# Salamander.



## Siobhan (Nov 11, 2013)

A friend found a salamander in her house this weekend and gave him to me. I've got his tank set up according to stuff I found on the internet. He's a uniform dark gray color, not a tiger. I've offered him worms, as the various internet sites said, but he hasn't shown any interest. I was thinking of getting some crickets and trying that. Anybody have one? Any suggestions for making him happy and healthy? He seems healthy enough, though I know nothing about salamanders. His skin is smooth and shiny and he's been exploring his tank. He has moss and a bowl of water and plastic plants and a hideout.


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## eatmice2010 (Jan 1, 2013)

If you can take some pics of his setup and of him it would help. Really I can suggest anything until we narrow it down because every salamander has different needs.


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## Siobhan (Nov 11, 2013)

This is not Sammie, but this one looks just like him. Sammie's still pretty freaked out and spends most of his time hiding. The other photo is his tank from above, so you can see what's in it without the reflection of the glass. Under the moss is smooth river rock about an inch deep.


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## eatmice2010 (Jan 1, 2013)

Ok his color is it black and grey stripes or just solid grey?

If you don't mind me asking were you live to pin point species.

I would ditch the fake plants because salamanders do have soft skin and the edges of plastic plants are not soft. I would suggest live small shade plants like ferns or any thing thats growing were water and moss is.


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## Siobhan (Nov 11, 2013)

I live in Central Illinois and he's pretty uniformly dark grey/black.


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## eatmice2010 (Jan 1, 2013)

Ok stop using the word uniform I don't know what that means XD all I can picture is a salamander in a navy suit.


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## Siobhan (Nov 11, 2013)

"Uniform" means the same shade all over, as opposed to gradations or stripes or spots. I've looked at Sammie under strong lights and I do not see any variations, though considering that it's winter and he might well have emerged from hibernation too early -- we had exceptionally cold weather and then suddenly it's practically spring-like temps only a few days later -- it's entirely possible that as the weather warms and days lengthen in the spring, he might develop more patterns in his color. He lives in the room with my parrots, and I try to keep their schedule regular year-round, so they have approximately 12 hours of darkness and 12 of light daily.


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## eatmice2010 (Jan 1, 2013)

http://www.herpnet.net/Iowa-Herpetology/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=35&Itemid=26Does he kinda look like this?.


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## Siobhan (Nov 11, 2013)

He looks exactly like that. The friend who found him in her house lives in the country near woods, which sounds like his native habitat.


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## eatmice2010 (Jan 1, 2013)

Well there we go, salamander IDed  like I Saud just mimic his natural surrounding and add dim lighting and he should be fine


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