Constipated tiger salamander, Should I "fridge"him and how?

[Ashanticlaire]

I have a tiger salamander I rescued last fall. He was doing great eating crickets, mealworms and nightcrawlers and pooping in his water dish which made it easy to keep his tank clean. We went on vacation and gave him a new tank and coco fiber substrate when we returned and he is eating less and less and is not coming out like he used to. He refused to eat at all today and only ate a little bit 5 days ago.I am worried he is impacted from getting some substrate with his food. I have been reading about putting them in the fridge to help with impaction but I can only find instructions to do this for axolotls. What is the proper fridge method for tiger salamanders?

 

[JoshBA]

I think we may need a little more information here. It isn't clear that impaction is the most likely cause of your salamander's condition. What were the terrarium conditions prior to giving it a new setup? Is there anything that could have occurred during your vacation when the tank was left unattended? I ask this because the changes occurred only after you left for vacation. There are many other culprits (e.g., high temperatures, dirty conditions, anoxia from lack of ventilation, other environmental stressors, etc.) that can cause lethargy and refusal of food.

It'd be great if you could describe the previous and new setup and perhaps include pictures if you have them.