CreatureLoverTx8
New member
Hello!
Thank you so much for your help in advance. I am new to this community and salamanders in General. My name is Melissa. I live in El Paso, Texas. Nice to meet you
I am currently caring for my friends’ mini zoo. She has 3 salamanders/larval salamanders. She calls the 2 that have not metamorphed “mud puppies” but I am pretty sure they aren’t true mud puppies.
I began caring for them on June 1st. Due to unexpected medical complications, she will be gone until at least November.
The salamander and large mudpuppy are doing well.
The salamander is in a terrestrial habitat and the large mudpuppy is in an aquarium.
The smallest, still a larval salamander, is in a 10 gallon aquarium of his own. The instructions from my friend are to feed them all once a week in Mondays. The Littlest one gets 1 wax worm. At first he would eat from long metal tweezers.
For the past 4 weeks I have struggled to get him to eat. My friend told me to leave the worm floating but then I noticed there were several dead worms rotting on the filter so
I cleaned that and would take them out if he refused food. He has gotten progressively skinnier. He only stays on the top floating there. I text my friend often but due to medical stuff she cannot respond now. I also don’t want to stress her out.
I decided to change his diet after reading here. I tried an earthworm 2 Mondays ago and he ate it and I leapt first joy. Thenlast Monday rolled around and he wouldn’t eat. I am losing sleep over him. He is just not happy. I changed 50 percent of his water last night and pushed his gravel to form a more shallow area he can climb on. He seemed much happier, actually laying on the bottom and in his hide for the first time in weeks as well as swimming. I tried to feed him today. He would not eat again. I took some Of his water to be tested at PetSmart and they said it is high in nitrates and low PH so he is probably stressed. They were not much more helpful.
His gill are small, maybe less than a centimeter long now. His tail isn’t ruffled much but he’s so so thin.
Here are pictures of him as well as the salamander who has transformed. They are from the same clutch of eggs.and the large mudpuppy as well.
please help with any guidance and suggestions. I’m afraid he is starving every day that goes by. He’s such a sweet calm little guy and I want to help him thrive.
Also it is warm here, it’s been in the 105’s and up and his tank sits on the big one’s so I dont know if his water is too warm. I bought a floating thermometer a little while ago at PetSmart.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for your help in advance. I am new to this community and salamanders in General. My name is Melissa. I live in El Paso, Texas. Nice to meet you
I am currently caring for my friends’ mini zoo. She has 3 salamanders/larval salamanders. She calls the 2 that have not metamorphed “mud puppies” but I am pretty sure they aren’t true mud puppies.
I began caring for them on June 1st. Due to unexpected medical complications, she will be gone until at least November.
The salamander and large mudpuppy are doing well.
The salamander is in a terrestrial habitat and the large mudpuppy is in an aquarium.
The smallest, still a larval salamander, is in a 10 gallon aquarium of his own. The instructions from my friend are to feed them all once a week in Mondays. The Littlest one gets 1 wax worm. At first he would eat from long metal tweezers.
For the past 4 weeks I have struggled to get him to eat. My friend told me to leave the worm floating but then I noticed there were several dead worms rotting on the filter so
I cleaned that and would take them out if he refused food. He has gotten progressively skinnier. He only stays on the top floating there. I text my friend often but due to medical stuff she cannot respond now. I also don’t want to stress her out.
I decided to change his diet after reading here. I tried an earthworm 2 Mondays ago and he ate it and I leapt first joy. Thenlast Monday rolled around and he wouldn’t eat. I am losing sleep over him. He is just not happy. I changed 50 percent of his water last night and pushed his gravel to form a more shallow area he can climb on. He seemed much happier, actually laying on the bottom and in his hide for the first time in weeks as well as swimming. I tried to feed him today. He would not eat again. I took some Of his water to be tested at PetSmart and they said it is high in nitrates and low PH so he is probably stressed. They were not much more helpful.
His gill are small, maybe less than a centimeter long now. His tail isn’t ruffled much but he’s so so thin.
Here are pictures of him as well as the salamander who has transformed. They are from the same clutch of eggs.and the large mudpuppy as well.
please help with any guidance and suggestions. I’m afraid he is starving every day that goes by. He’s such a sweet calm little guy and I want to help him thrive.
Also it is warm here, it’s been in the 105’s and up and his tank sits on the big one’s so I dont know if his water is too warm. I bought a floating thermometer a little while ago at PetSmart.
Thank you so much.