Salamander Update

Yeah, this is mostly just an excuse to post a ton of cutesy salamander pictures I've been taking lately. It seems like X, Y and Z's appetite changes with the season; right now since its spring they've all been extremely hungry. They're also getting a lot smarter. Every time I walk by the cage they stick their heads out looking for food, and yesterday when I went to lower insects into the cage Xenon jumped up into the air, mouth open, tongue outstretched, four separate times. How do they even have the muscle for that kind of thing!? Anyway, they're all about 10 inches long now, and Zinc is for sure a girl.

(Zinc is in the back, Xenon is the left-most foreground salamander, and Yttrium is on the right. You can tell them apart because Zinc has a black stripe down her spine, Xenon is full of spots, and Yttrium has thin, black stripes.)

A lot of people say that salamanders don't care whether they have company or not, but I'm not so sure. They tend to all congregate together in a big cute lump more often then not, so I think they enjoy each other's company. Also, the general opinion about plants in cages is that since salamanders burrow, they couldn't care less about whether or not there is greenery in their cages. I disagree. They seem to like burrowing in the plant's roots, and definitely like taking shelter under it. So I have no idea what those people are talking about.

I also recently gave them a bath, as you can see by the first picture on this post. It's one of those things that people tell you not to do, but salamanders are amphibians! And they seemed to like it, except for Xenon who is a huge poop and just wanted to climb out. I even took a video of that so if I get around to it, maybe I'll post it on youtube.

Anyway, that's that. Maybe I'll post again sometime soon. :)