The Spotted Salamander, Ambystoma maculatum, – Care in Captivity – Part 1
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Please see here for more background information on this animal’s natural history and life cycle in the wild.
General
Despite living largely underground in the wild, captive spotted salamanders adjust well to artificial caves and shelters, where they are more easily observed. Well-adjusted capt
ives quickly lose their secretive, nocturnal ways, and will eagerly accept food offered by plastic feeding tongs. If attention is paid to their needs, especially as concerns temperature (see below), these stocky, brilliantly marked salamanders make long-lived and hardy pets.
Space and Other Physical Requirements
If provided with a deep (6-12 inches) substrate, spotted salamanders will establish burrows that will be defended and used consistently. Products such as Zoo Med Eco Earth and R-Zilla Fir/Sphagnum Moss Bedding, with a bit of top soil mixed in, work well as substrates. The surface should be covered with living or dried sheet moss, such as R-Zilla Compressed Frog Moss. You can spot clean this type of set-up or occasionally remove the top layer of substrate – living plants in the terrarium will aid in absorbing the salamander’s waste products.
Another useful tip in maintaining cleanliness is to establish a colony of isopods (sow bugs or pill bugs) in the terrarium. These small crustaceans can easily be collected below rocks and leaf litter. They are excellent salamander food and avidly consume feces, dead insects and decaying moss (a bit of fish flake food added occasionally will keep them in top shape and assure that they reproduce).
Land snails are also excellent scavengers, and both they and isopods are fascinating creatures in their own rights. Snails usually reproduce readily in captivity, and small specimens will be eagerly devoured by spotted salamanders.
A single adult spotted salamander requires an enclosure of approximately the size of a 10 gallon aquarium.
Spotted salamanders may also be kept in ventilated sweater boxes on sheet moss or paper towels. Each animal should be provided an individual artificial cave or cork bark shelter.
Light, Heat and Humidity
Spotted salamanders favor cool temperatures, retreating far below-ground during the summer months. They do best at 60-70 F, and are stressed by temperatures over 76 F. Cool basements make ideal sites for their terrariums, especially during the summer months. My own basement maintains an air temperature of 50-54 F in the winter, during which time the salamanders continue to feed. The drop in temperature is good for their health, and helps to maintain normal activity patterns and to spur breeding.
Breathing largely through their skin, spotted salamanders require moist conditions – their terrarium should be misted with de-chlorinated (not distilled) water daily. Free-living adults rarely enter water other than for breeding, but a shallow, easily-exited water bowl will be utilized by captives.
Humidity should not be raised by covering the terrarium with plastic – salamanders require circulating air and should be housed in screen-covered enclosures. In stagnant air conditions, temperatures rise and fungus often attacks the skin.
Spotted salamanders do not require a UVB light source. If you keep live plants in the terrarium, be sure to use a low output UVB bulb, such as the Reptisun 2.0, as too much UVB can damage the eyes of these and other amphibians. Check also that the bulb does not cause temperatures to spike.
If you keep your salamanders in an unlit basement, it is a good idea to provide a light cycle for them in the form of a weak room light or fluorescent tank light. They will do fine in complete darkness, but a day/night period is preferable, especially if you plan on breeding your animals.
Check back next Monday for the conclusion of this article. The image above is referenced from the Spotted Salamander entry on Wikipedia.
Until Next Time,
Frank
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about 1 year ago
Same question is asked on caudata.org, but I’ll second the interest on land snails. What species? Dart frog keepers consider snails a slugs a menace since they eat plants and will CO2 bomb tanks to get rid of them(and other nasties like proboscis worms). What is your take? I’m guessing with salamanders they are much less of pests as the young get eaten. I’ve seen some snails here that the adults would be bite sized for a spotted also though.
about 1 year ago
Hello Joseph, Frank Indiviglio here. Thanks for your interesting post.
There are many variables when it comes to snails in terrariums. Here in NY, and throughout the US, there are many introduced species…in the Northeast, most habitats have more European than native species. I have not identified most…I should, the American Museum of Natural History displays the shells of all NY species very conveniently in one case…someday hopefully.
I have 3 terrestrial species, collected in NYC and nearby suburbs, which do not eat living plants. Several have lived in one planted terrarium housing treefrogs for years without any supplementary feeding. They consume feces, decaying moss and dead plant leaves, the occasional uneaten insect, etc. One species I’m sure is European…I have used them in exhibits at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum as well with good results.
I’ve noticed that local terrestrial species do not breed very well…perhaps they need to be chilled for a time, or more food. Most aestivate for much of the summer, sometimes not moving about for weeks (same as with snails outside).
The larger European species here will even consume completely dried out dead leaves, at least when very hungry. Once while writing at home I heard a distinct “munching” sound and traced it to a potted cactus that I had brought indoors for the winter…a large snail was eating a leaf that had the consistency of cardboard…this sustained the creature for about 2 months, during which time it remained immobile.
A friend who taught me a great deal about poison frogs kept many terrariums for, quite literally, decades without substrate changes…he stocked each with a snail or 2…various species collected from all over, including Cuba (long story!); he even had banded tree snails. He was bed-ridden for many years, and figured out how to keep tanks going indefinitely without the need for much physical manipulation…going as far as to use an aspirator to suck up and deposit only a pre-determined number of 10 day old crickets into each terrarium!
Snails are intermediate hosts for a number of parasites, but I’ve never seen any sort of problems in this regard… most of the parasites involved are fairly specific as to host choice, etc. I’ve also used aquatic snails as food for reptiles at the Bronx Zoo….I hated doing this, but they are important for certain species, i.e. Malayan snail eating turtles (go figure!), Chinese alligators, various map turtles, giant musk turtles….without incident. Some zoos use a methylene blue bath before feeding crayfish/snails to their collections, to be on the safe side.
As you say, thin shelled snails and the young of most species are excellent food items for many salamanders.
I also have 4 species of aquatic snails that will not consume living plants, yet flock to a withered leaf of kale immediately (or as immediately as a snail can!).
Best regards, Frank Indiviglio.