This is Ysidra, a female fire salamander (salamandra salamandra).
One of my hobbies is keeping amphibians, including newts, toads, and salamanders. Believe it or not, such creatures make excellent pets, as long as one doesn't expect too much. As cold-blooded creatures, amphibians tend to spend a lot of time sitting around doing nothing, but once in a while they get motivated (usually when there is food to be had) and move around. Then it's a lot of fun to watch them.
For the moment, I have included pictures of two of my three fire salamanders. These are a European species that evidently lives in cool, misty mountain areas. At any rate, they like a moist environment between 60 and 70 degrees. I keep mine in a 30-gallon aquaterrarium, which they seem to find comfortable. They usually sit on the soft moss in the tank, but sometimes they climb the plants and once in a while they go swimming in a small pool I have provided for them. Basically, the tank has a few inches of gravel in the bottom, much as one would arrange for a regular aquarium. At one end of the tank, however, I have lowered the gravel level and installed a submersible filter. I then put just enough water in the tank to cover the filter and create a pool, with the result that most of the tank is a dry gravel surface with a water table beneath it. In addition, I have a line running below the gravel from the filter to the other end of the tank, which in effect creates water circulation -- the water splashes out on a rock at the far end. This solves the humidity problem, as long as I routinely add fresh water to the habitat. I put in a few artificial plants and stones, giving the salamanders places to hide, and some moss for them to sit on, and I had a workable environment for them.
I found that initially my salamanders, being a nocturnal species, were very reclusive during the day and hid most of the time. However, they seem to have learned that they are in no danger from predators in their new home and thus can safely move about at any time. As a result, they do not always hide any longer, and I have plenty of chances to observe them. Furthermore, I have installed a dual lighting system -- white light for the daytime and red for evenings -- which lets me observe them after dark when they are more active.
My pets are about six to seven inches long at present, but my understanding is that they could grow to be about ten inches in length. The two females are rather rotund, while the male (not shown) is fairly slender. Generally, they move about very slowly, but they can get about fairly rapidly if they have a reason to. In addition, they can climb, though they usually do not. I do keep a secure lid on the tank. It would not cause me any problem if they escaped, but I am afraid they would dry out and die before I could locate them and restore them to their home. (More to come....)
My other amphibian pets are fire-belly toads and fire-belly newts. I may include some pictures of them as well, later on.
If you have any questions about keeping fire salamanders, e-mail me at:
rscarr@earthlink.net.
I'll
try to answer them.
This is Grendel, another female fire salamander.
Copyright © 1997 Scott Carr