Found a Tiger barred Salamander...

[BubbaPhat]

Recently had some friends move and I was given 2 tanks.. a small (approx 2 gallon) Plastic.. and a 10 gallon glass tank w/ fish equip.

Sunday Morning approx 3am I found a Tiger Barred Salamander in my garage. Placed him in the small tank for a day while I was out of town.. now he is in the 10 Gallon.

Went to the local shop.. have some Crickets he will be feasting on later tonight.. after I fix the 10 gallon.. advice was given to use some moss that I picked up there.. soak it for a while (10 min's or so) and line the bottom of the 10 gallon.. then place a dish of water.. so that is my plan

Interests.. Computers.. Computer gaming.. and general Technology.. thus I was able to identify the Salamander via the web and images I found.

Size on the salamander.. 5-6 inch's long.

Location is Lubbock Texas. google map that for more..

We live across the street from a large field and have had some recent rain.

This is my first pet of this sort.. but via the web.. search's.. and reading here.. I think it will be really a cool pet.

open to recommendations.. and alway willing to shoot off computer help.

 

[Kaysie]

A nice care sheet on tiger salamanders can be found here http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Ambystoma/A_tigrinum.shtml

Personally, I use a mixture of coconut fiber and topsoil in my tiger tanks. It is more appropriate for burrowing, and some mosses can be fairly acidic. So provide it with places to burrow, places to hide, and a small water dish, and feed it earthworms (or the occasional cricket), and it should be fine

 

[John]

Welcome to the forum. I'm very glad you're here actually - in May of this year I went on a field trip to Lubbock and surrounding towns (like New Deal, where I got my car stuck in the mud overnight on a country road...). I was of course looking for Barred Tigers. The whole region was flooded. I did see 1 adult tiger in a ditch beside a playa in New Deal but I failed to catch it (so I'll have to return for photos). I caught several larvae west of Lubbock, which I decided to raise at home to discover if they were the "large morph" described in scientific literature - there are photos and story at these links (first is oldest, last is newest):

http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=48257
http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=48350
http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=48791

And here's a video (not great, sorry):
http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=48319

I am writing an article for the new edition of the Caudata.org Magazine and I need to return again in the Autumn for some photos of adult tigers. The people at Texas Tech have been kind enough to give me some locality data. Do you live near a playa?

Best wishes,

-John

Size on the salamander.. 5-6 inch's long.

Location is Lubbock Texas. google map that for more..

We live across the street from a large field and have had some recent rain.

This is my first pet of this sort.. but via the web.. search's.. and reading here.. I think it will be really a cool pet.

open to recommendations.. and alway willing to shoot off computer help.

 

[BubbaPhat]

..

See what help I can be.. I am in no way a Native to the area.. Born and raise in Pheonix..

I am not to terribly close to a Playa lake.. infact until I moved here I had no idea what they where. there are the "buddy holley lakes" about 2 miles from me.. there is one down the road about a mile south.. and they are pretty much through out the city. New Deal is.. well in my opinion not a fun place

let me know when your in town.. I actually have a roommate who works @ Tech.. he's in Physics..

Starting to understand the habitat of the caudata and looking at area's around here I can see how they would prosper well in this habitat.

 

[John]

One of our members just graduated from TTU actually - he's going back for a masters in the Autumn I believe. I think we're going to meet up there for some salamander-chasing then.