Salamander Habitat

Salamander is an amphibian which has a strong resemblance with lizards. It has a long and thin shaped body with four legs and a long tail. There are over 700 species of salamanders found all across the world. Most of them are bright in color and have a soft and moist skin. They do not have any scales, ear openings or claws on their body. An interesting thing is that a salamander's habitat is often different for individual species. It could be aquatic or semi aquatic or even terrestrial.

Facts About Salamanders

Salamander is truly an amazing creature. Here are some interesting facts about its habits:

• As we have already mentioned, there are three different types of habitats for salamanders. Those who are aquatic, live in water throughout their lifespan. While semi aquatic salamanders prefer to live on land. They live in water during winter season for hibernating. Also with the onset of their breeding season, they start living in water. The terrestrial salamanders live on land all their life. They hardly enter into the water but prefers to live close to water bodies or wetlands.
• The skin of salamanders secrete a special kind of mucous substance that enables them to stay in moist condition while living on dry land. When they are in water, this mucous helps it to retain the salt balance of their body and provide lubricant that help them in swimming.
• Most of the salamanders are carnivorous in nature. Common foods are insects and small invertebrates. Some large salamanders eat frogs, fish and other salamanders as well. Their larvae eat tiny aquatic animals.
• Salamanders are nocturnal creatures. During daytime, they hide themselves below fallen logs and damp leaf litter. Basically, they prefer to live a secretive life.
• A unique characteristic of a salamander is that it can regenerate its lost limbs and other body parts. This gives them an added advantage when they are attacked by their predators. When the predator catch hold of its body part, it drops that part and runs away.
• Even though an adult salable look like a lizard, its larvae has a lot of similarity with frog tadpoles. They can be differentiated by the presence of gill structures near its neck region.

Creating the Habitat of a Salamander

If you are planning to keep them as pets, then you have to create a habitat for them. Depending upon the preference of your salamander species, you have to make either an aquatic or semi aquatic or land habitat. First of all, you have to select a strong and sturdy aquarium with a well fitted lid. For aquatic habitat, the floor should have 3 inches of aquarium gravel. Place them in a gradual slope. Some aquatic plants should also be there. Use bottled spring water in the tank, as it is safe for their drinking.

The land habitat should consist of coarse sand and aquarium gravel of about 2 inches in depth. It should be topped with sterile potting soil, peat moss and garden loam. Keep some bark and rocks so that your pet can hide and sleep under them. You can use some terrestrial plants as well. For a semi-aquatic species, the tank has to be divided into two different sections with the help of a Plexiglas. One part for the land habitat and the other one for water habitat. On both sides, there should be a slope created in such a way that it can climb and move from water part to the land and vice versa.

The temperature requirement for the habitat is in the range of 69 to 75 degrees and humidity should be around 80 percent. Rows of holes with diameter of one-fourth inch should be created on the walls of the tank to ensure proper ventilation. Otherwise the atmosphere inside the aquarium will become unfit for the salamander.

The population of salamanders is decreasing at an alarming rate. One of the key reason behind this problem is lack of healthy habitat. Their skin is very delicate and is highly sensitive towards pollution. For this reason, it requires a clean environment to live in.