Fire Salamander Care Sheet

Fire Salamanders are a very colourful choice for amphibians. They tend to be black with yellow, red or orange spots. They have this colouration as a defence mechanism as they do have Aposematism. So if you are looking for a European colourful Amphibian, these makes a great choice.

Fire salamanders do well with a glass terrarium as their enclosure. This is because glass is great at allowing heat to escape ensuring that the enclosure stays cool enough. Other enclosures such as wooden vivariums are far too efficient at retaining heat.

The fire salamander's vivarium should be at least 450mm in length while they are young, 600mm when they are older and 300mm in height. The fire salamander is going to grow to around 6-10" so they need a space large enough for them to move around in.

Fire salamanders require a near constant air temperature of 65°F. This is best achieved by sticking a heatmat on one side of the glass enclosure. This heatmat is regulated using a thermostat to make sure the temperature stays constant.

As the glass is only being heated on one side this also creates a small temperature gradient within the enclosure allowing the salamander to warm itself up or move away to cool down. We would usually build up one side of the enclosure as a land side and this is the side we would keep warm.

If the enclosure is not able to get up to temperature with the heat mat alone a small basking bulb may be implemented in the canopy as long as the temperatures do not exceed 70°F.

Fire Salamanders will be in partial shade, but naturally, UVB is still available throughout most of the day. UVB lighting used to be considered an optional extra, but we now know a lot more about the species and their natural habitat and understand that it should always be provided.

The terrarium has a mesh lid, which will reduce the strength of UVB being put into the enclosure so we would recommend a wide covering of 5% UVB or a smaller covering of 6-7% UVB. Terrarium canopies are currently available in 2 forms: compact top canopies or T5 canopies. Compact top canopies typically hold E27 screw-fit lamps and can be matched with compact UVB lamps or low-wattage basking lamps.

T5 canopies are a newer solution and will normally hold a single T5 UVB tube. The effectiveness of the lamp can vary by manufacturer, but in general, compact lamps have a range of around 9-12 inches and must be replaced on average every 6 months or so. T5 UVB tubes have a range of around 24 inches and must be replaced once per year.

Whichever lamp you choose, we would advise mounting it above the terrarium towards the front or back of the enclosure. This should provide a nice UV gradient from the back of the enclosure towards the front. In this configuration, we achieve a temperature gradient along the length and a UV gradient along the width, meaning that whatever the frog's requirements, they can find the perfect position within the enclosure.

Fire salamanders are an aquatic salamander and should be allowed areas to swim in. These should be deep enough for the salamander to fully submerge but should include shallow areas for the salamander to rest and climb out.

Some areas can be raised up above the water level as long as they remain moist. Pebbles and moss are great for creating raised areas that remain saturated.

The salamanders vivarium can be decorated with artificial plants for a more natural look. Natural wood ornaments look very effective and also provide further perches for the salamanders. Trailing plants are very good at disguising electrical wires and equipment, as well as providing cover for young amphibians.

If the body of water is quite large we would advise using a small filter to keep the water clean and to move it around to prevent stagnation.

Fire salamanders are carnivorous and have a diet consisting of mainly livefoods. The core of the livefood diet should be high in protein and relatively easy to digest. We have found that brown crickets are the most readily accepted, but you can also use black crickets or locusts (hoppers). They can also be fed aquatic livefoods. Firm favourites would be bloodworm and tubifex, we would advise separating the livefood from it's water before feeding to the salamander.

To provide the Fire Salamander with optimal nutrition and to keep them in the best of health, they will require dietary supplementation in the form of calcium, vitamins, and minerals. These are most commonly available as powders

Any live food for the Salamander should be 'gut-loaded' with an insect food. This basically involves feeding the live food a nutrient-rich diet before they are fed to the cane toad. Our live food is delivered to you already gut-loaded, but this should be continued at home.

If you keep a male and female together, they may breed. You do not need to do anything to encourage this. As long as they are healthy and the conditions are good, it will happen naturally. You need to consider whether you want this to happen before introducing the pair. What will you do with the babies if you incubate the eggs?

A gravid female should have access to a nesting box to lay her eggs. The box should be large enough that she can fully turn around inside it. Inside the nesting box, we use a soil mix that is kept humid enough to hold its shape but not so wet that it will saturate any eggs. We have found that ProRep spider life is perfect for this.

Fire Salamanders, as with most pets, require a clean environment to thrive. We recommend a spot clean as often as possible (every day) and a full clean every 4 weeks or so. If you are keeping the snake in a bioactive enclosure, you can spot clean and monitor the enclosure. It may still be a good item to change out the bedding a few times per year.

When cleaning the enclosure, you should remove your animal, all decorations and all of the bedding. Once the enclosure is clear, you can spray it all over with a reptile-friendly disinfectant. These usually work very quickly and only need to be left for around 30 seconds. Instructions can normally be found on the disinfectant packaging. Once the disinfectant has done its work it can be wiped away from the surfaces with a paper towel. In some cases you might want to repeat this process a second time to ensure that the enclosure is thoroughly cleaned.

Your decorations can be cleaned in a similar method, simply spray them down with the disinfectant and rinse thoroughly with water before drying them off and putting them back into the enclosure. We recommend this process is done during the daytime to make sure that the Salamander will be going back to a warm vivarium for at least an hour before the basking lamps are turned off for the night.