Please Help!!

[Ryan Miller]

So I live nowhere around trees or water and I found a tiger salamander outside about three days ago and I bought a 20 gallon tank, aquatic gravel, coconut fiber, plants, and water dishes for it, I set it up and I saw that when I put it in the tank that it's leg was being dragged whenever it moves. I picked it up and looked at its leg and it's leg is limp. Now it won't move rarely at all and it hasn't eaten the entire time that I've had it, I put some crickets and a few hornworms in the tank and made sure that the salamander saw the food. What do I do??

 

[LunaticNic]

Hey, welcome to the site, and sorry to hear about your trouble.

I'm rather new here myself, so should a more experienced member here aid you definitely take their advice over mine. It would probably also help if you posted the issue in the "Newt and Salamander Help" section of the site.

That being said, the animal could be refusing food due to being stressed from it being placed in a tank. Additionally make sure uneaten crickets do not remain in the tank for too long, as they can cause serious damage ( or death) knawing on a salamander (especially an injured leg if it is).

Unfortunately that's all the advice I can give you at the moment.

 

[walhofkn]

I am definitely no expert, but I have a few suggestions... If the salamander has a hard time moving around I would suggest trying holding a cricket right up to its nose and see if it eats it then. This would allow you to make sure that the problem isn't just that it couldn't catch the cricket. If it still doesn't eat, maybe try a wax worm. I wouldn't feed it many wax worms because those are more of a treat than an actual food, but sometimes salamanders that refuse to eat other foods will eat those. Also, I would suggest trying to find a good source of calcium for its leg. When one of my baby chickens broke its leg we gave it calcium vitamins and it healed right up. I don't think there are calcium vitamins for salamanders, but maybe you could find a food with a lot of calcium. Again, I am no expert so I don't know if this will help but I hope everything works out. Way to go for stepping up and trying to help a salamander that needed it! :happy:

 

[Bellabelloo]

I would take the tiger to a vet as the lack of movement in the leg concerns me. State that this is a wild animal, in the UK they treat wild animals for free, or can advise who could.

 

[Mrsunshine]

I agree with julia, a vet would be your best bet for helping the lil guy out, and get needed treatment.