thanks for the suggestion. many books say sphagnum is okay. i personally have never had any problems with him losing weight or not wanting to eat. what kind of substrate do you use or recommend?
salamattder
Regarding sphagnum, there is much confusion. There are, very generally, at least two products referred to as 'sphagnum'.
There is a sphagnum product often used by florists which does not appear to be acidic. There is another sphagnum product often found in garden centers which is very acidic - having a pH of 3-4 (
http://www.peatmoss.com/hortprog1.php). As the sphagnum degrades, hydrogen ions are leached and acidity is imparted. The only safe course to follow, if you wish to use sphagnum, is to test the product as Jen outlined.
Pathology associated with a slowly developing acidic environment would most llikely take time to to express itself.
Should this in part be responsible for your animal's condition, you may just now be seeing the affects.
Like Jen and most other keepers of ambystomatids on this board, I use coco-fiber as a substrate - sometimes alone and sometimes mixed with organic top soil. I change the substate every 2 months or less. I'm not fond of fungus gnats which tend to appear if I change substrate less frequently. I have always avoided any type of peat moss or sphagnum for the simple reason that I prefer to be safe rather than sorry and I'm not inclined to do pH testing.