pet shop mix up maculatum!!!!

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lazymut

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Hey,
through a very odd series of events i have ended up in the possession of one spotted salamander (ambystoma maculatum) and i was expecting a fire salamander.
Tell me is there anything wrong with the habitat
15 gal tank
Sphagnum moss with peat moss as bottom
About 64-68 'f
Small shallow water dish
Cork bark hiding place
( a few small crickets loitering around the enclosure)

How dose that sound!!!

Not really prepared for this any other tips would be helpful
All replies appreciated :D
 
Not to say you're wrong, but I've seen pics of spotted sals that I could barely tell apart from fire sals.
Either way, I think that they'd use the same habitat, and what you have sounds fine.

Many people feed crickets, but I once had a fire sal and crickets killed it. (I didn't know any better): if you leave extra ones in the tank that he won't eat, they can bite him, to death. I'll never feed crickets to my sals again.
 
okay thanks!
i always took the crickets thing for an old wives tale almost!
i think that his eyes bulging means he's a spotted and his spots seem so maculatumish XD
im going to try get a picture for ID though!
thanks very much
 
lazymut said:
Hey,
through a very odd series of events i have ended up in the possession of one spotted salamander (ambystoma maculatum) and i was expecting a fire salamander.
Tell me is there anything wrong with the habitat
15 gal tank
Sphagnum moss with peat moss as bottom
About 64-68 'f
Small shallow water dish
Cork bark hiding place
( a few small crickets loitering around the enclosure)

How dose that sound!!!

Not really prepared for this any other tips would be helpful
All replies appreciated :D
Click to expand...
I would be cautious of the peat and sphagnum mosses. Peat and some sphagnums can be very acidic and create an unsafe environment for the sal leading to morbidity and potentially mortality. You can run a search on the site to see the many discussions that have focused on using these two as substrates. Many keepers on this forum including myself, use coco-fiber or organic top soil or a mix of both for their fossorial sals. There are not pH problems with these substrates.

If you are new to spotteds, and that in fact turns out to be the sal you have, you can care for them as you would for tigers. Here is the care sheet for tigers:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Ambystoma/A_tigrinum.shtml
 
Thanks very much!
i may reconsider my substrates then!
Im quite relived as-well because i know alot about keeping tigers :D :D
 
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