Keeping salamanders cool

[schmiggle]

Figured I would post an observation I've had recently, in case it's helpful.

One of the tougher parts of salamander care is that they need high humidity and cool temps. The latter, in particular, is tough in the summer, and I've been using frozen bottles of water to get my desired temps (I take care of 2 fire salamanders). I used to be religious about switching the bottles out often, but occasionally I would forget when I was in a rush. What I have noticed, however, is that they don't really care as long as night temps are cool. They do fine with fairly high daytime heat levels (80+ F) as long as humidity is high and they can cool off at night.

This sort of thing reminds me of cephalotus, a common but fairly difficult Australian pitcher plant in cultivation. It used to be thought that the plant wouldn't tolerate temps above 80 degrees, but it's now known that they do ok with temps up to the low 100's as long as nights go down to the fifties. I suspect fire salamanders are the same, and I wouldn't be surprised if other salamanders are as well. I know not many people here have them, but if you do have salamanders and are worried about heat stress, you might give this a try.

 

[TylerFishman5675]

Why dont you keep the salamanders in an air conditioned room?

 

[beetleman]

when i kept salamanders years back,i kept them in wine coolers,and i'm in fla. i had different sp. all sp. seperate ofcourse,they did great.

 

[Andee]

I would think something attached to a swamp cooler would work? We do it for montane species of chameleons who need the lower temps.

 

[spotropaicsav]

Interesting, have any other fire salamander keepers noticed this? Makes sense to me

 

[schmiggle]

Why dont you keep the salamanders in an air conditioned room?

None of the rooms in my house have AC during the day. At night they all get cooler naturally, but an ice bottle is at least as effective as an AC anyway.

when i kept salamanders years back,i kept them in wine coolers,and i'm in fla. i had different sp. all sp. seperate ofcourse,they did great.

Yes, many people do. I may yet get a wine cooler (or several), they're also good for highland CP's and orchids, velvet worms, making cheese...

I would think something attached to a swamp cooler would work? We do it for montane species of chameleons who need the lower temps.

It probably would. The only issue would be that the humidity in my area, especially daytime humidity, tends to be quite high, so that reduces effectiveness (I think?).
I can tell, by the way, when they are heat stressed--they become sluggish and hang out in the wettest areas. If it's really bad, they'll burrow (although I haven't recently seen this). And what I've noticed is that they don't act hear heat stressed if they have an ice bottle at night, whether or not they get one during the day.
A disclaimer is, of course, in order--fire salamanders are a tough, adaptable species, and there's a good chance that these ones' parents are from the Balkans, which means they probably have some natural hear resistance. I wouldn't suggest trying this if you have, say, a green salamander, which are notoriously fragile, until you can recognize signs of hear stress and respond immediately and unless you can do so within a few hours. But my hope is that it can ease some stress about temps--they surely don't always, always, always need to be kept below 70 degrees for a majority of species.

 

[Matttoadman]

Very interesting. It makes since to me. I would think that even the best daytime hide (in the wild) on a hot day would get warm. For my roaches that require warmth, I only heat them during the day. This still provides explosive breeding. I have not kept salamanders do to the keeping cool issue. My house is 75-78 during the day and 68-74 at night. So the frozen water bottle, are they buried in the sub or under the tank? Also, you put them out at night and replace them next evening?

 

[ChickenTaco]

I have only a marbled currently but i keep her in my bathroom(wich is always humid in summer) on my counter(marble) whith always damp soil, so that the ground stays relativley cold during the day and should it ever get too warm the water is kept cold and fresh and the soil is deep enough to burrow down against the cold bottom.

 

[Andee]

I also recommend maybe taking one of those blue ice packs that are the super hard plastic kind and stay cold forever and placing them on the top screen of the enclosure. The coolness will often creep into the enclosure from up above. Idk what temps people are trying to keep most Salamanders at regularly, but if you keep one on all day long (and replace when needed) it will keep the enclosure likely not much higher than 65 degrees. It's what I did when I needed a temp drop for certain species of insects (like forest species) or needed to drop it for tropical species of reptiles. You'd be surprised how well it works.

 

[spotropaicsav]

Very interesting. It makes since to me. I would think that even the best daytime hide (in the wild) on a hot day would get warm. For my roaches that require warmth, I only heat them during the day. This still provides explosive breeding. I have not kept salamanders do to the keeping cool issue. My house is 75-78 during the day and 68-74 at night. So the frozen water bottle, are they buried in the sub or under the tank? Also, you put them out at night and replace them next evening?

"I would think that even the best daytime hide (in the wild) on a hot day would get warm" -agree

 

[schmiggle]

I put the frozen bottles on top of the substrate. Those ice packs are a good idea, but I would probably put them inside as well. The cooling is just more efficient that way. And yes, I replace them at night.
You have to be careful with that logic about hides heating up, because it depends on the species. For example, Aeneides aeneas specializes very heavily on damp rock crevices. Damp rock crevices basically don't heat up--they're shaded on all sides, all the time, the stone keeps them cool (think of how cool stone structures are), and the water makes them functionally cooler. Similarly, mole salamanders spend their time underground, where it's cooler the deeper you go (although if you have a deep, damp substrate, that helps massively). But for terrestrial salamanders, I absolutely agree. And unless you can miraculously get your hands on an Aneides, you shouldn't have that problem in particular.