Pedigree of the amphibian and its native habitats, behavior in open nature, breeding characteristics, appearance, keeping an amphibian at home. Most of the people on our planet adhere to such a position in life that everyone should have a lesser friend from the animal kingdom. And each other tries to bring some friend to his house. But what about those people who do not have the opportunity to keep the usual cats, dogs or guinea pigs in their home? Some may be allergic to wool, someone does not have enough free time for these animals, and someone simply has an interest in completely different representatives of the living world of the planet.
And if a few years ago, keeping an animal of your dreams in the house was an unattainable goal for someone, today it is absolutely commonplace. Whether you want a turtle, a snake, a hedgehog or maybe a hippopotamus - everything is in your hands. In the event that you are looking for some special creature, like a lizard, then turn your attention to the fire salamander.
This amphibian is ideal as a pet, it will not make noise, will not look with puppy eyes at you, begging you to play with it, moreover, it is able to easily adapt to any living conditions. She will not need to buy expensive heating devices or artificial light sources, and without them the amphibians will be quite comfortable, and you will save your money. Keep your pet out of direct sunlight and he will be the happiest.
Homeland and origin of the salamander
Fire salamander, spotted salamander or common salamander - these are all the names of the same delicious lizard, which every day more and more often settles in the houses of your friends and acquaintances. This is a beautiful animal, which scientists have classified into the class of amphibians or amphibians, the order of tailed amphibians, the family of real salamanders and the genus of the same name.
For the first time, the inhabitants of our large planet Earth learned about this living creature from the scientist born in Sweden, Carl Linnaeus. It is he who is credited with the discovery of beautiful amphibians in 1758.
If you set out to find this spotted beauty in its natural environment, then be sure that you will not have to search for a long time. This representative of the fauna is widespread in almost all of Europe. Namely, it inhabits countries such as Germany, France, Portugal, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia and Romania, as well as Poland, Luxembourg, Italy, Spain, Greece, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and many others.
Salamanders are not picky about environmental conditions; they do not seek out any special or extremely comfortable places for their permanent residence. The only thing they try to avoid is very dry areas and open areas. All other corners of Mother Nature are great for such wonderful amphibians. The favorite places of this beauty are wooded areas, the slopes of the banks of rivers and streams, it can feel comfortable in dense coniferous forests, even in foothill and mountainous locations. In addition, it should be noted that these amphibians, by their nature, are still climbers, they can effortlessly equip themselves a home at an altitude of over 2000 m above sea level.
Features of the behavior of a salamander in the wild
In a beautiful fiery amphibian in its natural environment, the period of activity falls at night, it is under the shining of the stars and the moon that the salamander walks through its domain and goes hunting, since it cannot stand direct sunlight and high temperatures. But the cool environmental conditions are very compromising.
Throughout the daylight hours, it prefers to rest in its house, where it is impossible to get into the hated heat; as a habitation, an ordinary salamander uses rocky ruins, deep rotten stumps, crevices of old trees, low hollows, burrows of other forest inhabitants, or simply buries itself in a thick mossy forest floor …
The ability to navigate the terrain of this not only beautiful, but also smart amphibian can be the envy of any scout. While searching for prey, the lizard is not at all worried that it may get lost, it finds its way back home with amazing ease and speed. As a navigator, he uses not the sense of smell, as, for example, dogs, but the visual memory. Usually, fire salamanders live in the same territory for most of their life period. But if suddenly a shortage of food begins in the area it occupies, or living and hostile creatures unpleasant to it settle in the neighborhood, then this proud lizard quickly "packs its bags" and looks for a place with large supplies of food or is simply safer than the previous one.
In warmer seasons, salamanders can live quietly alone, but during the winter cold, amphibians unite in large companies, sometimes such a group can be formed by several dozen individuals. The hibernation period for lizards begins approximately from the end of October - the beginning of December, it all depends on the climatic conditions in which the amphibian lives and how cold the autumn is, and awakening occurs when the air temperature does not drop below 9-12 degrees. As a refuge for the wintering period, colonies of salamanders use the space under the roots of trees or under stones, in small caves, or are simply carefully wrapped in fallen leaves. In the event that the winter is not cold in their native territories, then the "tails" do not hibernate, but are active all year round.
The favorite food of fire amphibians is a wide variety of invertebrates, such as woodlice, earthworms, snails, millipedes, beetles, flies, slugs and others. If a salamander goes out in search of prey in a bright time, then the process of its hunt strongly resembles catching insects with frogs and toads, it just throws out its tongue at the sight of a potential delicacy and grabs prey with it. But at night, having gathered to fish, the spotted amphibian uses its well-developed sense of smell. It should be noted that the salamander is an excellent hunter, if it managed to get close to the live food at an average distance, then it will definitely not be able to escape.
Salamander breeding
During the mating season, male salamanders are usually extremely active, they fight each other in every possible way, seeking the attention of the female they like, in addition, they are so ready for reproduction that they are always ready to pounce on any object in motion that has even the slightest resemblance to a female salamander. In the event that a male lives separately from his relatives, he just needs to find them, for this he rarely uses his known sense of smell, usually he searches for them using various vocal signals. They sound a little like a not very loud squeak, sometimes creaking or a dull whistle, the voice of this "gentleman" is possible to hear only during sexual activity, all the rest of the time it is a very calm and silent "tail".
Fertilization in the common salamander occurs internally, usually this process is carried out on land or even in water. During pregnancy, lizard larvae have absolutely no kinship with their mother, we can say that they use her as their first home. The usual offspring of a female is from 10 to 32 larvae. The incubation period lasts approximately 8-10 months. Generic activity always takes place in the water, shortly before birth, the larvae, which are larger than their brothers and sisters, usually eat smaller ones, so they provide more space for themselves. Newborn larvae are almost fully ripe, the mass of their tiny body is about 200 mg, and the length is 2.5-3.5 cm.
On the surface of their body there are three pairs of externally located gills. In the basal part of the limbs, you can see several specks colored yellow. A tail of impressive length, somewhat flattened in shape, decorated with a fin fold along the edges, it is wide enough and gradually merges into the dorsal comb. They have a relatively large head, regular round shape. By their nature, salamander larvae are not very friendly, cannibalism with them is absolutely common.
All metamorphoses of the larvae end approximately in September, after which the baby salamanders already breathe perfectly with the help of their lungs and leave the water for adulthood. These babies reach puberty at the age of 3-4 years.
The appearance of an amphibian
Nature has endowed this creature with a very uncommon appearance, it is safe to say that a person who at least once in his life sees this pretty living creature will not only never forget him, but in no case will confuse him with anyone.
This is a medium-sized amphibian, the total length of its body is approximately 26-30 cm. The whole body is covered with thin, delicate and smooth skin, and due to the fact that the skin of the salamander is very well moisturized, one gets the impression that someone is a wonder of nature well polished. After all, when you see her, the bright shine of her skin becomes noticeable first of all. Mother Nature painted the body of this wonderful lizard in a charcoal black color; against this rich background, it is easy to notice beautiful irregularly shaped spots painted in bright yellow. In relation to each other, these yellow elements are located randomly.
The limbs of the fire salamander are quite strong, although not too large. Each of them ends with four front toes and five back. This representative of amphibians does not have swimming membranes.
The body of the spotted salamander, although not very large in size, is quite strong and massive, the tail process in the section has the shape of a regular circle, the diameter of which gradually decreases towards the end.
The face of the shiny amphibian is somewhat rounded in shape, more black eyes flaunt on it. If you look just above the visual organs, you can also see yellow inclusions that are somewhat reminiscent of eyebrows. But behind the eyes of these black and yellow lizards are parotids - glands that secrete toxic substances.
Sexual dimorphism in these living beings, it seems possible to notice with the naked eye - females are usually much smaller than males, their legs are shorter, their cloacal lips are less pronounced than in males.
Keeping a spotted salamander at home
It is a pleasure to keep such a miracle of nature in your home, with its original appearance it will not only delight your eyes every day, but also decorate your home as a whole. In those moments when the fire lizard freezes in place, you involuntarily get the impression that this is not a living creature at all, but some kind of custom-made statue that fits very harmoniously into the interior of your home. In addition, caring for her will certainly not bring you unnecessary trouble and troubles.
Before you bring your original pet into the house, make sure that the lizard has its own personal living space. A horizontal or cubic terrarium is perfect as her own "apartment". When you come to the store to buy housing for your amphibian, think carefully - if you would like to settle a friend or girlfriend next to it. In this case, you need to choose a terrarium based on the area and for future residents, it is best to settle one male salamander and several females in one house. As for the area of the dwelling, it will be best if more than 40 cubic meters are allocated per inhabitant. cm.
The floor covering of their house should be lined with a substrate containing inclusions of earth, bark, peat and particles of charcoal in equal proportions. Moss is an essential part of a terrarium with salamanders, they really like to wrap themselves in it. No matter how you decorate this "apartment", no matter what plants are planted, the moss will not grow there, so it will have to be replaced regularly. Pebbles of different sizes and various living plants are obligatory items in the interior of the terrarium, the main thing is that the "nubs" have a rather smooth surface, otherwise your pupil may be injured. Of large stones, you can build a shelter for your spotted friend, he will be very happy with this building, and will rest there from his workdays.
These animals cannot at all tolerate not only direct rays of the sun, but also high temperatures in general, if the thermometer has risen above 25 degrees - a cute amphibian can not only get sick, but also simply die from heatstroke. For this reason, it is necessary to install a temperature regulator in the terrarium, he will then make sure that in the daytime in the terrarium it is not higher than 20 degrees, and at night - 15.
Air humidity is an equally important component of a comfortable life for a salamander at home. The humidity coefficient must also be controlled so that it never falls below 78%. The skin of a salamander is very sensitive to dry air and can easily be injured if it dries, high humidity is especially important during the lizard's molting period. It cannot be argued that these fiery amphibians are very fond of splashing in the water, but nevertheless it is better to put a pool of water for them, so the salamanders will be able to independently moisturize their glossy skin. The water needs to be changed regularly so that it does not stagnate.
During the molting period, your amphibian will refuse food - you should not worry about this, moreover, during this special period, the lizard can starve for a long time. In addition, a few days before the start of changing clothes, the salamander noticeably becomes discouraged, most of the time she will spend in her shelter or just lie motionless - this is also absolutely normal.
If you want to take your pet in your arms, then this should be done very carefully and carefully, gradually accustoming him to yourself. If you suddenly grab an amphibian, then it will immediately begin to defend itself, splashing out its poison on you, it is certainly not at all dangerous to humans, but it can cause an allergic reaction or skin irritation. After contact, you must thoroughly wash your hands so that toxic substances do not get on your mucous membranes. The skin of the spotted salamander must not come into contact with cosmetics, even hand cream.
You need to feed your friend the same food to which he is accustomed in the natural environment - woodlice, mealworms, slugs, crickets, caterpillars - all this you can easily get on the market. The frequency of eating is once every two days. From time to time, the amphibian should be fed with vitamin and mineral complexes. You can also offer live one-day mice, the amphibian will happily hunt for them.
The price of a salamander can vary in the range of 800-2000 rubles.
Learn more about the animal in the following video:
