Captive Bred 2023 Juveniles, 2-3".
Pseudotriton ruber schencki tend to stay smaller than other subspecies and maintain more beautiful red coloration as adults than most other Red Salamander subspecies.
Care & Husbandry
Red salamanders are kept in semiaquatic enclosures with 2-3" deep water and stacked flat rocks at one end to create a land area, as well as aquatic refuges between the submerged rocks. The rock layer above the water line is topped with an organic substrate mix of pine bark, coconut husk chunks, sphagnum, and oak leaves along with a few bark slabs, live moss, and ferns. An air stone is added to the water to keep oxygen levels high.
I have an RO drip that turns on for 30 min/day, and route it such that it runs down one side of the rock pile and the other side stays drier to give them a gradient to choose from. The tank is drilled with a bulkhead and overflow standpipe to maintain the water level. In addition to the RO drip, I spray down the tank around once/week.
Temperatures from 55-70F are fine, though they can handle down into the 40s or up into the low 70s seasonally without problems.
I feed mainly appropriately sized crickets to transformed salamanders, dusted with Repashy Calcium Plus and crickets gut loaded with Repashy SuperPig to help maintain vivid red coloration. They will also take small earthworms or pieces of nightcrawlers when they grow large enough.
Adults can be kept in 15 gallon tanks or larger for breeding groups. Eggs are typically laid in the fall under submerged terra cotta saucers or cavities under submerged flat rocks and females remain with eggs to defend the nest and young larvae. Larval period is typically a minimum of 2 years.
