Hello From a Caudata noob

Hello everyone,

As the title suggest I am new to this forum and I would like some advice on keeping North American salamanders. I have set up a small terrarium in a 10 gallon plastic critter keeper. I used local moss and wild strawberry plants that I collected at a near by woods also there are some rocks and a large section of tree bark. So far the only thing living in my terrarium are some sow bugs and slugs. I was thinking about putting some plethodon salamanders in my tank. I also have all the ODNR (Ohio Department of Natural Resources) paper work done to collect and keep local reptiles and amphibians, I got this because I took a injured snapping turtle (he was hit by a car) to a wild life rehabilitation center and they did not have the room or resources to take care of him and I had every thing he needed so now he lives in a medium size fish pond that I dug in my back yard last fall in hopes of starting a koi pond and during the winter months he lives in a 200 gallon custom enclosure in my basement. Don't worry there is a almost climb proof fence around the pond to keep him from playing in the road again and to keep him from eating local kids who may get into my back yard. But back to the salamanders any suggestions for my terrarium would awesome. I have attached some photos that I took of my terriaum last night any suggesions for modifactions would also be great.

It looks like you have the tank a little to moist. Just wondering what kind of Plethodon will you be keeping?

I am not sure what I would like to put in there, but I was thinking about red back salamanders or ravine salamanders (both are very common in my area). also the photos that I posted were taken just after I misted the tank.

Oh my bad. Good luck on your salamander which ever one you choose i am sure you will be a good owner.

How cold can you keep the tank? If you are intending to keep any NA caudates then you really need to be able to keep the tank under 72 F and ideally in the 60s F. Higher temperatures can cause stress and temperatures above 76-78 F can stress many plethodontids enough to kill them.

On a slightly different note.. are you sure that is a wild strawberry and not a Potentilla? (does it have yellow or white flowers?).
The plants will need bright lights which can cause problems with your cage temperatures.

Ed

Hello jtabber! Nice to meet you and see your new tank set up. I think it looks very nice, but I am not familiar with the types of caudates that you are considering keeping in there. I would be concerned with making sure the environment matches their needs, and that you would be able to cool it down well enough should you experience a heat wave and things went wrong. A contingency plan is always good in case of an emergency such as an air conditioning unit quits working in 98 degree F weather, or the power goes out during a hot summer storm.

I just thought that I would throw those scenarios at you before you got your little guys and the weather got too hot.

Good luck with everything, and I really look forward to seeing what they look like! I really hope you post more pictures for us!

I think it is really nice that you did that for the injured snapping turtle. Without you, it probably would not have survived. The world needs more caring people like you!

Critter Mom

i am planing on moving this terrarium into my basement which has a constant cool temperature and if it ends up being too warm in the basement there is a root cellar which is generally even cooler and I can place it in there. As far as the plants are concerned they have not flowered yet and I am not positive that they are wild strawberries, but if I had to guess I would say that they are. Also those pics are no longer current as I have changed the substrate to better facilitate drainage. I first put down a layer of gravel then on top of that I used a mixture of sand, vermiculite, soil (clean soil without any fertilizers), and a little bit of peat moss. also I have removed the plants and repotted them so they could get some natural sunlight. I still do not have any salamanders in there yet, but hopefully this new design will work better. Also as soon as I get some good photos of my terrarium since it has been re-done I will post them.