Amphiuma care

Ok guys I do agree with you but did a little research and both the gecko and amphiuma have a similar temperature needs i keep a low to moderate humidity level and the temperature 75-78 in the day and about 71-75 in the night and the gecko just clings to the said of the wall all the way on top of the tank(out of reach of the amphiuma) by the plants except when it comes out for food. the siren is a similar size to the amphiuma about a foot and get along pretty well.the turtle you guys do have a point that i cant well figure something out to say for so i guess ill get a 20 gallon or something for the babies as soon as I can.the amphiuma also stays pretty full most of the time so i would imagine it wouldnt eat the turtle but i dont want to take any chances
 
like greg said mixed species tanks are always temporary. I had a friend who kept plethodontids with his tiger salamander. All was great at first since the tiger was full nobody got eaten then he when on vacation, when he got back all the plethos were gone and the tiger was really chubby. i know that right now you may think that this is a great i dea but its really not. In the wild animals live together and it works b/c its the wild, they are free to come and go, they are not confined. plus nature is a very delicate system with several balances and checks. Keeping one species and mimicing its natural requirements is hard enough, though not impossible most ppl dont have the know how or the experience to mix species. Zoo's rerely do it, thats how little we know of it.....
 
Actually Zoos are doing it more and more often as space becomes limited, however mixed exhibits at an institution tend to be carefully researched and chosen. At work I've done eyelash vipers and green and black poison arrow frogs, Atelopus zeteki and Abronia graminea, dwarf sirens, squirrel tree frogs and red spotted newts, emerald tree boas, red eye tree frogs and Typhlonectes natans to name some of the exhibits that worked well.
A great example of this is the large exhibit at the National Aquarium in Baltimore where there are a large number of species together (everything from surinam toads to bushmasters).
That said, these exhibits are planned and the adult size, diet and aggressiveness of the animals are all taken into account. That said I would not recommend keeping amphiumas and sirens together as sooner or later someone is going to lose a chunk of flesh to the amphiuma potentially wiping out the whole system if the bitten animal bleeds out.
my two cents,

Ed
 
And to rehash some other points: mixing species of amphibians is bad enough. Mixing amphibians and non-amphibians is getting down on your knees and begging for trouble.
 
The mixed enclosures I've seen at zoos also tend to be (though not always) big. I mean that awesome roof greenhouse at national aquarium won't fit in the average u.s. house for sure.

I've also seen mixed species zoo cages of box turtles, black rat snakes and timber rattlers (Bronx zoo). What we seldom know for sure though is, are they always the same animals in the mixed cage or do they rotate them though. And, you rarely see predator and prey together, except in large tanks with sharks and tropical fish... and there the keepers tolerate an occasional snack.

And I'd like to add something. Microclimate is more than just the average ambient temperature. Of course Hemidactylus turcicus lives in the same geographic region as Amphiuma and as such is exposed to the same macro-climate ambient temperature.... you could also say that about cypress trees, eastern diamondback rattlers, and hey you could even say Florida Panther lives in that thermal environment, as do pelicans and black skimmers. That is, the temperature that the weather guy says it was that day, must be the same for everybody out there right? no... actually.. it isn't. temp under a log is different than on top of the log. temp on a rock is different. temp in the mud at the bottom of the bayou is different than under bark on a tree or under the roof of the outhouse.

Then there are microclimate issues of physical niche (aquatic, terrestrial, saxicolis, etc), humidity, etc.

and one more thing... last weekend one of my captive Amphiuma lunged at me and came OUT of the enclosure. At one point his head was at least 1.5 feet off the ground. he was leaning against the wall of the enclosure with his head waving from side to side snapping at anything that moves. Do not be deceived. Your house gecko is not out of reach. It may take time, but the Amphiuma (also nocturnal) will find him.


greg
 
When they shed massive quantities of tissue begin to break down in the tank affecting the water quality.
Have you checked out the care sheet on caudata culuture under the species section?

Ed
 
The temperature sounds too hot, but I don't know what their tolerance is exactly. Not many caudates can survive even a brief exposure to 90F, though.

Changing 20% per week sounds good, but what was the reason for the total change every 3 weeks? In addition to being a lot of work, this never lets the tank become cycled. This makes me suspect that maybe the tank was too small. Just a thought.
 
Hello Guys, Thank you for all of your help, they are separated now and it seems to be working better for all of them but Still have a problem. It wont eat put food in and it is always left there. The only thing it seemed to take was a giant freshwater mussel(very hard to find) and dried up crickets( not sure if itis good for it) HELP!!!!!
 
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