Mud Puppies or Water Dogs

SimonL

Fire Eel
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Oct 23, 2005
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Depends on which one you have. A Mud puppy (Necturus sp) is a fully aquatic salamander which requires cool, well oxygenated water. A "water dog" is usually a larval Tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) which will eventually need a mostly land habitat.
 

kafiltafiisch

Feeder Fish
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Feb 5, 2008
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(mud puppies you say) I dont keep any but i have some info about them not for tanks but it would help if you knew but you probobly already know
they can grow to two feet+ if u have a big enough tank
they will eat any fish or crustacean they can fit in their mouth so be cautious
-youll prolly want a tank with a couple powerful powerheads to keep it feeling at home but other than that it should be easy to keep id imagine
 

kafiltafiisch

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yeah they get big but they should be fine in a 50gallon long
 

SimonL

Fire Eel
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Oct 23, 2005
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The similar Greater Siren can reach almost three feet...
 

Dan F

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Dec 10, 2007
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The larva of several species are commonly called "Mud-Puppies" or "Water-Dogs" (my grandpa called all salamanders/newts "Mud-Puppies". The pix below are adult phase Coastal Giant Salamander (world's largest terrestrial salamander). Notice the car keys for scale...

Are the two foot long critters Hellbenders? I know in China they have Salamanders that are really BIG.

mander1.jpg

mander2.jpg
 

kafiltafiisch

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sry 18" on mud puppies 2 feet and a little more maybe on hellbenders good catch Dan thanks
 

ShadowBass

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Jan 13, 2007
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We had a small mudpuppy at one time (Necturus sp.) but my husband left the intake strainer off of one of the filters and that was the end of that :irked:
I was mad about that for awhile.

He didn't seem hard to care for. We kept him in cooler water and he'd eat things like sinking carnivore pellets and worms.
 

SimonL

Fire Eel
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Oct 23, 2005
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I know in China they have Salamanders that are really BIG
Yeah, but we can't get those in the pet trade ( I wish!). Andrias davidanius gets over 5 feet and the Japanese A. japonicus gets over 4.
 
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