Welcome back to animal wonders!

I'm Jessi And today we have another Meet and Greet video. Those days when we get to meet an animal and learn about who they are.

We have so many animals that don't have their own meet and greet yet and I can't wait to share them all with you. Today let's meet Slick, the Tiger Salamander. His skin is smooth, cold and wet.

It's kind of slimy but it's not sticky more slick hence the name. Slick came to animal wonders in May 2013. So we've had him for just over three years now and he lives on top of our refrigerator, right here.

Normally we house our amphibians in our temperature controlled reptile room but he would get stressed out by how hot it is in there so he hangs out here where it's cooler. Slick was already full grown when we got him. He was surrendered by his previous owner because they were moving out of town and they didn't want to move with him.

We have no idea how old Slick is but I do know he's a male because of these two large bulges under his tail. Slick doesn't really mind being held and handled as long as I just kind of let him do his thing and don't try and pet him. Before I pick him up I always wash my hands with soap and water to try and get off any excess oil that might be on my hands or any other substance that might be toxic to him.

Being an amphibian his skin is very porous and he easily absorbs anything that he comes in contact with. Slick's favorite thing to do is to burrow under his water dish. He'll sometimes take a soak in the water but mostly he likes the damp soil.

He is super cute! Seriously, look at that face! His cute little mouth and those googly eyes.

How can that not make you smile? His face and makes me want to give him treats! Lots of treats.

But that's not always a good idea because Tiger Salamanders can easily become overweight. His favorite food is a nice juicy worm like a Night Crawler. But he also enjoys crickets and wax worms to make sure that he stays a nice healthy weight he only gets fed about twice a week.

I'd like to show you a meeting right now but he usually only like to come out at night and gobble up anything he sees. His eyesight is actually pretty terrible so movement is key. I often wonder where Slick came from.

It's pretty rare to find a captive bred Tiger Salamander so he was most likely captured from the wild. These guys are very attached to the area that they were born in and since we don't know if when or where he was taken from the wild releasing him would not be in his best interests. So Slick will continue living his life at Animal Wonders sharing his awesome self with thousands of kids and adults being an ambassador for his species.

He helps people learn about the sensitivities of amphibians and how humans can make sure they aren't harming them by handling them. He's also a great teacher about warning colors. Most people don't see his colors as alarming but he's actually advertising that he's poisonous.

If he feels like his life is in danger he'll bend his tail exposing his poison glands and he'll excrete a milky substance that tastes and smells awful and if eaten the predator will get very sick. I think Slick is really interesting because he has a unique personality and it differs from other Tiger Salamanders that I've met in the past which just reaffirms my knowledge that every animal is an individual. It's been really fun getting to know Slick over the years and I hope we have many more together.

Thank you to all of our supporters donors and Patreon patrons for helping us care for animals and make these videos. I hope you enjoyed meeting and getting to know Slick today. If you'd like to help us continue to make videos about animals you can go to patreon.com/animalwonders and if you like to go on an adventure with us every week subscribe to our YouTube channel Animal Wonders Montana and we'll see you next time.

Parrots will try and drive intruders away from their human mate. Or they could try and drive there mate away from the intruder meaning they will sometimes attack their human when another person comes too close.