Questions about breeding setup for Salamandra

[Vern5384]

I have a trio of adult S. salamandra and one of the females looks gravid enough to pop any minute. My question is: What kind of set up (specifically how large of a water dish and how deep) should be provided? Do they seem to have any trouble climbing in and out of certain size/shape containers? I'm new to keeping this species. Pictures of your set ups would be worth a thousand words, but I'll take what I can get. Thanks!

 

[Llamaguy36]

Enough dirt for them to dig into and a couple of logs or cork bark works very well. Plants make it look better but aren't needed. As for the water dish the shape doesn't really matter, just make it shallow enough for your salamanders to be able to stand in, and make it easy to escape.

 

[Vern5384]

Well, today I looked in the water dish (a tupperware partially buried in the substrate) to find 3 larvae! Tonight I am sitting up in the dark watching her give birth to more. She has entered and left the water a few times, but keeps coming back. I see at least 3 more larvae, so far, however 2 of these were beached on the soil next to the water dish. I briefly interupted her to rescue the unfortunate ones and then turned the lights back off to see if she would continue. Is it common to find unlucky larvae that were birthed before the mother makes it to the water (or after she leaves)? Also, how long will she lay for and how many larvae might I expect to end up with?

 

[Vern5384]

Update: I wound up getting 8 last night and another 6 today (she came out to birth more as soon as I removed the others and changed the water in the dish.)