Fire Salamander

Did you know?
Fire salamanders do not only hibernate (from October til March) but they reduce their activity also during the hottest season (July, August) in particular in the southern parts of their range.The black and yellow colour (aposematic coloration) is a warning to potential enemies: The main defense of S. salamandra against predators namely is its toxicity. The large paratoid glands behind the eyes and rows of poison glands extending lengthwise down the animal's body secrete neurotoxins. The Fire Salamander even is capable of actively spraying these chemicals at predators to discourage attack.Fire salamanders can reach an age of over 40 years.Fire salamanders typically will stay loyal to the same home range for many years. They will also continually revisit the same overwintering spots: one experiment found individuals returned to the same cave to hibernate for up to 20 years. These journeys require some mechanism for homing (landmarks).

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Why do zoos keep this animal

Fire salamanders are kept primarily for educational purposes because they are well known to (European) people from fairy tales, but hardly ever seen by today's urbanized population.

Traditional folklore held that salamanders could survive in fire; the term "salamander" actually comes from an Arab term for "lives in fire." The Fire salamander in particular ows its name to these myths. The stories probably originated because salamanders, including S. salamandra, were frequently seen to crawl out of logs tossed onto cooking fires and campfires. Of course, their thin permeable skin offers no such protection.

How this animal should be kept

Given their large nightly range, as with most animals, the larger the vivarium the better. A pair can be housed in a 45 cm x 30 cm x 35 cm vivarium. A 60 cm x 30 cm x 35 cm vivarium would be better. A screen cover should be used to prevent the salamander from escaping. The substrate should be leaf litter, mosses and pieces of bark (need not be deep), with a few hiding places such as a pieces of cork bark. Gravel and very small bark chippings are not good substrates to use for any salamander. If breeding is anticipated, a shallow body of water is required. Care should be taken that the water is not deep enough for them to drown in because Salamanders are quite inept in the water. Do not use water that has chlorine or chloramines in it. Live plants should be kept in pots to aid ease of cleaning. It is important that the vivarium is kept moist, though not very "wet". This can be accomplished by using a mister every few days or more frequently if the vivarium has no lid.

Some keepers maintain their animals in more simplistic setups that use a substrate of unbleached paper towel that is moistened, and a hiding place is added, such as a piece of bark. This type of setup is easy to clean and probably helps to reduce the likelihood of parasites becoming established in the vivarium. However, whether or not it is ideal for salamanders is debatable. It seems that at least the addition of pieces of moss, etc, are necessary to break up the bleakness of the paper towlling - otherwise the salamanders tend to try to escape. One of the most fundamental issues is temperature. Most species do well at temperatures at or below 20°C (68°F). Therefore as a rule, it should be kept at or below this safe ceiling temperature. They can be fed earthworms and nightcrawlers (though not the red-ringed ones - genera Eisenia and Dendrobaena) and will also take crickets, locusts, mealworms (it's a good idea to crush the jaws of mealworms prior to feeding), wax moth larvae (wax worms), white slugs, small snails, spiders and fly larvae (variety is the key). During the active part of the year, adults should generally be fed about twice a week, with perhaps three or four "bite-sized" crickets or equivalent. Newly deposited larvae should be fed on live Daphnia, Cyclops, white worms, blood worms, black worms, etc. They will also take chopped earthworms (again, avoid the red-ringed varieties). Newly metamorphosed and young juvenile Salamandra do well on fruitflies, gut-loaded hatchling crickets, etc.

Metamorphs are prone to drowning, so be sure that they can leave the water easily. In the case of most larvae, the colouration and patterning of the young fire salamanders becomes evident a few days before metamorphosis.