CreatureLoverTx8
New member
Hi All,
I had originally posted a few weeks ago about a water dog/salamander larvae I am caring for. Would you please help me figure out what species he is? Is he actually a larval salamander? His gills are very short and not frilly like other ones I’ve seen here. What is his “brother” who has already morphed? And his fellow amphibian? Also please review the following info and if you’d be so kind as to offer your advice or opinion or even just some positive energy for him, I would greatly appreciate it. Here are the pics:
The first pic is “little dragon” who is extremely thin and currently tubbed
pic 2 is his “brother” who has morphed.
Pic 3 is their other salamander who is very large and a healthy happy eater.
This is the link to the original post: Please Help - Very Thin, Not Eating. (Only if you want to see more pics of him).
Long story short, he stopped eating or had not been eating for weeks before I started caring for him.
He is emaciated currently and nothing I tried would entice him to eat.
After reading hundreds of posts and articles here on caudata, I decided to fridge him following the guide and figure out what to try. I purchased an API freshwater test kit and Prime and Stability. I cleaned his tank, lowered the water level, made an area of large pebbles into a slope, removed all the substrate which were those tiny neon rocks for fish, added marimo moss balls, and today added a java fern. I tested the water the day before yesterday:
ph 7.6 (probably higher as it was darkest blue color)
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40ppm
Ammonia .15 (looks only a tiny bit yellow green as opposed to pure yellow)
He has been in the fridge at 44 degrees F for 3 days. Yesterday I took him out, let the water get to 60 degrees and tried to feed him frozen bribe shrimp. He loved it! He ate about 3 times the size of his eyeball and he even bit the tongs quite hard a few times. (My friend wanted me feeding him wax worms which he would not eat week after week. After reading on here I decided this was not good or working for him anyway. I bought nightcrawlers, frozen blood worms, frozen brine shrimp). He still is very VERY skinny but has more energy and actually wanted to eat which I’m hoping is a good sign. I bought wax worms today and will try those and brine shrimp in a bit.
I’m not sure being in the fridge again is good for him so I think I may just continue to turn him and change out his water daily. I read some interesting threads on Holtfteters and Johns solutions and I’m wondering if this could help him? Both in tank and tub.
I’m pretty sure he is not an axolotl but I am trying treatments and strategies for them in hopes it will help him anyway. I can’t bear the thought of him starving to death and even if he doesn’t make it, I will only be at peace knowing I tried everything to save him. He’s a sweet little dragon and this is a whole new world for me. I’m a mammal person but Ihave grown to love all the animals in my care (Pac-Man frog, salamander, western fence lizards, cichlid, red eared sliders, and betta).
Any thoughts or advice is so appreciated.
Melissa
I had originally posted a few weeks ago about a water dog/salamander larvae I am caring for. Would you please help me figure out what species he is? Is he actually a larval salamander? His gills are very short and not frilly like other ones I’ve seen here. What is his “brother” who has already morphed? And his fellow amphibian? Also please review the following info and if you’d be so kind as to offer your advice or opinion or even just some positive energy for him, I would greatly appreciate it. Here are the pics:
The first pic is “little dragon” who is extremely thin and currently tubbed
pic 2 is his “brother” who has morphed.
Pic 3 is their other salamander who is very large and a healthy happy eater.
This is the link to the original post: Please Help - Very Thin, Not Eating. (Only if you want to see more pics of him).
Long story short, he stopped eating or had not been eating for weeks before I started caring for him.
He is emaciated currently and nothing I tried would entice him to eat.
After reading hundreds of posts and articles here on caudata, I decided to fridge him following the guide and figure out what to try. I purchased an API freshwater test kit and Prime and Stability. I cleaned his tank, lowered the water level, made an area of large pebbles into a slope, removed all the substrate which were those tiny neon rocks for fish, added marimo moss balls, and today added a java fern. I tested the water the day before yesterday:
ph 7.6 (probably higher as it was darkest blue color)
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40ppm
Ammonia .15 (looks only a tiny bit yellow green as opposed to pure yellow)
He has been in the fridge at 44 degrees F for 3 days. Yesterday I took him out, let the water get to 60 degrees and tried to feed him frozen bribe shrimp. He loved it! He ate about 3 times the size of his eyeball and he even bit the tongs quite hard a few times. (My friend wanted me feeding him wax worms which he would not eat week after week. After reading on here I decided this was not good or working for him anyway. I bought nightcrawlers, frozen blood worms, frozen brine shrimp). He still is very VERY skinny but has more energy and actually wanted to eat which I’m hoping is a good sign. I bought wax worms today and will try those and brine shrimp in a bit.
I’m not sure being in the fridge again is good for him so I think I may just continue to turn him and change out his water daily. I read some interesting threads on Holtfteters and Johns solutions and I’m wondering if this could help him? Both in tank and tub.
I’m pretty sure he is not an axolotl but I am trying treatments and strategies for them in hopes it will help him anyway. I can’t bear the thought of him starving to death and even if he doesn’t make it, I will only be at peace knowing I tried everything to save him. He’s a sweet little dragon and this is a whole new world for me. I’m a mammal person but Ihave grown to love all the animals in my care (Pac-Man frog, salamander, western fence lizards, cichlid, red eared sliders, and betta).
Any thoughts or advice is so appreciated.
Melissa