How to preserve a dead salamander?

Factual Questions
1

Today I went for a walk in the forest and found a dead salamander on a road. (Salamandra salamandra I think)

I would like to be able to preserve it, and keep its color, but I don’t really know how to go about drying it, for exemple.
It still has its innards.

I’m not squeamish about dead animals, I’ve once skinned a fox for exemple, so I welcome any suggestion.

I’ve done some google search but wasn’t able to find something relevant. (It’s also really possible I just don’t know the right search terms in english or in my language.)

2

Here’s some information about preserving amphibians, including salamanders.

There is no really reliable way to preserve the color in amphibians, except perhaps for freeze-drying, which is expensive. Some pigments may not deteriorate, but many are destroyed or faded by the usual preservatives.

As the article indicates, amphibians are usually preserved whole in liquid, either formalin (preferred) or ethyl alcohol. For a salamander, you will want to make sure to slit the abdomen so that the preservative enters the body cavity.

Amphibian skin is too thin to make them really suitable for preservation by taxidermy, such as skinning and stuffing.

Because it’s small, your specimen will begin to deteriorate rapidly. If you don’t have suitable preservatives available, freeze it until you can deal with it.

3

Thanks!

And off to the freezer it goes, until monday.

4

Where could I get formalin? How do I confirm that the stuff preserving my dead bat is formalin and not something else? The level has slowly been going down over the years and I want to keep my specimen preserved.

5

Have you ever skinned a cat? Your experience could be helpfulhere.

6

It’s possible you may be able to purchase it in a drugstore. It can be purchased or ordered from chemical or medical supply stores (I found a few offering it online). Also, it may be sold by some pet shops since it is used as a treatment for aquarium fish parasites.

Formalin has an extremely acrid and irritating smell and stings the eyes. (You may get a whiff of the formaldehyde smell when lighting a gas stove, since small amounts are formed when methane is ignited.)

Because of its unpleasant nature, you may not want to use formalin in the home. You can substitute ethanol, but should be careful to maintain the level.