Salamander Care

Though it has only been a few days since I have gotten my two salamanders, I've already had to go through quite a bit of work to keep them feeling happy and healthy! The day after I made my last post I came home from work to find an unsettling sight. The smaller of the two salamanders had some strange, white fungus growing on its left hand and one of its gills! Of the two salamanders I brought home, this little guy was the one in the worst condition. Though he moved around healthily he was missing one toe on his right hand and two toes on his left, and he had a noticable red spot underneath his jaw. Seeing him develop fuzzies was obviously not a good sign! (Especially since the fungus on his hand was encasing where his two missing fingers were supposed to be!)

After some quick research I found that fungus on salamander larvae was not all that uncommon, especially around healing wounds. The cure was not too difficult either; the proper mixing of water and salt would help kill the infection and wouldn't hurt the little critter. I was a little skeptical that just salt would do the job, but I diligently mixed eight cups of water and two teaspoons of salt together into a nice saline mixture. (I technically wasn't supposed to use regular table salt but I figured it wouldn't be that big of a deal.)

After a half-hour bath in the mix, the little salamander came out with the fungus around his hand compeltely gone. The gill stuff was still there, however, so I gently wiped a wad of toilet paper against it. No luck. The wad of fungus did seem to go down, but there still was a lot of it there and it wasn't coming loose. So, I just put the little guy back in his aquarium, deciding to see how it looked the next day. But not a half hour later, the fungus had mysteriously dissapeared! I guess the salt really did kill it, and a little swimming around must have knocked it loose. So far there has been no sign of reoccuring fuzzies, and the little salamander seems even more active then before. :D Furthermore, the red spot underneath the little guy's jaw has been gradually shrinking, so I think he is healing up well. :)




In terms of eating, both of the salamanders have been doing well. I haven't seen the smaller one eat more then a couple little worm sections, but given his size that definitely would fill his belly. The larger of the two salamanders though... well, I think the fact that I keep calling him "fatty" about says it all. So far I've seen him stuff his face with two huge worm halves and six little worm pieces. It's actually quite ridiculous what he manages to shove inside his body. I swear the amount of worm that he has devoured equals more then he actually weighs, but sure enough he just keeps eating. What a fatty.

There is one thing I am a little worried about with these two. According to what I've read, salamander larvae like to have a lot of room to move around. (One suggestion was 10 gallons of space for every salamander you have!) But, given my current living conditions, it's just not possible to have more then the 1.5 gallon tank I have now. Furthermore, the amount of waste they produce in such a small space requires that I'll have to clean their cage once every few days or so. From what I've read on the internet, frequent handling and small spaces have a chance of stressing out the creatures, which makes them sickly and unhealthy and could possibly kill them. So far they seem just fine, but given how fast Fatty is growing (due to his enormous appetite I'm sure) I'm worried they might get stressed out and sick. I only hope that the two critters are strong enough to make it another month! Then I'll be able to get a nice big cage for them to move around in. :)

I still haven't decided on names for the two of them yet. I tossed around the idea of "Alpha" and "Omega" for a while, but even though "Omega" is like the most badass name ever "Alpha"... well, isn't. I'm still keeping those two names in mind but we'll see what else I can come up with. I defintely don't want the name "Fatty" to become permanent... maybe it could be a nickname though. :)