What is this little guy?

[Linus]

He's olive colored with black spots, I've seen a few California Tigers a light green color, can anyone help me find out what this guy is?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Azhael]

Looks like a young Ambystoma tigrinum/mavortium.
If it´s a californian tiger i believe it´s ilegal, as it is a protected species.

 

[Kaysie]

It's not a California tiger salamander, A. californiense. These are usually black with yellow. It looks like a young tiger salamander, but without locality data, it's practically impossible to tell whether it's eastern or western (tigrinum or mavortium).

It also looks extremely thin. How often are you feeding? What are you offering? It should be kept in a burrowing substrate, rather than aquatic gravel. After it's lost its gill stubs, it can be kept completely terrestrially on a loose substrate. I personally use a mix of 2:1 topsoil to coconut husk fiber. My tigers burrow freely within it.

 

[Linus]

Yeah I have him in a 10 gal with sphagnum moss now, I just received him from a girl at my work (the pic above was his transportation tank, hence her putting aquarium gravel) who actually purchased it as a fish when it was a baby lol. Needless to say she was surprised when her fish turned into this guy, haha. They were feeding the poor guy turtle pellets and didn't know what he was or how to properly care for it. He's very happy in his new home, been giving him about 2 medium sized crickets a day and he eats like a beast. I'll up more picks of him when he puts on some weight in a week or two and you can see his new house

He definitely looks like a tiger, I've just never seen one all green with black spots before =x

 

[Azhael]

Crickets are fine, as long as they are gutloaded or dusted.
Try earthworms..they are by far the best food you can give it.

 

[Linus]

Oh, good call. Thank you Not sure where I can find em on christmas day and the ground is frozen. Off to BassPro tomorrow!

 

[Linus]

Okay so I have him on the sphagnum moss with plenty of moisture, but he's spending a ton of time in his water dish just soaking up the water. He doesn't look dehydrated at all. Idk.

He does have a hidebox etc, just doesn't seem to care about it yet. He looks perfectly fine, and active.

 

[RPM]

Hi Linus,
It looks like a Gray Tiger, Ambystoma mavortium diaboli. They have a fairly limited range in the US, mainly N. and S. Dakota and Minnesota. Mine like Canadian nightcrawlers, you may have to cut them into a few sections as he looks young. Good luck.
Richard

 

[Kaysie]

I have an eastern tiger that looks just like that. You can't really base species/subspecies on coloration alone. I know mine's an eastern because of where I found it.

Nightcrawlers are easy to find. Bass Pro (which is a fun trip anyway), walmart, a lot of convenience stores carry "buddy's" brand worms. Cut them into chunks that are approximately the size of their head. I have a tiger that's about 4 inches long with tail, and he easily eats half of a small nightcrawler.

As for the dish: Sphagnum can be extremely acidic, and can cause ion loss. I really suggest moving him to a damp topsoil/coco fiber setup.This will be healthier in the long run.

 

[Linus]

I knew I came to the right place. Thank you guys very much. I'll be uploading more pics shortly :]

 

[Kaysie]

Good to hear. We're glad to help!

 

[Linus]

He's olive colored with black spots, I've seen a few California Tigers a light green color, can anyone help me find out what this guy is?

Thanks in advance!

After:

 

[Azhael]

Nice to see it´s bulking up
I agree, it looks like A.m.diaboli to me.

 

[Linus]

Yeah I definitely agree

 

[Linus]

Re-did Linus' habitat w/ eco-earth with less Sphagnum. Upped a video to youtube of me feeding him, and a quick look at his new habitat :] He is really coming along. =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMqQTTTQob4

Feel free to post comments on the video :]

Thanks for everything guys!!!!