I have a tiger salamander and I’m freaking out!?
I’m not freaking out because he’s a salamander, but because I’ve only had dogs, cats and rabbits. I’ve never had to take care of an amphibian before, so its a bit scary.
And technically, he’s my brother’s, but I call him mine!
So my questions are:
When do I feed him? Like regularly or what?
How many insects do I feed him until his next meal?
Should there be solid ground that isn’t wet in his cage?
The cage we have now is a cheap one you get at the pet store. My brother filled it with colorful rocks, like in aquariums, and filled it up with water. So there’s like two centimeters of rocks everywhere in the cage and then there’s a tad bit more water in it.
I know tiger sals absorb water. Does it just seep in their skin on its own or does the salamander have to will it or something?
That’s all the questions I have now.
If you have tips and/or anything that will help me not be so freaked out that Henry, the salamander, is going to die because I did something wrong.
Oh! Does he need a lot of sunlight? When we but him near a window, the curtain was closed and a small ray of light hit in the corner of his cage and he ran over to it. So should be put him in the sun so he gets some or should we do whatever? 
I know this a long Q, but better to be safe than sorry. And I really don’t want to be sorry.
One more thing: Does Henry need a lot of attention? Or do salamanders like to keep to themselves and not be bothered by humans? But if he does need interaction in some way, what do I do?
He’s on the desk right now. In his cage, I might add. So yeah. I think that’s it… yeah. I think so.
Though I promise I will be back!! ;D
c:
I’m back with one more question!
When should his cage be cleaned out? i.e., Like every three days.
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Should there be solid ground that isn’t wet in his cage?
I can answer that one.
yes, they do.
I have two tiger salamanders which I have kept alive for 6 years.
First of all you need at least a 10 gallon tank, you need a semi deep water dish and something they can hide in, you can just buy a reptile house at a petstore. They need to have distilled water in the water dish, you can find it at your local grocery store for a few dollars. You could also add a dish with some spagnum moss, which I find is to messy and mine seem fine without it.
I don’t have any light bulbs in my tank, I have them in the basement and the natural light that shines trough the windows is fine, they are more active at night anyway.
A salamander can live fine off of large crickets (petstore), throw in about 12 a week and direct some toward the salamander, they can usually catch them since they hunt off movement. Try to feed them about 2 or 3 then leave rest in the tank. They will usually hunt on there own. I usually buy 50 crickets every 2 weeks and store the remainder in an ice cream container with some holes in the top. I even give mine worms from the garden sometimes as a treat.
They do not need much attention, make sure there water is clean and give the tank a thorough cleaning every week.
Also they are very sensitive to the oils in your hands as well as the heat from them so do not handle to much.
Oh yeah they also don’t need the ground to be fully wet I only have water in there water dish, and you can also use small rocks to hold up plants etc, as long as they are bigger than the salamanders head. Hope this helps. Also one more thing don’t use colorful rocks, if it’s painted it could chip off and make them sick, best to use natural colored rocks.
You really should have researched all this BEFORE you got him…