1/2-1 inch of standing water in the bedding. Because the coconut fiber bedding is so saturated with water, that it holds together very well and it is easy to find the rubers by tracing the burrows they leave behind. I regularly spray/mist the setup with cold water to keep the water level up.

My 4 rubers, which I would like to publicly thank Ed Moyer and Justin Reed (Greatwtehunter) for, are thriving in this setup on a diet of burrowing insects and nightcrawlers. Now, they will not breed in this setup because, as has been stated already, they need cold, running, well-oxygenated water to lay their eggs in. However, they can live perfectly happy and healthy in a terrestrial setup, as long as they are kept cool and wet.
 
Well thats about what I have in that tank right now, along with the water dish, hide and creepy cat (hahah this is a chinese "lucky cat", if anything should try to hurt the ruber it comes to life in the form of a demonic tiger and devours the perp LOL...) but it is moist coco bedding with some moss on top. And yes s/he hides in the coco and eats worms as well...

I have a plan/vision, but the photograph still helps. I would still keep the tank humid with a fogger and misting and plants on the wall though.
 
Nice! Looks good to me!

Did you collect the liverworts yourself? I've never been able to find any here. I know we have them here, just haven't seen any.
 
I have seen plenty around, but am not certain that they are liverworts for sure... Although they look like they are, I dont want to put anything potentially harmful... So I took the wast way out and just bought them online. hahahah... I think it was like 7 for 15 bucks.... I had everything else but the aventurine and the sand... Which the aventurine was really unnecessary but is the way I saw it in my head...

Thank you so much! ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
  • Shane douglas:
    with axolotls would I basically have to keep buying and buying new axolotls to prevent inbred breeding which costs a lot of money??
     +1
    Unlike
  • Thorninmyside:
    Not necessarily but if you’re wanting to continue to grow your breeding capacity then yes. Breeding axolotls isn’t a cheap hobby nor is it a get rich quick scheme. It costs a lot of money and time and deditcation
     +1
    Unlike
  • stanleyc:
    @Thorninmyside, I Lauren chen
     +1
    Unlike
  • Clareclare:
    Would Chinese fire belly newts be more or less inclined towards an aquatic eft set up versus Japanese . I'm raising them and have abandoned the terrarium at about 5 months old and switched to the aquatic setups you describe. I'm wondering if I could do this as soon as they morph?
     +1
    Unlike
    Clareclare: Would Chinese fire belly newts be more or less inclined towards an aquatic eft set up versus... +1
    Back
    Top