Fading Ambystoma opacum - is this normal?

Hi everyone, I have seven adult salamanders (three spotted salamanders, two Jeffersons, and two marbled). We found a young female marbled, Inga, back in March. This is from the day we found her; you can tell her pattern is still "growing in":



As time went on, she developed a lovely silver marbling:





Showing off with her friends Chip (young adult male spotted salamander) and Igor (adult female Jefferson salamander)

In the last month, however, we've noticed that her pattern has faded a great deal. Her behavior is fine: she's alert and eats, though her appetite isn't quite at the level it was in March/April/May, when it was colder in the house. Our other marbled salamander, an adult female, has not faded, and we aren't sure why Inga is. The pictures tell the story:







Does anyone know what is going on here and if this is normal?

Thanks in advance for your input!

I'm not completely sure, but if he/she looks healthy otherwise and is eating well, it should be fine. But, although I'm not familiar with Ambystoma species, it's usually a bad idea to keep different species together in the same enclosure, so I'd try to get separate enclosures for them, unless you were only putting them together for the photo.

Isn't a male usually "white" and a more female "gray"?

stijnzeger said:

Isn't a male usually "white" and a more female "gray"?

Click to expand...

Correct. The one pictured above is a female. (silver/gray, whatever floats your boat)