Aquatic set-up for Tigers?

Hi I am new here. I apologize in advance if I am in appropriately in an advanced topic forum. I did read those rules but it is unclear to me which forums are "advanced".

I have frogs as pets mainly. I live in the Texas panhandle, and recently took a large number of tiger salamanders (barred) from someone who was selling them as bait. They are all young adults. I have since released most and given away many more and I kept 3. (I had about 140, and this was all local. These people were just netting them from their stream. It has been very wet here this year).

Anyway, I keep reading that tiger salamanders are terrestrial and bad swimmers. I do not find this to be the case at all. In fact, in the past and during this recent exposure to them I see them going to the bottom of the water and sort of tucking themselves under rocks. They seem to be excellent swimmers, tucking their legs under and moving their bodies much like a snake. When I released most on the shore of a small stream, several took off right down the middle, just like snakes. I have also tried the plantation soil that I have for my frogs, and they do bury down also. Of course then they are not visible and to me harder to feed.

So finally my question: do I have to provide dirt? Is it harmful to keep them mainly in an aquatic setup, provided I have a way for them to hide out of the water? I have read everywhere and I cannot find the answer to this. I do realize that in order to survive the winter, they do bury deep down in the soil. I know not to use gravel. Also, what about sand as substrate? It would be easier for a semi aquatic set up.

The smallest salamanders are 5 inches, largest were about 10 inches. I also kept them when I was a kid, only in water. But also only for the summer when school started, then I would release them. Maybe they prefer water during the spring/summer seasons only? Maybe I am over thinking this? I am setting up their habitat now and I want to do it right and not a second time. I really like seeing them not all covered in dirt all of the time. They are truly beautiful creatures. I also think they are very hardy. I mean I took over 140 of them, just piled on top of each other, kept them for several days in different buckets, none died. (Yet)

I took three tiger salamanders from someone who kept them in full aquatic for at least a year. I had them in a temporary half water and half land set up and within a day they all preferred to be on land and hardly touched the water. Changing the tank is a pain so go with all land and a bowl of declorinated water big enough for them to hang out in if they want.

For the first month they were still adjusting and I had to dig them out for feeding. Now my guys are visible most of the time since they like to beg for food. I use coconut fiber so they are typically pretty dirty. A friend uses a mixture of dirt, coco nut fiber and I think peat moss and their salamander always looks very clean.

Good luck!

Unless they are larvae, tiger salamanders should not be housed aquatically at all. Even though they would probably swim and such, tigers have a higher chance of disease and other problems when not kept terrestrial

Charlotl said:

I took three tiger salamanders from someone who kept them in full aquatic for at least a year. I had them in a temporary half water and half land set up and within a day they all preferred to be on land and hardly touched the water. Changing the tank is a pain so go with all land and a bowl of declorinated water big enough for them to hang out in if they want.

For the first month they were still adjusting and I had to dig them out for feeding. Now my guys are visible most of the time since they like to beg for food. I use coconut fiber so they are typically pretty dirty. A friend uses a mixture of dirt, coco nut fiber and I think peat moss and their salamander always looks very clean.

Good luck!

Click to expand...

Thanks! I read peat was too acidic? I do have a lot is spaghum, plantation soil, moss, and magnolia leaves all pesticide free. I might try some of that. Although the plantation soil is too fluffy for me. I may try to add some clay to the substrate to make it stickier. I do know with a lot of water then I have to worry about circulating it--then pumps and pipes and more complicated stuff.

I do have a question-- how do you keep worms from being lost in the dirt?

Actually now that you mention it sphagnum moss is probably what they have. I looked up substrate stuff once but decided to go with the easy prepackaged stuff so have pretty much forgotten it all.

The worms are easy! I feed night crawlers so one big worm (occasionally two) to each salamander. They latch on to it pretty quickly and usually don't let go until it is fully eaten so no loose worms. The friend with the complicated substrate said she found uneaten red wigglers living in her tank but they didn't seem to hurt anything. If you decide to feed crickets be careful about leaving them in for longer times. They can and will bite the salamanders.

I went cheap on the water dish and half buried a Tupperware container that I dump out and refill every day.

Hilizanne said:

Thanks! I read peat was too acidic? I do have a lot is spaghum, plantation soil, moss, and magnolia leaves all pesticide free. I might try some of that. Although the plantation soil is too fluffy for me. I may try to add some clay to the substrate to make it stickier. I do know with a lot of water then I have to worry about circulating it--then pumps and pipes and more complicated stuff.

I do have a question-- how do you keep worms from being lost in the dirt?

Click to expand...

The "aquatic" tiger salamanders are probably the larvae or maybe even mudpuppies or hellbenders.

There's also a high probability that you encountered them during breeding season in their seasonal pools.

As for the worms, the easiest method is to feed them by forceps - once the tigers bite its unlikely they'll let go of any worms. And they are not shy at all so this is quite easy with most individuals.

You could leave them in there in a dish, but worms can easily crawl out and escape the dish that is shallow enough for tigers to enter&exit.

>They seem to be excellent swimmers

I used to have two of them (Sala and Almando), and they also seemed like good swimmers--one of them liked to fall down in the water with all his limbs extended out like a skydiver. It was so cute! Maybe the ability and propensity among salamanders vary? --they were born in Texas, too.

Also, I read they are difficult to breed in captivity, but they laid eggs many times (but were eaten by fish in the tank)

Ok here is what I came up with. I am not enjoying the feeding but maybe it will get easier. The worms had to be cut in half, and one salamander seemed to be more interested in biting the other one than eating the worms, disturbing but weirdly they are sleeping together.

Well here is my second try at posting photos. I will be getting a shallower dish. They are very bad at eating worms. I had to cut them in half. Also, one looked kept picking on the other one--biting the legs and head. But they seem better now.

From above

Last one--zoomed in to show one salamander. They are hiding in the end of the wood where it is hollowed out. Reminds me of a hobbit hole, so I had to name them Bilbo and Frodo. :happy: I am sure I am not the first to use these names, but I am having fun with it. They are probably both female.:ha:

Twice I have attempted to post photos in this thread. Everything seems like it is working but the post never shows up. Are they bothe still waiting to be approved by a moderator?

Yes, they had to be approved, and now they all are.

It took my guys a little bit to catch on to the worms too. One even occasionally refuses them because he prefers crickets but he is probably a little tubby anyway. How do you give them the worms? I found that hand feeding by wiggling the front tip of the worm in their face works best and the worms go down faster.

From reports, these are bad at catching worms on their own, use tweezers or hand feed them their food