Red Salamander | Characteristics, Life Cycle, & Facts
What do Red Salamanders look like?
Red salamanders get their name from their bright red sides and back. They are bright red when young, but their color fades with age. They often have black spots on their backs and yellowish eyes. Their skin is smooth and scaly. They have four toes on the forelimbs and five toes on the hind limbs. A typical red salamander will be 4 to 7 inches long.
Highlights of Red Salamanders:
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Amphibia |
| Order | Caudata |
| Family | Plethodontidae |
| Genus | Pseudotriton |
| Species | P. ruber |
What do Red Salamanders eat?
Red salamanders is a nocturnal animal that hunts at night. They are carnivores, which means they eat other animals. They like to eat earthworms, insects and spiders. Sometimes they even eat small salamanders.
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Where do Red salamanders live?
The red salamander is found in the eastern region of the United States. They live in a variety of moist habitats, including grasslands, mountains, and forests. Adult red iguanas usually live in burrows near streams and under rocks or logs. They prefer to live on land in the summer and are often found at great distances from the surface of the water.
Red Salamanders Don’t Have Lungs
Adult red salamanders have no lungs. They breathe through the skin and mucous membranes of the mouth. There are other salamander species that do not have lungs. They all live in the Americas.
Baby Salamanders
Like all amphibians, red salamanders hatch from eggs. When newly hatched, they live as larvae (like tadpoles) for about 2 years. During this time, they live underwater and breathe through gills like fish. They then undergo metamorphosis, grow legs, and mature. As adults, they will venture out on land.
Interesting Facts about the Red Salamander
They resemble the extremely poisonous red newt. This causes some predators to avoid them.
The main predators of the Red salamander are raccoons, skunks, and birds.
The red salamander is considered an endangered species in the state of Indiana.
They prefer streams with relatively pure water. This makes them susceptible to water pollution and is also a good indicator of the overall health of a stream or small river.
They lay eggs in late autumn or early winter. They usually lay about 70 eggs.
The overall conservation status of the Red salamander is “least concern”. This means it is currently considered safe.
It looks a lot like a mud salamander.
Like all amphibians, they are cold-blooded, which means they must regulate their body temperature using the external environment.
There are four subspecies of red salamander, including the southern red salamander, the northern red salamander, the black salamander, and the red salamander.
They can live up to 20 years.