Maple The Redback

I was going through my stuff on January 3rd, When in one of my neglected containers was a healthy, red little Redback Salamander (Plethodon Cinereus). I called him "Maple". The obvious explanation to this surprise was that I had put a Redback Salamander in the same box four months before but had assumed he was either dead or had escaped. Wow. Four months with zero attention. It made sense, because there were hundreds of invertebrate animals living in the box at the time. Springtails, sow bugs, slugs, and snails. All of those things could become salamander prey.

Maple is perky, shy, silent and cute. Redback salamanders are lungless Salamanders meaning they do not intake air through traditional lungs and instead process the oxygen through microscopic pores in their skin, This means that they can get respiratory desieses if chemicals like soap, lotion, bleach, oil, or bug spray touch them.

I plan on releasing him in the spring as I doubt he would be able to find shelter from the cold fast enough to survive if I released him now. The ground is frozen and I think overall, he would most likely die before the spring if I released him now, so I am keeping him for his own good.

Redback Salamanders are far and away the most common type of salamander I find in nature. This is definitely due to It's tolerance to a variety of different conditions (referring to humidity and temperature). These little buggers live just a few inches underground and your best bet of finding one is to roll over a log that had left an imprint in the ground, exposing the dark underground ecosystem that they live in.

Update: January 9th. Maple ate a slug today. I removed the lid of his container and saw it. A bite sized little slug was gliding across the inside of the lid, so I put the slug right near him. He eventually saw it, excitedly put his face up to it, and struck. His soft jaw bent around it as he gulped it down. the species was milky slug

Update: January 14th. Maple tried to catch a fly that was a pest in his container. He can be very aggressive for his small size and fragile body. Just based on how much he hunts and eats while im watching, I can tell he must do this a TON when im not there.

Update: January 15th. Today, Maple is very inactive and I can only see his tail poking up from above the substrate. I think this is just a fear response to the new changes to his environment (the addition of a new layer of bark) but if it continues, I will do something about it. I added the new layer to help give the Physarum more surface area to grow on. Read More

Update: January 29th. I was worried as milky slugs appear to have gone extinct in Maple's enclosure. I have however noticed he does not appear skinnier, which leads me to believe that he is either feeding on Fungus Gnats or their tiny, white larva. Every time I open his enclosure, Fungus Gnats are scooting around, disturbed by the lifted lid.

I am very proud of the fact that I am able to create a basic ecosystem: I provide Oats. Gnats eat Oats, Salamander eats Gnats.

Below is what a fungus gnat looks like, just for reference.

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