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AmphibianTerrestrialIntermediate
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Corsican Fire Salamander
Salamandra corsica
The Corsican Fire Salamander is a rare island endemic species, slightly smaller and stockier than its mainland cousins. It features a beautifully rounded snout and distinct, large golden-ringed markings.
Class:Amphibia
Order:Caudata
Family:Salamandridae
Subfamily:Salamandrinae
Genus:Salamandra
Species:Salamandra corsica
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Environment
Terrestrial
Humidity
70 - 85 %
Day temperature
16 - 20 °C
Night temperature
12 - 15 °C
Ambient temperature
16 - 20 °C
Minimum enclosure
>= 45 L
UVB
Low
Species description
Geographical Origin and Habitat: Endemic to the island of Corsica (France). It inhabits cool deciduous forests, beech and chestnut woodlands, damp rocky areas, and dry stone walls in hilly and mountainous regions.
Taxonomy and Genetics: A stocky terrestrial salamander reaching 12 to 18 cm. The skin is smooth and shiny. Its striking warning coloration features a deep black background marked by bright yellow or orange spots and stripes, unique to each individual.
Behavior and Habits: Strictly nocturnal and secretive. During the day, it hides under damp logs, rocks, or leaves. It emerges at night or during rainfall to hunt slowly for earthworms, slugs, and other forest invertebrates. It secretes a toxic skin secretion (samandarin) when threatened.
Morphology: Females are larger, heavier, and rounder than males, especially when carrying larvae. Males are more slender and display a swollen cloaca during the breeding season.
Care, breeding and tankmates
Terrarium Setup: Requires a horizontal forest terrarium (minimum 60x45x45 cm). Provide a deep substrate of damp forest soil or peat mixed with a thick layer of damp leaves (beech or oak) and cork bark shelters. Include a shallow water dish, as adults are poor swimmers and can drown.
Lighting and Heating: Keep temperatures cool, ideally between 16 and 20°C. They suffer greatly at temperatures above 24°C, which can be fatal. A cold winter brumation at 8–12°C is necessary for breeding. Provide low-intensity UVB lighting (5%) to maintain health.
Humidity and Hydration: Maintain high humidity (75–85%) through regular spraying with declorinated water. Ensure good ventilation to prevent stagnant moisture and skin infections (red leg syndrome).
Feeding and Supplementation: Highly voracious carnivores. Their primary diet should consist of earthworms, along with slugs, crickets, and roaches. Avoid overfeeding to prevent obesity. Dust insects with vitamin and calcium supplements weekly.
Compatibility: Extremely peaceful toward conspecifics of similar size. Housed easily in small groups. Do not cohouse with smaller species that they might swallow, or other salamander species to avoid disease transmission.
Health and Common Diseases: They produce samandarin, a neurotoxin that can be harmful to domestic pets or cause irritation if it contacts human eyes or mucus membranes. Always wash hands after handling. Keep the enclosure clean to avoid ammonia toxicity.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Endemic to the island of Corsica (France). It inhabits cool deciduous forests, beech and chestnut woodlands, damp rocky areas, and dry stone walls in hilly and mountainous regions.
Origin
Europe, Mediterranean, and West Asia
Amphibian profile
- Diet
- No verified data available
- Life expectancy
- No verified data available
- Adult size
- 30 cm
- Lifestyle/Microhabitat
- No verified data available
- Activity cycle
- No verified data available
- Sociality
- No verified data available
- Reproduction
- No verified data available
- Toxicity
- No verified data available
- Life stage
- No verified data available
- Handling tolerance
- No verified data available
- Brumation
- No verified data available
- Molting
- No verified data available
The catalog's scalar value is 30 cm. The AmphiBIO v1 source reports a maximum adult measurement of 30 cm for this species, recorded as total length (TL). These figures are not interchangeable: the first is the profile's editorial reference, whereas the second is a published maximum under a specific measurement convention; differences among sources can reflect sex, population, life stage and measuring method.
Image gallery
Licensed images linked to the species or, when marked, to the closest representative taxon.
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