Hi everyone, I am looking for advice and information.
I was working at a campsite and found a tiger salamander that had been stepped on. I suspect her/his most serious injury is that of its' legs. It CAN move them and has, but it usually just crawls with its front legs and drags the back ones. Initially, it did not move much unless prompted, but now it is becoming a bit more active at night as in the morning I will find it in a different location.
My hopes were that I would monitor it in a safe space where it would not get picked off by predators and then release it back at it's home when it was ready. However, I know that tiger salamanders like to dig and I am worried that if it does not regain full use of its back legs that it will not be able to dig or catch prey efficiently. Does anyone have a guess at how long it may take for it to recover or if you think it will recover at all? And if it does not recover, has anyone gone through the process of getting a permit to hold onto wildlife? How was that experience? My other thought is that I can take it to an animal rehabilitation center, but I believe the closest one is a 6 hour drive away, and my goal is for it to be release back in the wild where I found it.
A more urgent concern of mine is that it has not eaten yet and I have not noticed any poop. I have had it for 6 days now. I would think that after the trauma it has endured it may not want to eat. How long will a tiger salamander go without eating/when should I start getting worried? And does anyone have any advice on how to entice it to eat? I have tried earthworms and larvae things from the area I found the salamander, and crickets from the pet store. I will try mealworms tonight. It is a small salamander, only about 10 cm long, so bigger prey items will not work for him as her could choke.
I have many more questions, but with the length of this post in mind I will stop for now. I appreciate any advice and value the opinions of those of you more experienced with amphibian care.
I was working at a campsite and found a tiger salamander that had been stepped on. I suspect her/his most serious injury is that of its' legs. It CAN move them and has, but it usually just crawls with its front legs and drags the back ones. Initially, it did not move much unless prompted, but now it is becoming a bit more active at night as in the morning I will find it in a different location.
My hopes were that I would monitor it in a safe space where it would not get picked off by predators and then release it back at it's home when it was ready. However, I know that tiger salamanders like to dig and I am worried that if it does not regain full use of its back legs that it will not be able to dig or catch prey efficiently. Does anyone have a guess at how long it may take for it to recover or if you think it will recover at all? And if it does not recover, has anyone gone through the process of getting a permit to hold onto wildlife? How was that experience? My other thought is that I can take it to an animal rehabilitation center, but I believe the closest one is a 6 hour drive away, and my goal is for it to be release back in the wild where I found it.
A more urgent concern of mine is that it has not eaten yet and I have not noticed any poop. I have had it for 6 days now. I would think that after the trauma it has endured it may not want to eat. How long will a tiger salamander go without eating/when should I start getting worried? And does anyone have any advice on how to entice it to eat? I have tried earthworms and larvae things from the area I found the salamander, and crickets from the pet store. I will try mealworms tonight. It is a small salamander, only about 10 cm long, so bigger prey items will not work for him as her could choke.
I have many more questions, but with the length of this post in mind I will stop for now. I appreciate any advice and value the opinions of those of you more experienced with amphibian care.
