New Tiger Sal. from Alaska!

[pepper]

Hello, my name is Sara!

I live in Fairbanks, alaska, and just recently on the 4th, got my first tiger salamander, my first amphibian, I fell in love with salamanders a few years ago, when one of my teachers had a massive tiger salamander, who I will show pictures of. I named him Bob!

I'll show pictures in a bit.

My dog's name is Pepper, she is a 1 year old mini schnauzer, I don't have a name for my salamander yet, so I used her name. I was thinking of Watson, like from sherlock and holmes.

I've been looking at this forum for a bit, it gave me a lot of info I didn't already know.
Right now my tiny little guy is just in a 10 gallon tote with a water dish, soil and eco earth substrate and plenty of moss, he seems to like it, and is pretty comfortable for only being here a few days, he even ate on the first day here. He flew here from Texas and I'm so happy he made it alive!


This is my little guy, I was expecting a large salamander, instead..I got this little guy.
I'm trying to hold him as little as possible until he gets a little older, only during feeding times when I move him into a seperate container really, or a second or two when I want to say hello, but I always thorougly wash my hands like I'm getting ready to perform surgery!

And this is Bob, he's the coolest!

thanks for looking, hope everyone has a good day!

 

[Otterwoman]

Whoa, I jumped when I scrolled down and saw that! That is one awesome, large, beautiful, colorful, crazy salamander!!

He really IS the coolest!!

Welcome to the forum, and have fun watching that guy grow up (the first one)!

 

[oregon newt]

That's a big boy you've got there.

 

[Jennewt]

Bob is amazing! Your new one looks like a recent metamorph. In fact, I think I can see the remnants of its gills in the first photo. I wouldn't recommend ANY handling beyond what is absolutely necessary. Is it eating OK?

 

[pepper]

I figured he was young, since they morph at around 4 inches, and as you can see, he's only a tiny bit past that.
Oh yeah, he's eating at least 4-6 crickets a day, and is taking them from tweezers now.
Doing all the normal stuff a salamander does, he buries himself in his soil, and I've seen him hanging in his water bowl once. I figured out by reading here not to dig them up, but feed them at normal times when they are out and about close to night time. So I waited until late last night and I walked up and he crawled out and looked at me like....FEED ME!!! So I grabbed some tweezers and fed him some gut loaded crickets, he ate 6 very hungrily, but I know they get overweight quickly, so I'll be making sure he doesn't turn into a blob.

I'm not sure if those are gills, or just dirt lol. I'll take a look later. Thanks for the advice!
If they are the remains of them, he can still remain in his soil and moss right?

 

[Nathan050793]

I'm not sure if those are gills, or just dirt lol. I'll take a look later. Thanks for the advice! If they are the remains of them, he can still remain in his soil and moss right?

Yes, he will still be entirely terrestrial. Usually new morphs keep their dried up gill nubs for a few days after leaving the water; it's perfectly normal.

by the way- Bob really is pretty neat, he must be what, like 12+ inches?

 

[pepper]

I havn't got a chance to measure him, but yes, he is quite the big guy, I would guess 12 inches if not more!
His tail goes at least another inch or two out of the picture.

Mine will get bigger right?! lol

 

[Jennewt]

Was the first photo taken when you first got him? And the second photo some days later? If yes, then he had the gill remnants and they are gone now. If both photos are current, then it's just dirt. Yes, he will get bigger!!

 

[pepper]

ahh okay, then it must be dirt, pictures were taken about 5 minutes apart, the second picture was taken after he rinsed himself off.

I'm so excited I can't wait for him to get bigger! I love watching things grow!

 

[micstarz]

Nice Salamanders! I'm envious

 

[pepper]

haha thanks

 

[Kaysie]

Because he's so small (young), I would feed him as much as he wants. When they're growing, you don't especially have to worry about them becoming fat.

 

[oakwell]

wow hes a monster