Fire Salamanders

One of my hobbies is keeping amphibians, including newts, toads, and salamanders. Believe it or not, such creatures make excellent pets, as long as one doesn't expect too much. As cold-blooded creatures, amphibians tend to spend a lot of time sitting around doing nothing, but once in a while they get motivated (usually when there is food to be had) and move around quite a bit. Then it's a lot of fun to watch them.

On this page, I have included pictures of two of my three fire salamanders, which I had as pets for several years. These are a European species that evidently lives in cool, misty mountain areas. At any rate, they like a moist environment between 60 and 70 degrees. I kept mine in a 30-gallon aquaterrarium, which they seemed to find comfortable. They usually spent their time sitting on the soft moss in the tank, but sometimes they would climb the plants and once in a while they would go swimming in a small pool I have provided for them. Basically, the tank had a few inches of gravel in the bottom, much as one would arrange for a regular aquarium. At one end of the tank, however, I lowered the gravel level and installed a submersible filter. I then put just enough water in the tank to cover the filter and create a pool, with the result that most of the tank is a dry gravel surface with a water table beneath it. In addition, I placed a line running below the gravel from the filter to the other end of the tank, which in effect created water circulation -- the water splashed out on a rock at the far end. This solved the humidity problem, as long as I routinely added fresh water to the habitat. I also put in a few artificial plants and stones, giving the salamanders places to hide, and some moss for them to sit on, and thus I had a workable environment for them.

I found that initially my salamanders, being a nocturnal species, were very reclusive during the day and hid most of the time. However, they seemed to learn that they were in no danger from predators in their new home and thus could safely move about at any time. As a result, they gradually became bolder, not hiding as much as they once did, and I had plenty of chances to observe them. Furthermore, I installed a dual lighting system -- white light for the daytime and red (not infrared!) for evenings -- which let me observe them after dark when they were more active.

My salamanders were about six to seven inches long, but my understanding is that some grow to be about ten inches in length. The two females were rather rotund, while the male (not shown) was fairly slender. Generally, they moved about very slowly, but they could get about fairly rapidly if they had a reason to. In addition, they could climb, though they usually did not. I had to keep a secure lid on the tank.

If you have any serious questions about keeping fire salamanders, e-mail me at: rscarr@kda.attmil.ne.jp.
I'll try to answer them. Unfortunately, I've had a lot of people send me rather silly emails, so I have had to be a bit selective about whom I respond to.

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Copyright © 1997-2001 Scott Carr