Make the burrow easier to dig and to leave
An elderly tiger salamander still wants to be underground, but excavating deep, dry, or compacted soil is hard labor for aging limbs, so keep his substrate evenly moist and modestly shallower — deep enough to cover his body fully, not so deep that every repositioning is an expedition. Work the soil loose after cleaning rather than letting it pack down under his weight. Add flat cork pieces and leaf piles on the surface as ready-made shelters, so on evenings when digging feels like too much he can simply slide under cover instead. Keep one favorite burrow area undisturbed once he settles into it.
Put a shallow soak within one short crawl
An elderly tiger salamander hydrates through his skin, so his water dish should sit close to his main burrow, sunk into the soil with a low, sloped edge he can walk down rather than tumble over. The water should stay shallow — enough to cover his belly while his head rests clear — and be clean and conditioned, replaced often, since he may sit in it for hours. If you stop finding him in the dish, check soil moisture first; a salamander whose burrow soil stays properly damp drinks less visibly but still needs the option there. Never let the dish dry out entirely in warm weather.
Feed him at the burrow mouth, on his schedule
An elderly tiger salamander emerges hungry at dusk, so offer earthworms and other soft prey on tongs at his burrow entrance or just outside the hide he is using, rather than dropping food across the enclosure for him to find. His strike slows with age, so hold the prey steady a moment longer and let him take it at his pace; repeated missed lunges overtire a senior quickly. Slightly smaller pieces, offered a little more often, are easier for an old salamander to swallow and digest. Record what he takes each feeding — in a secretive burrower, appetite is the health signal you can actually measure.
Keep his world cool, dim, and untouched
An elderly tiger salamander stresses in heat and light, so keep his enclosure in the coolest, quietest part of the room, out of sunbeams and away from heating vents, with a natural dim day-night rhythm. Handle him almost never, and then only with wet, clean hands or gloves for the shortest possible time; his skin is his immune system and his water supply at once, and senior skin recovers from damage slowly. Spot-clean around his burrow rather than evicting him for full cleanouts on a rigid schedule. Enrichment for this animal is a new hide shape or a rearranged leaf pile, not interaction.
Spot decline in an animal built to hide
An elderly tiger salamander who stops burrowing and lies exposed, whose skin turns dull, patchy, or develops sores, or who refuses worms across several evenings needs an amphibian vet — by the time a burrowing animal shows itself sick, it usually is. Sudden bloating or an inability to right himself is urgent. Arrive with your dated feeding record, soaking notes, and a description of his soil moisture and temperatures, because the vet cannot watch him live his hidden life the way your log has. Compiled in his KinsLe Pet Passport, that quiet animal's history is ready to speak for him at the clinic.