The Tiger Salamander

Ambystoma tigrinum

If you have been in the hobby for any amount of time, chances are you have seen larval tiger salamanders for sale. When I saw some for sale, I purchased one. I'm glad I did! They are very entertaining animals, and between feeding her and wondering when she was going to metamorphose, she pretty much occupied my time.

I purchased my tiger salamander on January 24, 1999 for $2.62 at a local Wal-mart store. Sure the conditions were crowded, and not exactly sterile, but I decided to take a chance. I picked the one salamander that seemed like it wanted out of there the most. The finnage on her tail had been nipped at (due to the overcrowding) but no real damage had been done.

When I brought her home, I put her in a medium-sized Sterillite container filled with about 4 ½" of water. I put in large pebbles (bigger than she can fit in her mouth), a hanging gardens plant, and a Sand Shark internal filter. It wasn't long before this entire setup was switched over to a ten-gallon aquarium so I could see her better.

She fed readily on Repto-min, and I couldn't wait to get her started on freeze-dried tubifex worms. I fed her however much she could eat daily, mixing the two foods. Every once in a while, I would provide her with a live cricket skipping across the water, she ate these quite greedily.

After about five months of this routine, I finally noticed her gills beginning to shrink. It was June 8th, and I had a vacation to Arizona planned the 10th through the 20th. I was kind of upset I was going to miss most of the process to say the least. I contacted one of my herping buddies, and he said he would take care of my animals while I was gone. To make it easier for her to breathe, I slowly lowered the water level until it was about 2" deep. At this point I added some more stones, and some well-rinsed sphagnum moss for her to start climbing on. By the time I had gotten back from Arizona, she had completely absorbed her gills, and her pattern had begun to change. At this time, I set up another ten-gallon aquarium with a half-half design.

When the sphagnum moss had finally clogged up my filter enough, I decided to switch her over to her half-half tank. I also re-rinsed the sphagnum moss and added some to both the water and the land side of the tank. When I transferred her between tanks, I put the damp sphagnum moss (from the aquatic tank) in a plastic shoebox and set the salamander on top of it. Then I put some of the sphagnum moss in the water half, and set the salamander on top of it. By doing it in this manner, the salamander chooses whether to go into the water or to go onto land.

Since then, she has been moved into a ten-gallon terrarium with a large water dish. The water dish is easily removed, which makes cleaning the cage very simple. In the future, I'm going to change her soil (switch to something suited more to her tastes), and possibly move her to a twenty-gallon aquarium. She is a great pet.

This is an account of how my salamander was cared for, and how she morphed. I cannot guarantee that this same scenario will work for you and your tiger salamander. As always, individual results may vary.