How to best keep a salamander? Keeping methods and precautions
Salamanders are very shy animals, usually hiding in damp places or underwater. Their skin is smooth and sticky, their tails are very long, and their heads are very round. Many species live in water their whole lives, while others live entirely on land, and some even live entirely in damp, dark caves. Most salamanders usually breed in water. Let's take a look below at how to best keep a salamander!
What food do salamanders eat?
Salamanders live in puddles in hilly marshes, ponds or rice fields and their vicinity. Most adult salamanders hide during the day and only come out at night to forage. Some come out from underground only during the breeding season, or only appear when the temperature and humidity are suitable for their survival. They mainly eat insects, worms, snails and some small animals, including their own kind.
Salamander breeding methods
1. Mating: The mating behavior between male and female salamanders is also quite special. The male individual wraps its sperm in a capsule-like spermatophore, and when it is expelled from the body, it is taken into the female's body within a very short time to complete the mating behavior.
2. Egg laying: The female salamander first selects a leaf of aquatic plants in the water, then uses her hind limbs to clamp the leaf together, repeating this several times, and finally rolls the flat leaf into a fold and wraps it around the cloacal opening. After staying still for 3 to 5 minutes, the fertilized egg is laid and wrapped inside the leaf. After laying, she sinks to the bottom, rests for a moment, then floats up again to continue laying. Generally, only one egg is laid each time.
3. Fertilization: The primitive form of salamander reproduction is external fertilization, while some more advanced forms of salamanders use internal fertilization. In internal fertilization, the female salamander takes the sperm capsule expelled by the male into her body through her own cloacal opening. Most salamanders breed in water, and some, such as most species in the family Plethodontidae, breed on land.
4. Growth: The series of larval development processes that salamanders undergo is called metamorphosis. Terrestrial salamanders lay eggs on land, and larval development occurs inside the egg. When the young hatch, they look like miniature versions of the adults. Aquatic salamanders lay eggs in water, and after hatching they become tadpole-like larvae, and eventually they lose their gills. Some salamanders do not lay eggs and can give birth to fully formed young.
How to best keep a salamander?
1. Container: After catching a salamander, it can be kept in a large glass fish tank to make it easy to observe its activities. Spread some washed sand and gravel on the bottom of the tank, pour in 30 cm deep pond water or well water, and add a small amount of aquatic plants such as hornwort, arranging an ecological environment similar to the capture site. The sand and stones help absorb dirt, and the aquatic plants can carry out photosynthesis, increasing the oxygen content in the water and providing a place for salamanders to lay eggs.
2. Water quality: For keeping salamanders, clean pond water is best, and well water is also suitable. If tap water is used, it should be left to stand for 3 to 5 days before use, otherwise the residual chlorine in the tap water will cause salamander poisoning and death. Changing the water is a regular management task. Keeping the water fresh and clean is good for the salamander's normal life. In winter, change the water once every 1 to 2 weeks; in other seasons, change it once every 3 to 5 days.
3. Food: Salamanders like to eat live small animals. Tubifex worms are a relatively ideal feed and can be added in small amounts every other day. You can also put tubifex worms in a single layer of gauze, wrap them up, and hang them in the water with a string. The tubifex worms will extend part of their bodies through the gaps in the gauze, and the salamander will swim over to pull at them. In addition, small tadpoles, mosquito larvae, water fleas and so on are also favorite foods of salamanders. When live small animals are lacking, you can also buy frozen shrimp from the supermarket, thaw them and cut them into small pieces for feeding, or cut lean pork into small pieces for feeding. But note that you should not feed too much; it is best to have no leftover food, to prevent the food from rotting and affecting water quality.
4. Hygiene: Remove the leftover bait from the small enclosure. If the salamander has not finished all the bait several hours after feeding, it means it is full. At this time, the remaining live bait must be cleared out. If it is not cleaned up, those live creatures may in turn bite or irritate the salamander.
5. Touching: Although the salamander's cute little face inspires the urge to touch it, try to avoid touching it as much as possible. The oils on human hands really can make salamanders sick. Conversely, the secretions carried or produced by salamanders can also make humans sick. Therefore, it is best to simply watch these little creatures and not touch or handle them. If you must come into contact with a salamander, for example if it is injured and needs to be taken out, first wash your hands with very hot soapy water. Be sure to rinse off all the soap.
Note: The very small glands of salamanders also contain a deadly bacterium, and they can use this bacterium to produce a toxin. This toxin is tetrodotoxin. When a salamander is attacked, it will immediately secrete this deadly neurotoxin, leaving its opponent unable to handle it and unable to escape the consequences.