Found this in my garage, can someone help identify?

[eric]

I found this little guy in my garage a bit ago. Been poking around on google and I think it might be a tiger salamander, but I really don't know. Can anyone give a positive identification on it? Its black with bright yellow spots, and the tail is more striped than spotted. About 5" long or so including the tail.

 

[kyle]

yep - you've most definitely got a tiger salamander, nice looking specimen as well. Congrats on your find, if you need information on how to properly keep it, you can find it here, or on caudata culture (www.caudata.org/cc).

Or if there is suitable woodland habitat around your house where you could release it, that would be good too.

(Message edited by uberkye on September 09, 2006)

 

[paris]

all we have in colorado are tiger salamanders and that is what you have there.

 

[reid]

your lucky, there are no newts or salamanders in Hawaii!

 

[joan]

Cute little guy. Nice find.

 

[eric]

Thanks for the help everyone. Now if I could bug you for one more quick question. The kids are already getting attached to it. Any idea what the likelyhood is of it surviving is if we keep it, or would I just be condemning it to death?

 

[Jan]

Eric
Well cared for healthy captive tigers can be very longed lived ~20years. An important point, however, is that they should be minimally handled generally only during cleaning of their enclosure and substrate. Hands must be thoroughly cleaned and rinsed well before handling. Oils and such from our hands can be toxic to them. They typically spend much time under their 'hides' or in their burrows - often, however, they will come out and beg for food - a conditioned response. Therefore, if this is the type of animal you can care for and find appealing, it can become a longed termed 'family member' so to speak. Here is a care sheet and good start for understanding requirements if you decide not to release the animal:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Ambystoma/A_tigrinum.shtml

Visit the discussion threads on this board - you will find a wealth of information. If you have additional questions, just post them - folks here are happy to help.

 

[joan]

I have two tigers myself. They're nice captives. But like Jan said, salamanders aren't really the type of pets you can play with. It's important that your children understand that.

 

[eric]

I decided he was better off on his own. I'm pretty sure it was a wild one rather than a pet that got loose, which is what I was thinking when I first found it. The kids would be too tempted to try to play with it and hold it all the time and that wouldn't be a good thing. I think I'll wait until I can get a proper setup going before they get a little pet like that.

Thanks for the help everyone. I'll probably lurk around for a bit and see what I can learn here. This looks like a really good site.

 

[ali]

Hi Eric. This IS a really good site.

I love it.

You probably made the right choice if you think your kids would have been too tempted.