Fire salamander and safe leaves?

[Hedge]

OK, so I've done some searching on this forum, and on the internet at large looking for information on safe leaves for salamander vivs...

I checked the CC page on substrates, and it said for safe leaves to use check the safe woods page. Now that seemes pretty straight forward, but the only leaves I've seen recommended at all were oak. Oak however is on the list of woods not to use...

Anyone care to enlighten me? I'm genuinely confused as to what leaves are safe and what leaves aren't.

I don't have any amphibians at the moment, but I intend to have some in the future (once I know more).

One last point is that beech was on the list of woods you can't use, however beech is one of the one's I'd have thought was safe! It's usable in fish tanks, and if you boil them you can use the leaves for a leaf-litter bottom to a tank (Amazon biotope fish tank)... but apparently not for salamanders. I know amphibians are rather picky about what they come into contact with, but would not boiled beech leaves be safe? I'm not talking about a quick 5 minute job, I'm talking about a long boil to remove most of the tannins and kill fungi and bacteria, hopefully inc. spores. Either way, when in doubt, leave it out.

Thanks.

 

[merk199]

I personally use oak leaves in most of my enclosures as that is what I have available outside. I boil for 30mins. I save the leachate for my dart tads. When I switched from magnolia leaves to oak my caudates seemed happier. That could just be my crazy imagination. Or it may be the oak leaves are lighter and fluffier IMO than the magnolia which get wet and heavy and they feel nicer. Who knows. Magnolia leaves last longer than the oak leaves....


Couple of useful threads to read:

Leaf litter
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...7-newt-salamander-help/65221-leaf-litter.html

Wood
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-advanced-newt-salamander-topics/f6-vivaria-enclosures-product-reviews/f7-general-discussion/61918-wood-safe-water.html

 

[Hedge]

I personally use oak leaves in most of my enclosures as that is what I have available outside. I boil for 30mins. I save the leachate for my dart tads. When I switched from magnolia leaves to oak my caudates seemed happier. That could just be my crazy imagination. Or it may be the oak leaves are lighter and fluffier IMO than the magnolia which get wet and heavy and they feel nicer. Who knows. Magnolia leaves last longer than the oak leaves....


Couple of useful threads to read:

Leaf litter
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...7-newt-salamander-help/65221-leaf-litter.html

Wood
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-advanced-newt-salamander-topics/f6-vivaria-enclosures-product-reviews/f7-general-discussion/61918-wood-safe-water.html

Thanks, I've actually already looked through leaf litter thread (where I got the oak leaf suggestion from).

Oak is easily available to me, I just wondered about others.

 

[Azhael]

I´ve personally used beech leaves with no apparent negative effects. I know the wood is not safe because it contains harmful chemicals, but i ignore if the leaves are a problem...to me, they weren´t.

I would be rather surprised if they were unsuitable, since a large part of the S.salamandra distribution is ocuppied by this tree.

 

[Hedge]

Thank you. I've had trouble finding out what kind of woodland the tend to inhabit... I know it's temperate deciduous, alas people often don't specify if it's oak, beech or whatever.

 

[Azhael]

It depends greatly on which subspecies you are considering. For example, S.s.fastuosa and S.s.bernardezi, although they occupy a variety of biotopes, largely inhabit beech or mixed deciduous forests. However, S.s.almanzoris, for example, inhabits an area where beech, oak, etc, are non-existent (well, there are oaks but it´s a species that differs greatly from the typical european oak).

I would assume that most central-europe populations inhabit mixed deciduous forests, which include beech, oak, hazelnut, holly, birch, chestnut....