Question on Dormancy Period for Ambystoma tigrinum

[Wy Renegade]

Anyone know the minimum length of dormancy period required for A. tigrinum, as well as the average temperature required for dormancy? We are keeping a couple as a class project, and I'm curious if it would be possible to do a flipped dormancy period during the summer months? If so, I'm wondering if native plants (which also typically require a dormancy period) could be placed in the tank and the entire tank placed in a cold room for a dormancy period.

I would think that the overall length of the period and the temperatures would be the critical factors.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Does nobody do a dormancy period with their Ambystoma tigrinum? Or do people just let them go dormant in their tanks without reducing temperature?

 

[jewett]

Does nobody do a dormancy period with their Ambystoma tigrinum? Or do people just let them go dormant in their tanks without reducing temperature?

I simply let the room where I house my tigrinum to get cool via an open window - low 50sF but on cold nights I am sure the room got into the 40s. However, despite these cold temperatures my salamander will continue to beg for food and eat, so I don't feel I have seen her go "dormant."

For what purpose would you like to induce a dormant period? I do not know that it is necessary for good health (they should be housed in cool temperatures year round, though) for them to undergo a dormancy period, but I also don't know all the details of those European and British keepers who have successfully bred them...

 

[Wy Renegade]

I simply let the room where I house my tigrinum to get cool via an open window - low 50sF but on cold nights I am sure the room got into the 40s. However, despite these cold temperatures my salamander will continue to beg for food and eat, so I don't feel I have seen her go "dormant."

For what purpose would you like to induce a dormant period? I do not know that it is necessary for good health (they should be housed in cool temperatures year round, though) for them to undergo a dormancy period, but I also don't know all the details of those European and British keepers who have successfully bred them...

Thanks for the reply Heather, my question revolves more around a naturalistic environment rather than any effort to breed them. As a biology teacher I've been keeping A. tigrinum for a number of years, and both the students and I have always found them very fascinating. As I've grown in my animal husbandry skills (which I admittedly wasn't very good at when I first started), I've greatly enjoyed keeping the various critters in my classroom in a more naturalistic representation of their natural environment. Hence when we started researching the classroom paludarium for these guys, we started looking into native temperate zone plants which would do well in that cooler environment. Unfortunately, most of the temperate zone plants found in their native environment (at least in this area) require a dormancy period in order to maintain long term. Since digging out plants to expose them to a dormancy period is really a pain, this lead me to question the possibility of simply placing the entire tank into a situation in which both the plants and the salamanders would enter a state of dormancy.

Like you, I've kept the salamanders year round without a dormancy period without issue, just curious in regards to others experiences with a dormancy period of they've had any. In reading through the breeding threads, it appears that some at least have had them dormant for two or three months.