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My Outdoor Enclosure (Picture Heavy)

Sean Brady

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Yesterday and earlier today, I was working on an outdoor enclosure for A. maculatum, A. laterale, and five D. fuscus. I've finished the D. fuscus section of the enclosure and I am in the midst of working on the section for the others.

This is after I had laid out the concrete blocks on a screen:
sean-brady-albums-my-outdoor-enclosure-picture15784-img-1518.jpg


This is the D. fuscus section of the enclosure. I recreated a trickling spring like the one I found this species in. I placed a gutter splash block on sloped land. The orange object is a paint bucket with holes drilled in the top. There is a pump in the bucket which is filled with water to continuously pump water up and over the splash block:
sean-brady-albums-my-outdoor-enclosure-picture15786-img-1521.jpg


The spring after adding rocks and leaves over the paint bucket lid and some moss around the hose(I retrieved this moss from a trip to the Adirondacks to do some canoeing and it had been sitting in a bucket for almost two years.
sean-brady-albums-my-outdoor-enclosure-picture15788-img-1523.jpg


The spring after covering it in more leaves and moss and adding some moss-covered rocks:
sean-brady-albums-my-outdoor-enclosure-picture15789-img-1565.jpg


The entire enclosure so far:
sean-brady-albums-my-outdoor-enclosure-picture15790-img-1569.jpg


Also, I was wondering how low of a temperature the A. maculatum and A. laterale can tolerate. It's going to go down into the low 40's the next couple nights here and I don't have much debris for them yet.
 

jstedman1

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This...is...so...awesome! Very nice! What's the climate like in the area you're in? It looks nice so far. I'd imagine you could build a "roof" to prevent excess water and possible flooding because it doesn't seem like water can escape if it builds up, that might also help out with the cold if it rains at night. As I typed this I keep contradicting myself...so, maybe you should take an area (say one corner) and build a "room" of which the salamanders can go in and out as they please and have a small heating lamp in there with dens and a rain/snowless environment. It kinda looks like the dirt is compacted, is that their substrate? Maybe add some plants to assist in recycling waste, as well as removing some water build up and providing possible shade. Very nice so far!
 

jstedman1

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I have a quick question. Where did you get the water pump thing? I'm trying to find one to do something similar to that in my 20 gallon long tank. maybe a smaller version would be cool too. If anyone knows could you send me a message or email me at; jstedman89@gmail.com
 

SkinksGalore77

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Sean, Yes spotted salamanders and blue spotted salamanders can both tolerate temperatures in the low 40's. Actually they can tolerate even lower temps than that. I have my spotted salamander's cage in a room in my house with the window open all the time to recreate nature as best I can and it has gotten below freezing and she has been fine. But if its going to get that cold you will need to provide burrow's and lots of hiding places for them so they can thermoregulate or else they might freeze. Good luck
 
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