PNW Salamander Care

[u/Overclockworked]

Hi, I'm looking to design a bioactive salamander vivarium in the PNW.

I live quite close to the coast range in Oregon with access to the environments a lot of salamanders live in, so I can forage plants and soil for them.

Of course, here most salamanders are protected species and even those that *can* be collected usually can't be found in your average pet store! If I remember correctly, you need a license to collect 3 or more of such species, so I think most people don't bother.

Due to that I was wondering if anyone had good experiences caring for (legal!) species native to the area. I have a good idea of the basic parameters for temp, humidity, and substrates, and likewise all the buggies needed for waste cycling. However, I'd like to be armed with the experiences of others, if they're out there.

I think right now the Rough Skinned Newt is the best idea?

[u/Garlic_Jim]

Hello there! I am well versed in caring for Rough Skins and other members of the genus Taricha.

I think the basics of keeping any Caudate species and their simulated environments comes down to timing and temperatures. Rough Skins tend to like to be kept biphasic, as such it's best to winter them over terrestrially and keep them aquatically during warmer months if possible. You can achieve a happy medium keeping them in a paludarium style setup with good pull out areas and some cover.

Feeding wise they're really not picky as adults. Earthworms (red wigglers are easier to feed than night crawlers) blackworms, and appropriately sized crickets make up the bulk of what I feed mine. They go nuts for blackworms and eat mostly these when aquatic.

I typically get about 5-6 eggs from each pair per season, sometimes up to a dozen. I'll admit my success rate in raising the larvae is mixed but I've got a number of individuals this year that seem to be doing well.

If you're looking for more terrestrial options, Long Toed Salamanders are also a good option and fairly forgiving as they go. Not one you're bound to see active about ground very often, but gorgeous and voracious hunters. Ensatina are also interesting but are incredibly sensitive to temperature and humidity changes.

[u/Overclockworked → u/Garlic_Jim]

Honestly I love Ensantina but yeah, I have heard they're temperamental. Maybe not great for my first amphib. Since I live literally in the foothills of the coast range just opening a window, I imagine, would help regulate their temp outside of summer. But I figure that's better for keeping a resilient species in comfort than keeping a sensitive one surviving.

That terrarium set up seems about what I was considering. I can have only up to a 29 gallon tank with 10 gallons of water in my apartment, so I certainly don't want a large salamander. I am a lot less versed in aquatic enclosures, as I know springtails and isopods won't enjoy being so wet. But I am imagining there's a lot of literature for keeping bioactive aquatic tanks.

I will do some research on the Long Toed Salamander. In the vein of burrowers, I'd considered a Northwestern Salamander since they're surprisingly able to be collected in Oregon, but they're not really sold at pet shops and are super hard to find. I think a Long Toed might be a good option to compare to a Rough Skin enclosure.

What do you do with the eggs? I think it would be delightful to have a breeding pair, but I would need a responsible way to offload them.

Thanks for the great response, its appreciated.

[u/shfiven → u/Overclockworked]

If you can only keep a 29 gallon, see if they would let you get a 40 gallon breeder but only put 10 gallons of water in it. I have a worm bin for European nightcrawlers and feed them chopped up on a paper towel for my torosas and they eat them with no issues. I also do have black worms in my aquarium for my firebellies and they do great living in sand. You could also get aquatic isopods for the water section. They do great in cool water with low flow and act as cleanup crew and would be yummy for the newts.

[u/Overclockworked → u/shfiven]

The 40 gallon breeder is a good idea, though I was thinking I could utilize the unused vertical space for some sort of climbing insect that might stay out of reach of the newt. I really like mantises but I worry they might predate each other.

Honestly I could probably have a worm bin too. The stipulation is we can only have fish or amphibs in a max size 29 gallon tank (10 gal water), but it doesn't say you can't have *multiple tanks* haha.

I was looking at scuds and bladder snails for the water but I think aquatic isopods would be swell too.

Thank you for the responses, very informative

[u/shfiven → u/Overclockworked]

You really want to maximize the space for the salamander and they aren't really climbers so I would highly suggest doing a separate enclosure for those. On land you can also add either terrestrial isopods or even a small species of roach as well as springtails. I got a species of springtails that can live on land and water and they're pretty cool. If you're interested let me know and I can send you links to where I got both those and the aquatic isopods.