Morphing A.andersoni

[xxianxx]

One of my A.andersoni is in the process of morphing, when the process is complete can i treat it like a morphed A.mexicanum ? i am assuming i can its just i can find no specific thread concerning morphed A.andersoni setups,diet etc. Thanks, any advice will be appreciated.

 

[michael]

care for it like a morphed tiger salamander.

 

[xxianxx]

Thanks.

 

[xxianxx]

Pics of my morphing A.andersoni, quality isnt too great, they were opportunistic photos taken , i dont want to stress the guy out by posing him lol

 

[michael]

Ambystoma andersoni seem to metamorphose in captivity more often than Ambystoma mexicanum do. Metamorphosed andersoni seem to be healthier than metamorphosed mexicanum.

 

[xxianxx]

I assume you ment healthier than mexicanum. I was very surprised at how fast the metamorphosis took place, he/she went off their food about a fortnight ago, stopped moving about. I noticed a reduction in gill size, body mass and the tail started to become more rounder with the top and bottom part of the tail shrinking, after two weeks the gills were reduced by about 75%, four days after that they disappeared, its behavior has changed it is now breathing on the surface and trying to dig into the sand substrate. It is getting a new tank as per a morphed tiger sal set up.

 

[michael]

Ambystoma andersoni seem to metamorphose in captivity more often than Ambystoma mexicanum do. Metamorphosed andersoni seem to be healthier than metamorphosed andersoni.

Oops. Metamorphosed andersoni generally seem to be healthier than metamorphosed mexicanum

 

[xxianxx]

Here is a better photo of the morphed andersoni.

 

[Autum]

Makes for a pretty tiger salamander.

 

[xxianxx]

My guy is now fully terrestrial, only entering his water bowl for a quick dip and spending most of the day under a log. It has started to eat and is more alert and active in the last few days than it has been since the morphing process started. Feeding was initially very hard, it took me an hour one day to feed it a worm, it was snapping at food but unable to focus or recognize its distance from the food , would constantly miss and eventually give up. Now it will take offered food on the first or second attempt and I have just observed it in its water bowl shedding. I was hoping to breed my andersoni but this is now impractical/impossible, i have contacted Chester zoo, which has a A.andersoni captive breeding program to see if they would want to swap this guy out for surplus eggs/juvies, i am still awaiting a response, though i have been made several cash offers for it including a very generous amount from a pro on this site £20-£28 less shipping ! lol trying to take advantage of a noob !

 

[xxianxx]

I have noticed a distinct behavioral change in the area that my guy chooses to spend his time. My set up is a two foot tank with a container holding water cress and moss as a swampy area, a compost substrate as a moist area , the water area is a container with enough water to cover its back, an upturned plant pot and bog wood as a hide and planted live moss. Initially it spent all its time in the swampy area, then it dug a scrape under the bog wood which was quite moist, now all its time is spent buried in the moss which is probably the driest area in the tank. I will now set the tank up to contain drier areas as the compost has been kept very moist. I am amazed at the change in both physiology and behavior in the last month,it is really quite remarkable, those of you are familiar with tiger sals may not be quite so interested but this may be one the first A.andersoni morps in the UK and is certainly a first for me.

 

[xxianxx]

This is my latest setup for my morph, it was preferring the drier areas of its enclosure so I have made a new drier one, I will be adding leaf litter to give it some cover and maintain the moisture level. I have also introduced wood lice to its diet, I will be starting a colony in the enclosure in an attempt to get it to feed itself, I spend about twenty minutes a day feeding it as it refuses to eat anything which is not attached to a set of tongs.

 

[xxianxx]

My morph has actually dug its first burrow, it has been burying itself under the substrate for a while, within the last few days it has constructed a hole about 5" deep and about 2" underground. I have added cockroaches to its enclosure along with the wood lice in an attempt to get it to feed itself, i have seen it catch one without any help from me but has not yet learnt to be self sufficient.

 

[xxianxx]

My morph is now using its burrow as a pitfall trap, i flick a few roaches in every other day, it is still pretty poor at feeding itself, it is capable of catching worms but the roaches/wood lice tend to be a bit fast, i chop the heads off them if it fails to catch the roaches i drop on it. I have noticed that it strikes food items coming in from the side of its head but generally ignores those directly in front, it is also attracted to movement.The pics below are the latest ones, its body mass has increased.

 

[daedae]

I remember when I kept Tigers, they were so clumsy, and such ineffective hunters. Don't know how they haven't gone extinct yet, the clowns!

 

[Linus]

After every feeding attempt with any of my tigers, it is unfathomable to me that tigers exist in the wild. Horrendous hunters. Glad they do though!

 

[megs]

Ive kept tigers and similar species for now almost two years and have too wondered how they survive in the wild - at least if they are eating earthworms. Then I tried feeding them food ithems with fast moving legs like cockroaches and blaptica dubia. Now I know how they survive, they seems to need some fast movement to trigger eating.

Martin

 

[xxianxx]

As my morphs body weight has increased i have taken to feeding it every other day. I get a far more aggressive feeding response this way, it hits the food item faster and with more accuracy. I think hunger plays an important part, if it is not hungry it will strike at food items ,wether from reflex or annoyance i dont know , i have seen similar behavior from axolotls which will continuously hit worms but spit them out. As for its independent hunting skills i cleaned its enclosure out yesterday and am missing eight roaches from the batch i added two weeks ago, the adult wood lice population has also been decimated with no bodies hanging about. This morning the roach hide was found to be turned over, it is too heavy for an insect to do so i am assuming my morp was having a late night snack. When it first started morphing i spent an hour every day getting it to feed, that has dwindled to twenty minutes every other day max, it may be at the stage when it can feed itself with live food released in its enclosure but i will, for the time being at least, continue assisted feeding till i am sure it is fully self sufficient.

 

[xxianxx]

I have again found the roaches hide turned over, it appears my morph has been hunting, I couldn't do a roach count as it would involve searching the whole enclosure so I cant say wether it was successful or not. I went to bed at 2 am and got up at 6.30 am , so they lights were off between those times, the morph appears to be more of a nocturnal hunter than I had previously assumed, I had considered it a mainly stationary ambush predator but I appear to have been wrong. The morph is kept in my tank room which also has my pc and xbox, I keep irregular hours and am generally in bed early in the morning and if I am not awake early somebody else in the house is and they will turn the lights on. This means the morph will be exposed to an unnatural amount of light, this may be restricting its hunting opportunities, so I will be changing my care techniques by blocking the light from its enclosure giving it a more natural day/night rhythm. This may lead to increased feeding and an increased body weight, the morph ( I believe) is female, it will be interesting to see if she becomes gravid as I have an aquatic male kept at 10c-12c ( 50f-53.6f ) who is looking rather excited. It would be interesting to see if they could breed if offered the correct conditions, I have been reading posts on breeding tiger sals and have been speaking to a couple of knowledgeable people, so I get the general idea of what to do with similar species. My main concern would be the morph drowning or being attacked by her bigger tank mate, for whilst she lost body mass during the morphing process (which she has recovered) he has continued to grow and is 8" compared to her 6" and has a bigger body. If anybody has something to add to this thread please jump in, all observations or questions will appreciated.

 

[xxianxx]

By increasing the hours of darkness my morph has become less shy, now it can be seen during the day either hanging in its water bowl or actually hunting. It is completely self sufficient, i have offered it food several times a week for the last month but it ignores it. The roach population is getting hit hard and the wood lice population has been replaced twice since the last post as they get eaten too fast to establish a colony. I have noticed a slight reduction in body weight but i think this may be down to the increased activity levels so i am not overly concerned, I am hoping that it will become gravid this winter so i can put it with the aquatic male A.andersoni, who incidentally has recently bred with an A.mexicanum. The eggs are developing well and are destined to be feeders.