The tiger salamander is a surprisingly vivid amphibian, found at home in both water and on land; in fact, it begins its life without being able to exist on earth and, when it reaches adulthood, it can subsist in any of the means. They certainly prefer dirt right now and enjoy digging in sand and dirt, as well as getting in and out of shallow pools. One of its most fantastic attributes is its ability to regenerate, which goes far beyond the mere ability to heal wounds. It allows them to regrow limbs that have been cut off and even replace some organs, even spreading to brain tissue, which is truly amazing by human standards.

Indeed; it is this capacity for regeneration that is probably related in some way to its exceptionally long life expectancy for an animal of its size. In a captive habitat like a nursery, a tiger salamander, named for the distinctive black stripes that run through its green-colored fur, can survive up to two decades, and actually longer, with a good regimen of care. The first part of this task of properly caring for a tiger salamander is providing a tank large enough for the nursery you plan to build. Because these amphibians are quite large creatures over 6 inches long, they will need a large enough environment to avoid feeling cramped, and a twenty-five gallon tank should suffice.

However, there is another reason why the nursery tank should be this size; If you plan to house more than one tiger salamander, a tank that does not provide enough personal space will encourage fighting between them, and that is if they are similar in size and strength. If one salamander is larger than the other, it will feast on the smaller one whenever it gets a chance, causing body parts to be missing for a while before they regenerate. Indeed; Too many feasts in one sitting could even result in the death of the little one. A good rule of thumb is a twenty gallon nursery tank for every salamander you want to house under one roof.

This talk about cannibalism brings us to the food they eat for sustenance, and not just because of the unfortunate proximity. Although tiger salamanders (and others of their kind) tend to eat infrequently according to our calculations, the character of their food is very important: crickets and earthworms, bloodworms, mealworms, etc. they must include their diet. No more than three times a week, with a good average of just once a week, you should put crickets and food pellets sold in pet stores (made from meat) into your nurseries. Pinky mice and large roaches make good foods too, but infrequently as they will gorge themselves and become too large, which is unhealthy for them and leads to restricted bowel movements.

As for the nursery tank itself, make sure the soil you use is not fertilized, because they don’t live in those places in their natural surroundings. Provide a substrate, then plant coir and soil for best results. If you keep all of these things in mind, there’s no reason why you wouldn’t have more than twenty years of tiger salamander prowling the land you built.