The Cold Blooded News

The Newsletter of the Colorado Herpetological Society

Volume 28, Number 1; January, 2001

Amazing Amphibians

by Tim Spucler

Editor: Notes from NOAH

Reprinted from Notes from NOAH, the Newsletter of the Northern Ohio Association of Herpetologists, Vol.XXVIII, No.1, October 2000.

Some time ago (in the neighborhood of 20 years or so) there was an article in Notes from NOAH about a grey treefrog. The frogs owner kept the amphibian in a 5 gallon terrarium with a glass water dish. One day the owner noticed the frogs water had evaporated and the dehydrated amphibian was stuck to the bottom of the dish, lifeless. The frog owner was distraught, and for some reason decided to add a little water to the dish. After about half an hour, the frog owner detected a faint movement in his amphibious pet -- a heartbeat. Amazingly, over a period of several hours, the frog recovered from a near-death experience.

With the worldwide decline of so many species of frogs - and probably salamanders too, we sometimes forget how resilient and tough amphibians can be. After all, they were around before the dinosaurs and they still survive today.

Being mostly a "snake person," I didn't think I'd be having any "Amazing Amphibian" stories to tell, but something happened this past Spring that made me appreciate just how amazing amphibians can be. In November of '98 I purchased a pair of Texas barred tiger salamanders. I set them up in a 20-gallon long terrarium. Initially they had about two inches of water in their enclosure, with an assortment of rocks to hide under. This setup proved to be a hassle to keep clean, because all the rocks had to be removed and the water dumped from the tank and refilled. I eventually switched to a setup with two inches of a soil/mulch mix and a plastic water pan that could be easily removed and cleaned.

It is interesting to note that in the original setup, with no burrowing substrate, the salamanders were out and about quite a bit and would come to the front of the cage to beg for food. After switching the setup over, the salamanders spent most of their time buried, and hardly ever came out. Perhaps some of the reason for that is with the higher temperatures of summertime, the salamanders naturally estivate.

I teach a children's wildlife drawing class and bring in live animals as subject matter. One Summer day I dug out the salamanders for the class. Since they were so well buried, I had to take out the rocks and plants from the cage in order to find them. After class I put the salamanders back into their slightly rearranged tank. Tiger salamanders cannot climb glass; therefore their aquarium is lidless.

Lacer that evening I was closing the front door of the house. For some reason it would not close all the way. I tried again but something was jammed in between the door frame and the door where the hinges meet the frame. I looked to see what the obstruction was. To my horror I discovered it was one of the tiger salamanders which apparently had escaped after being placed back in its rearranged cage.

It was lying there looking quite lifeless with its mouth open with a surprisingly large amount of blood coming out of it. I was kicking myself for being so careless when replacing the cage furnishings. In addition I was shocked by the gruesome scene that lay before me. The only thing I could do now was take the animal and bury it in the backyard. When I went to pick the salamander up, it flinched. How could it still be alive? Maybe it was just nerves twitching. I contemplated putting it in the freezer -- if it was still alive, surely it needed to be put out of its misery. Then the animal made another small movement. For some reason I decided that maybe I should put the animal in a container and let it die in peace. I had recently read that freezing herps was no longer considered a humane way to euthanize them. So I got out a plastic shoebox and put 1/4 inch of water in it along with some paper towels. I put the animal in the shoebox and set it on a shelf, fully expecting the salamander to be expired the next morning.

The next day I checked on the amphibian and it was still alive. I looked closely at it for signs of injury. The body wasn't punctured, although some of the animals internal organs had come out through its vent and the lower half of the animal was swollen. I surmised that if the salamander began eating again that it had half a chance of recovery. I made no attempt to feed it the first three days - it was in a new environment and seriously injured. I checked on the salamander daily and made water changes. I knew there was a substantial risk of the amphibian getting an infection, so I kept a steady supply of dechlorinated water on hand. I changed the salamander's water and paper towels daily. On the fourth day I offered it a small earthworm -- it did not take it. Every day for the following week I offered it food. The amphibian refused to accept. Was I just prolonging the inevitable? Finally one day the salamander made a half-hearted attempt at feeding and snapped at a worm. Two days later it ate. From then on it was a matter of daily cleanings and feedings. The salamander shed its skin every few days. I've read that injured snakes tend to shed more often to speed up the healing process. The salamander would eat its shed skins.

It also seemed that the swelling was going down and the internal organs were slowly but surely being retracted back into the animals body. Two months later the salamander appeared to be fully recovered. I returned it back to its enclosure to rejoin its tankmate. Now that fall is here and the weather is cooler, the salamanders are actively soliciting food from anyone who happens to walk by. You'd never know that one of them had a near-death experience earlier in the year. And now my kids can enjoy drawing them and learning about them too.

Was there a lesson learned from all of this? Probably several: 1) An act of carelessness can convert a normally escape-proof enclosure into an escapable one. 2) Never give up on an animal that appears to be on its "last leg." 3) Even a self-proclaimed snake enthusiast can occasionally be impressed by other types of herps.