i found a salmender?

Question

i found a salamander creeping into the garage on a hard rainy day. it is under 2 in and is dark, i live in eugene, oregon. in the 97401 area. i have a fish tank full of dirt and grass that is growing, its compleatly sealed off. we thought he got out but found him under the softer level of dirt, i live in a semi wooded area. with pine trees. the tank full of dirt is a rectangle of soil levels that i lifted from the ground, the tank as slugs and ants in it. it is always very moist. my question is:
1. what is the name of it? do u have a pic?
2. how moist should the tank be?
3. what would it eat.
------------------------------description:
they are very fast and small, they have copper tipped noses. there is no water around where i live. i hav two pictures:
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http://i18.tinypic.com/2i1jat1.jpg
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http://i16.tinypic.com/4bz13yt.jpg
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Answer 1

You might find the name of your salamanders here:

http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=&where-taxon=Ensatina+eschscholtzii&rel-taxon=begins+with&where-lifeform=specimen_tag&rel-lifeform=ne

There are several pages. Good luck.

Answer 2

You can keep the salamander in the tank as the first answer described, but they really don't do well in captivity. You have to feed them a lot of small worms and insects, like ants, and it's a lot of work to keep finding things for them to eat. They don't come out in the light much, so you will probably not see him very much either. If his sides start to shrink in size, then it's not getting enough to eat and will die.

Living in Oregon like you do, I found two of the critters in a flower pot and brought them inside for a few days for my daughter to learn about them. Then we released them and now look forward to finding more of them and 'saving' them from warm dry houses and garages.

Answer 3

I kind of agree it is a wild animal and belongs in the wild but who hasn't kept a toad they found under the down spout. you can google salemanders and then go to images. the pics are a little hard to see. if you decide to keep them learn as much as you can about heat, humidity, diet, living space, etc. make an educated decision on if you are ready to care for this animal for the rest of it's life. if you keep it more than a month it might find it hard to acclamate itself back into the wild.

Answer 4

put a dish of water or make half the tank water, they're aquatic. like frogs, they need dry land and water.
i have no idea what they eat. i would imagine whatever they can catch. frogs can be cannibals, i'm not saying that salamanders are, but they might even eat small fish, worms, crickets. look it up.

Answer 5

It is a wild animal and belongs in the wild. Please release the poor thing near a local stream where it can go on its way. If you want to have a salamander then go buy one preferable a captive breed one and after you have done your research on them and know how to care for them!

Answer 6

Let them go and if you really want a salmender buy one on line.