A few weeks ago, Äiti bought home a weird black and yellow creature - a fire salamander. She named it Leimu, which means spark or flame. Leimu is pretty shy, probably because whenever he does appear, he gets a very eager audience! We call him 'he', although we do not know for sure his gender.
The terrarium is sealed off from us, which is just as well as these beasties give off a toxic goo when the are threatened - and we do not want to taste that. He is really tiny at the moment but Äiti says he will grow to maybe 15cm (he's half that length now).
Fire salamanders are protected species in central Europe, and we do not have them native here in Finland. They eat insects and are generally nocturnal. Leimu is eating a mealworm here, and he also gets crickets. The carrot is in the tank to feed his food! His territory is 'alpine' with moss and rocks, a little swamp area and a water bowl. You can see him in action on this time lapse video.
And we have another amphibian in the house; a fire salamander (tulisalamanteri in Finnish). It is tiny (about 6cm long) and has a huge tank. Äiti used to keep these back in Bristol, many years ago and is delighted to have this littl'un.
Apparently they are not tasty and ooze white liquid from their skin if threatened.
The name comes from the story that these creatures dash out of fires and are born from flames; actually they hide in logs and dash out for safety when those logs get hot. But Äiti likes the image of being born from fire and has decided to name it (we do not know if it is male or female) Leimu, which means flame.
