Assessing the tank

[kadventurefam]

We acquired this supposedly bioactive 10 gallon tank (supposedly springtails and isopods in it) with a wild caught tiger salamander that is under a year old. The previous owner bought it as an axolotl and then it morphed on him and is clearly a Tiger salamander, which are common in my state, so we know the relative age. The previous owner and I assume the guy he bought it from pulled it out of a local lake that has tons.

Haha, I deleted most of my post because it was ridiculously long and not really necessary. He seems to be doing well in the upgraded 20 gallon tank. Thanks to giving him 6" of substrate he mostly spends his time underground which, duh...makes sense. He doesn't seem too interested in eating but the tank is full of isopods and worms so maybe he's eating when we don't see him. He doesn't look fat or too thin. Depending on how wet the substrate is he is either under the soil (when its drier...we're learning to find a good moisture level) or above the soil but under the couple of hides we've provided when its wetter.

I purchased more dairy cow and armadillium isopods and springtails to add to the tank. The ferns, spider plant, and spathiphyllum I added seem happy since it's so moist.

Still not sure if he's male or female. It feels like his tail is longer than his body or about the same length. I can't really get a good look at his vent since we never pick him up.

 

[Nate0]

We acquired this supposedly bioactive 10 gallon tank (supposedly springtails and isopods in it) with a wild caught tiger salamander that is under a year old. The previous owner bought it as an axolotl and then it morphed on him and is clearly a Tiger salamander, which are common in my state, so we know the relative age. The previous owner and I assume the guy he bought it from pulled it out of a local lake that has tons. (I find it amusing the number of people that call the larval stage of tigers an “axolotl” when really it’s just the larval stage, not a unique species from a specific lake in Mexico…)

I want to upgrade it to a 20 gallon high (because that’s what I have on hand and I want to plant some plants that might need more height than a 20 gallon long that has 6” of substrate).

I’m mildly concerned about him because being anxious is my go-to reaction. We picked him up a couple weeks ago and he stayed at my friend’s house until two days ago. The previous owner had put some little earthworms and a couple Dubai roaches, and maybe some meal worms in the night we picked him. My friend gave me some wax worms and superworms since her lizard is brumating. He ate the waxworms and superworms quickly but he was never interested in some nightcrawlers I cut and put in for him. He even nosed them and left them alone but quickly snapped up superworms when offered. So he’s mostly been eating superworms. The nightcrawlers pieces were just laying there for a few days so he hasn’t eaten them. Just worried about his diet. The superworms have never stayed in the tank for more than 10 seconds before he snapped them up (I only put in one at a time to gauge his reaction) and he ate 4 in one sitting. I’ve read worms are more complete nutrition but the night crawlers are as big as him. But when I cut them, they usually stop wiggling. I bought them from a local gas station and I don’t *think* they’re red wigglers which I have read salamanders won’t eat when cut because they stink. I’d like to give him a more varied diet. Any suggestions? (I have a child with autism so the adage “they’ll eventually eat when they’re hungry” scares me since that isn’t the case with autistic humans and they will literally starve…)

The tank was fairly wet when we picked it up and the little guy (about 4 or 5” long) just hung out under the log (it looks like Mopani wood) in a depression. I switched from a closed lid to a mesh lid when I saw white mushrooms growing. When we moved the salamander to our house two days ago I noticed he started burrowing into the substrate. My guess is the substrate is dryer now (we live in a desert with average winter humidity of 30%) so he’s needed to burrow to keep more moist? So I added more water to one half of the tank. The soil looks to be maybe coco fiber and sphagnum. There was a little bit of leaf litter and the previous owner put an avocado pit in for the springtails and isopods to eat. (Wouldn’t necessarily be my choice but I’m a newbie at bioactive substrates even though I have a background in biology)

The plant was fried when we picked up the tank but the stem is still alive so I haven’t moved it yet. I know tigers can totally uproot plants but I still want to try to plant some spider plants and a fern and pothos. Not sure if I want to add a shallow water dish since I read tigers are notoriously poor swimmers. (And this one comes from high desert so I doubt he’s swimming much now that he’s morphed)

Does the tank look ok? When I move him to the 20 gallon I thought about using top soil from my yard where I know there is no fertilizers or pesticides (all the topsoil currently available at Home Depot and Lowe’s has fertilizer in it) and mixing it with a little coco fiber to make it a little more friable. I figured I’d use the existing soil that supposedly has springtails in it to innoculate the new soil and possibly buy some springtail cultures and isopods from a local seller to jumpstart the extra soil.

Keeping the tank cool isn’t a problem because our basement, where he will live, never gets above 72 degrees in summer and is more like 64 degrees right now.

Am I missing anything? My son is 9 and obsessed with salamanders so I really don’t want this little guy to get sick from my caring for him incorrectly. Yes, I have poured over all the care sheets and tutorials on this site. Just wondering if our specific setup needs correcting. If you made it to the end of this book, 10 gold stars for you.

Wow a lot of information there! I know it is a lot easier to get a salamander from the wild but it is usually a lot easier in the long term to care for a one that is bred in captivity because you have to be very exact about the conditions that they live in as it is big change from its natural habitat to its one in captive one. It might cause it to get very stressed out or in very rare cases die! You would also want to maybe look into their diet at were you caught it because of the exact same thing. So you don't want your salamander to get stressed and having a good thick layer of substrate is also good as tiger salamander spend most of their lives in the wild underground. Your tank size at the moment is a very good size as it has a lot of roaming space to explore and I don't know if you have this from the pictures but they should have a couple of hidey holes (3-4) across the whole tank ,as they like to hide in dark secure places. As i said earlier you may want to see what they eat were you catch they because you don't want to change it too much. Tiger salamanders do eat almost everything they can fit in their mouths and most the time ignore dead food which is why your salamander might be refusing to eat cut up worms. You may want to keep that mesh lid if you don't have any holes in the normal one as they can suffocate from lack of air. I don't think you have to worry about when you feed it because if the tanks in your basement it wouldn't really know if its night or day. You probably want to change the water in its little pool every 2-3 days and the tank soil can get very crunchy and dry when it needs to wet and moist you you should probably just have a feel of when the soil is not moist anymore and then change the soil. Even if you feel that the soil is still moist after a month or so you should clean it out because obviously its a animal and wee and poos. If you have anymore questions just ask me or any of the many people on this form!

 

[kadventurefam]

We don’t really have a choice of wild caught vs domestic because we have him now. We didn’t catch him, he was caught by someone else as a larvae.

We did provide at least 2 good hiding burrows for him which he seems to like. And we definitely are using the mesh lid to avoid mold. He doesn’t have a pool because I read that adult tigers don’t really need one, as long as they have a wet enough substrate to regulate themselves.

The hope is that the isopods, springtails, and plants take care of the waste from the salamander.

He seems to be doing well in his 20 gallon high tank with all the plants.

 

[Nate0]

Sorry for not replying for so long I think your tank is amazing because I only have a 60 litre (13 Gallons) and your salamander looks really healthy so its obvious you are taking good care of it and have a good tank. From the picture it good to see he has found at least some of the hidey holes and is using them. If you feel he has a longish tail he is probably a male since their tails are longer than females, though I'm no expert so it could be either gender. Honestly I think your tank is amazing and need no improvement.