<i>Ambystoma m. mavortium</i> juveniles

I received these barred tigers salamanders today. The first is a juvenile female, the second a juvenile male. Both about 15 cm long. They are of Colorado origin.

Very pretty!

Hope you can give them better names than Number One and Number Six LOL

Yeah, One's a trekkie and Six has a giant white balloon chasing it about the vivarium...

You were right John, great color, great markings

I acquired a pair of these from the same origin in 2000. They reached adulthood in late 2002 and to the best of my knowledge are now living with Sarah (Cloth) in Southwest England. I wonder how they're getting on. I didn't keep them because in the final year of my PhD I was afraid they might be neglected (I passed on a lot of my collection at the beginning of 2003, end of 2002).

I have regretted it ever since because these tigers, acquired just after metamorphosis like these two, make excellent pets, becoming totally fearless. It's not natural behaviour, but for the petkeeper it's a joy. In my experience, even the most tame of newts is never totally fearless of humans. The original pair I had reminded me of pet dogs rather than salamanders. I'm very glad to have acquired a pair again, thanks to Colin.

Several years ago I had two other tigers - one A. tigrinum (Eastern tiger) and one A. mavortium melanostictum (a 33 cm monster). These were obviously wild caught adults, and the melanostictum never adapted to captivity (I passed it on to a school teacher in Southwest England).

With the exception of barred tigers (mavortium mavortium), I am loathe to ever acquire wild-caught newts or salamanders.

The photos by Mr. Masai in the tiger forum, posted by Tim, give me new hope that maybe we can breed these guys in captivity and break the cycle of acquisition from the wild. I'm dearly looking forward to Mr. Masai's article.

Good luck with them John.
I had 3 earlier in the year, they where the first to come from the same batch as yours. Unfortunately due to the lack of a decent camera at that point this is the best I can do for a photograph, its of them all fighting over a worm.

Lovely animals Andrew. Are you giving them a good substrate in which to burrow?

They had a 2-3" layer of fossorial mix topped with 1" of moss. They were lovely, thinking of getting myself some more.

Hello,
John...I recently moved to North Carolina,from Florida with my job,and had 12 Barred Tigers I rescued from becoming fishfood from a baitstore in Colorado.
I had them for seven years and when I moved I was afraid of stressing them to bad and donated them to the Lowrey Park Zoo in Tampa.
Now I wish I had'nt....
I cant seem to find any to replace them now that I am established in my new state...if you happen to aquire anymore of your lovey animals will you let me know,or maybe point me in the right direction.
Thank you for your time,
Everett Haynes

Hi Everett. I live in Ireland. I doubt I could help you acquire tigers ;(. Good luck on your search though.

This is why they call them mole salamanders:

Terrestrial submarine.

awwww John! I love the last photo.

And yes the colour is very nice on them!

Lovely tigers, John! Nice subterrain picture. I found my tiger in the exact same position last night and also found that she's made herself an entire system of underground tunnels. She actually scared the cat last night when she rocketed herself out of her burrow.

HerpDigest - Volume # 5 Issue # 13
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Allen Salzberg -- Publisher/Editor

"6) 28-Year-Old Salamander Outlives Owner
MUNCIE, Ind. - AP - 11/22/04
Salamanders usually live four or five years in the wild, but a 28-year-old tiger salamander named Survivor outlived his owner. Teacher Gene Frazier bought "Sur" as a tadpole in 1976 at an Indianapolis bait shop and raised him on tiny chunks of lunch meat. The amphibian amused Frazier's middle school students and spent much of his life in the classroom.
But when Frazier died at age 73 last year, the yellow-and-black striped amphibian was left to Frazier's wife, Marilyn.
"I never thought I'd grow fond of him," Marilyn said. "But I have."
Mark Pyron, a Ball State University biology professor, said salamanders often live four or five years in the wild, so Sur's streak is unusual.
"It's pretty phenomenal," Pyron said.
Marilyn planned to return Sur to the wild on the one-year anniversary of Gene's death, but decided against it.
"I just couldn't do it," Marilyn said. "I knew Gene wouldn't have done it. I would have nightmares thinking about what was going to eat him"