yellow spotted salamander found

[Baloo]

My room mate found a yellow spotted salamander on the way to work. Its about 12 centimeters, 4.5 inches or so in length. He appeared on the pavement and stopped mid step as she approached and was very cold to the touch. She wants to keep him during the winter and release him near our lake when the weather warms. I have a picture on my phone but till I get it off I'll post a likeness. I read that they like general bugs and worms like earth worms and crickets so we were going to try it with that.

[Baloo]

Do they have a preferred temperature or anything? Will it be okay to house them with a 2.0 uvb and standard eco earth?

[Psychotic]

Don't use uvb. They are nocturnal and burrowers. You will rarely even see them. Room temperature should be fine. They actually like it kind of cool. Keep it in moist eco earth. It should stay moist. Do not let it dry out. Which can be hard if you have too much ventilation. I used to keep mine in plastic bins with air holes drilled in the sides.

I only have one large female now and she is in an aquarium with a glass lid (just a little slit in the back for ventilation. She is keep at room temperature in around 5 inches of moist eco earth and a layer of moss on top. Live moss, not shredded store bought. They can and will ingest it. I even have a bonsai tree in there though that isn't necessary lol.

I fed mine crickets, chopped earthworm and frozen (thawed) bloodworms and blackworms. Mine would eat from tweezers and the babies would eat from a toothpick. I gave my salamanders away except for the large female, which my boyfriend now has. We just throw a cricket in and wait for her to pop her head out of the burrow and eat it. Then a few seconds later we throw another cricket in. I feed her about 3 or 4 medium crickets. I stop feeding when she stops poking her head out of her burrow. It's the same with the worms. I use tweezers though. I just wiggle them in front of the burrow opening and she will pop out and grab the worms. I only feed mine every 2 or 3 days. Or at least try to. Depends if she is hungry. Sometimes she will wait longer.

All in all you pretty much care for them the same way you would a tiger salamander. You should be able to find plenty of care sheets for tiger salamanders.

If you want you could release the salamander now. It's not too late. They come out and breed around here when the pond is still mostly frozen and there is snow on the ground. They only come to water to breed in early spring. They like to live under rocks, logs and leaf littler for the rest of the year.

Personally I would release the salamander. This time of year they want to brumate.

[Psychotic]

Forgot to add that whenever you do release the salamander you should release it near where you found it. These guys migrate in large numbers every spring to the same breeding areas. If you release him in the wrong area he probably won't know where to go.