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Most of the larger Dendrobates spp. are good beginner frogs; D. auratus, D. leucomelas, and D. tinctorius especially, along with the Phyllobates. For salamanders, axolotls (Ambystoma mexicanum), Spanish ribbed newts (Pleurodeles waltl), the common crested newt species (Triturus spp.), healthy (captive bred/non-pet store) firebelly newts (Cynops spp.), and smaller sirens (Siren i. intermedia, Pseudobranchus spp.) are all especially hardy and beginner friendly. https://www.dendroboard.com is a good dart frog resource, and https://www.caudata.org is the salamander site.
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Jan 18, 2012 12:34
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Now I kind of want one.
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Jan 18, 2012 17:19
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Zorak posted:Is there anyone here who keeps Axolotls or other regenerative aquatic salamanders? Mine have managed to damage their tails in various ways recently, and I'm wondering what I should be doing to help them beyond just feeding them more often and letting their Wolverine-style Healing Factors take over. The one had a small clean break (I think the other one nibbled some of the tip fin off), the other I think somehow managed to tear the fines on the tip by getting them near the filter (a thing I've always been worried about happening What size tank do you have them in? It could be that they're outgrowing whatever tank they're in, and the stress and close contact has lead to nipping. More food, and possibly more cover objects (plants, fake plants, PVC pipes, etc.) to break line of sight might allow them to get away in case of minor fights. Are the bites just parts of the tail/fin membranes? Those generally aren't too serious to worry about, and they should probably heal fine. Keep an eye on them, though; watch for any sign of fungus or infection, etc. Provided there's no fungal infection, they should be able to heal from quite a bit. Keeping them low on stress (clean water, minimal fighting, not disturbed, etc.) should reduce the risk of fungus, too. If they do start developing fungal infections, you'll want to check axolotl.org, or ask someone at the caudata.org forums; I've treated fungal infections before, but I don't get them enough to give solid treatment advice. Glad to hear you still have them, hope they continue doing fine! In all likelihood, this hopefully won't be anything to worry about. Corridor posted:This is kind of dumb but I'm not quite sure where else to ask: Are baby snakes poisonous? Or dangerous in any way? My stupid cat brought one in from outdoors, it was about 25cm long and striking blindly. No idea what type, but since this is Australia it was likely a poisonous one. I can't say all snakes, but all snakes that I'm familiar with are born venomous as soon as they hatch; they need it to be able to hunt or defend themselves. There might be exceptions, I suppose. Just because it's striking doesn't mean it's a venomous species, but you might want to ID the snake just in case. A 25 cm snake sounds larger than a newly hatched animal in any event, so I'd imagine that if it was a venomous species, it would have plenty of venom. OneTwentySix fucked around with this message at 13:28 on Jan 19, 2012 |
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Jan 19, 2012 13:25
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If you're in the south, you might be able to culture your own Phoenix worms. Hell, I might as well post a guide now, since there are probably a ton of people that could use it. What you want is a 20 gallon plastic rubbermaid tub like this: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Rubbermaid-Clever-Store-18-Gal-Tote/16408646 Cut or burn a hole in the side; it doesn't have to be large. Mine is generally around 3 inches in diameter, but were caused by a lamp melting my bins when I bred Daphnia in them. They just need to be large enough that the flies can find a way in, so it could probably be half an inch or so. You can use other containers; the main goal is to have a container area with a cover and an entrance hole. They prefer to enter through the sides rather than the top, so keep that in mind. You may want to drill a few small holes in the bottom so that the watery waste can drain out. This makes really good fertilizer, if you save it. I then fill the bottom with between half an inch to an inch of dry dog food (get the cheapest stuff you can; I feel bad for any dogs that eat that stuff, but the flies could care less), and add some water so it expands and gets soft. You might also want to attach some cardboard to the inside, especially near the top, so the flies have a place to lay eggs. They don't seem to have a problem laying on the side of my bin, but apparently they like cardboard. Now leave it sit outside for a while; it could take a few weeks. They normally start appearing in April/May around here in South Carolina. If the food gets moldy, throw it away and try again. You'll probably attract houseflies and other pests, unfortunately, so you'll need to dispose of it because of those, too. What you can do is buy some phoenix worms and add them to the culture when you start it. This will help attract the adults, since they're drawn in by the pheromones. The worms will also prevent mold, and if there are enough of them they'll drive off pest flies. Once a culture is established and adults are coming in, you're basically set. I use an aquarium net or my hands, depending on density of larvae/amount of crap in the bin to harvest. Then just rinse them out in the net under a hose, and you can feed them. They're nearly free food, great for fish, birds, herps, inverts, or even to go fishing. It's also a great way to get rid of food scraps, etc. Here are a few quick pictures.  Here's a female laying eggs in my garbage can. Note the white legs; this is an easy identifying characteristic of black soldier flies. They're harmless, but remind me of wasps when they're flying, if just based on their size.  Here are some eggs in my bin. Notice they get darker after a while, compared to the newly laid eggs in my trash can. I don't have any pictures of the larvae, but most people know what phoenix worms look like. They're whitish, very segmented, and hard. You can tell them apart from housefly maggots really easily, even when they're young.  There's a range map I found online; don't know how accurate it is, but if your state is shaded, give it a try once it's warmer. Phoenix worms are great; I feed my herps, and when I take my dog to the park sometimes I'll bring a cup of worms to toss at the fish, ducks, and turtles. It's better for them than bread, anyhow.
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Jan 20, 2012 01:45
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Could be. They come in a bunch of sizes, but I mostly end up with the larger ones (almost an inch long). When they get close to pupating, they kinda turn brownish in color and move a lot less. Younger worms are very active, though, so you might just be getting old worms.
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Jan 20, 2012 02:52
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If you've got an anole living in your bedroom, that came in there on its own will and keeps coming back, why set it up in a tank? Instead, why not treat an open portion of your room as if it is his tank; provide some hides for him, a water dish, a lamp to sun under and get some UV, maybe get some houseplants that he can climb around in, etc. Anyone can put an anole in a tank. Having a free-range anole, on the other hand, is far less common. I know a few people that've kept free-range day geckos in their frog rooms to eat the fruit flies, and one who kept a cane toad. The geckos even bred for one of the guys. I'd absolutely love to have free-range lizards in my house.
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Jan 22, 2012 04:14
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Hype posted:I'd been following the last thread for months but never posted, so I figured what better way to break the ice than with photos of my new lesser siren juvie. This little guy was given to me by OneTwentySix, who has been a wealth of information on the subject of salamanders. I've had him for a little over two weeks now and have been slowly introducing a variety of different foods- so far blood worms seem to be a favorite. Awesome, glad he's doing well for you! That's a much better picture than I've been able to take; you can really see the gold flecks there. They generally lose those when they get bigger, unfortunately, though greater sirens tend to keep theirs. Awesome other herps, too! Hognoses are the best. I thought I'd share one of my friend's animals, a Necturus beyeri. Really amazing looking salamanders; I'm really jealous because Necturus is my favorite genus.   Here is one as a juvenile, and here's one as an adult.  Awesome yellow spots all over; never really expected that coloration in a salamander before. Now I wish I could get down to New Orleans so bad right now. . .
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Feb 4, 2012 05:40
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Big Centipede posted:You know man, I'm really gonna have to make some room for a siren or some other salamander. For your lesser sirens, how finicky are they about water quality, temps, etc... I'm not terribly experienced with aquariums. The post got a bit long; basically, the only aquarium skill involved would be to change 10% of the water if it starts to stink or film over. With common sense, they're pretty hard to kill. They can basically tolerate anything sane; they're built for survival under some really harsh conditions. You can find them as far north as Michigan and Illinois (though the Michigan population hasn't been seen for a while, even if no one's really been looking), and they thrive in southern Florida and Texas. When ponds dry up, they can form a cocoon and aestivate until the water returns; one study found that a greater siren survived like this for 5.2 years. They have lungs and can survive in areas with low dissolved oxygen, and they're tolerant of some really awful water conditions. As far as captivity, they can take anything from freezing to the mid 80s, or even low 90s. They tolerate water quality really well; you don't even need a filter, just make periodic partial water changes every week or two instead. I've kept three small Florida lesser sirens (smaller, undescribed species) in a 10 gallon tank in my kitchen for almost a year now. The only substrate is the decaying remains of some water hyacinth plants I put in there that didn't survive indoors. It's decayed into tiny brown particles that they hide in. I take out a liter or two of water once in a while and replace it with aged tap water, and they're fine and growing really well. They need a larger tank soon, though. The only way you're going to kill a siren would be if it escaped, didn't feed it for several months, you literally cooked it (100+ degree water temperature, and keep in mind that water is going to be cooler than air temps), or a large animal rotted in the tank. Western lesser sirens are trickier; they get bigger to the point that they can kill each other, but eastern lessers don't seem to have this problem. I recommend a 20 or 30 gallon tank with a screen lid, but you don't need the lid if you leave 4 or so inches between the top of the tank and the water level. Rinse out some sand or gravel from a garden store, or buy it at a pet store and use an inch or so of this as substrate. Add some small PVC pipes that are just a bit larger in diameter than the sirens for tunnels, and add some easy to keep plants like java moss, Elodea, or any floating plant with roots for them to hide in (water hyacinth, water lettuce, frog's bit, Salvinia, etc., though hyacinth doesn't survive indoors) and you're pretty well set. An airstone would help keep the water looking clean, or a small filter like this or this, though any low powered filter would work, provided it's not big or strong enough to suck smaller animals into it. You don't need all of that, but it helps. Plants and sand/gravel provide biological filtration (just don't make the gravel too deep; over 2 inches creates good conditions for anaerobic bacteria, so you'd need a filter for sure then), and a larger tank provides more space for the animal as it gets larger, and protects it from spikes in temperature/water quality, and the PVC pipes give them somewhere to hide where you can still see them, but my indoor tank doesn't have any of that, though I'm going to make a nice 20 for them soon. Feeding is easy; they're so much easier to feed than other salamanders. Dry dog food (careful that uneaten pieces don't foul the water), pieces of fake crab, shrimp, or fish, tubifex worms from a pet store, or live inverts such as Daphnia, blackworms, mosquito larvae, amphipods (scuds), or earthworms as they get bigger, they all work really well. I used to hand feed my westerns and that was neat, but they were different from easterns in a lot of ways; I haven't seen that kind of foraging in easterns, though I haven't kept any large ones indoors. Axolotls are generally recommended as a beginner salamander, and they are really easy to take care of. But they have all sorts of potential health problems (gill fungus, nipping, infections), they need live food or pellets (and some won't take pellets), they excrete a lot of ammonia and aren't very tolerant of it, and need low 70s for temperatures. Sirens really don't have any of those problems or any others, except for the larger species that need a lot of room and can kill each other and the fact that they're extremely hard to breed indoors. Basically, this was a really long post, but the only real skill involved would be to change the water if it starts to smell or film over and that only happens if you don't have anything circulating the water (which you can get from a $6 aquarium pump.) You don't need a heater, don't need a light (unless you have plants), don't even need substrate or plants (though they help and look a lot better; look at the sand in the beyeri pictures above), and you don't need any special food since any pet or grocery store will carry something they'll eat. Sirens are really neat, and pretty simple to care for. Edit: And I just found out that one of my Florida lessers is actually a greater; I went to look at my animals outside and shined in their tank beforehand. Without the flashlight, I couldn't see the difference, but he clearly has the spots and flecks of a greater siren. Makes sense why he was growing so much faster than the others, too; he's bigger than the other two despite being caught as a larva, and the other two were caught as small adults. Kinda cool, I guess; I caught him at the same site when I caught the greater, so I could possibly have a pair, though he's still snack sized compared to the other. Now I just need to get down to Florida and bring back one or two other greaters, and another lesser to round out that group, and I might be able to breed four species of siren at some point. Tried to take a picture, but I can't seem to get good photos of aquatics unless they're in a brand new aquarium with great lighting. Great sirens are better looking than lesser; they tend to have big spots and bright gold flecking. They also get pretty big (not my photos):    This guy has the coolest setup ever. He's got some fences in the water with a bunch of traps as part of a survey, and found all these in one array:  Can I have your job, please? I need to get back to Florida, or out to the Francis Marion National Forest some time. There are so many aquatic salamanders I want to find, and none of them live nearby! OneTwentySix fucked around with this message at 10:50 on Feb 4, 2012 |
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Feb 4, 2012 09:54
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Big Centipede posted:Well, you have me sold on sirens over axolotls. Dogfood, worms, and roaches are in abundance here, and temps should always remain reasonable... got any left? I may have to just make room. I don't mean to discourage against axies; they're still great animals and are really easy to take care of, for the most part. I'd be glad to walk you through what you need to keep one; it's not too much different from sirens or other aquatic salamanders. Sirens are just kinda crazy with their hardiness, though. I still have a few left. When I first offered them, I thought I had 4-5 left, but then found there were 14; not sure how I lost count that badly. Some of them were fairly decent sized, too, so I ended up relisting them in a few places and don't have as many left. I've got a small one that isn't really growing like I'd like it to that I could still give away, but other than that I don't have any more free animals, unfortunately. I still have some for sale, though; feel free to PM me if anyone is interested in the little guy or whatever. Tomorrow I think I'm going to clean out my dwarf siren pool. It's a huge mess; there's dead water hyacinth floating on top of everything, and all sorts of piles of algae at the surface and it's really just ugly as hell, and I almost never see the animals. I'll never find eggs in the mess as it is right now if they're old enough for breeding, and I miss the nice, clean and orderly setup I had the old pool in. So hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures tomorrow or Monday; dwarf sirens are my second favorite salamanders. I'm also in the process of setting up a Necturus punctatus (dwarf waterdog) pool, but first I'm setting it up as a Daphnia tank so there will be plenty to eat before adding any animals. Who knows, maybe a large enough population of Daphnia will be able to sustain itself against predation. It'd be really great to have punctatus breeding like the sirens, though. Dwarf waterdogs are really cute; I can only imagine how awesome a larva would be.
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Feb 5, 2012 01:05
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If I ever move to Florida, the first thing I'm doing is setting up something like that. Imagine the fun you have, pulling in the traps! I mean, look at that amphiuma, it's just HUGE! I knew they got that big, but just seeing it is something else. It just dwarfs that greater siren, and that's a big animal! The mud snake is beautiful, too; I guess it ate two amphiumas in the trap and was starting on a third in the trap; they really could have done a better job with the animals and all the by-catch. Still neat, though. Makes me want to get down to one of my Florida sites so bad, though!
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Feb 5, 2012 04:12
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Fauna Classifieds is better, but not much. I frequently get people asking about 3+ year old posts there. A couple months back I had someone asking about some dart frogs I was selling back in college, over 5 years ago. How far back do these people look, and why are they expecting me to still have them? Another guy replied to my post that it's illegal to ship any animals through USPS. No, you can't ship snakes and through USPS; lizards, amphibians, and so on are fine if they're under 20 inches. I replied, linking to the exact article in the USPS regulations, and then either a mod deleted it, or I wasn't allowed to respond to the post. Nice; makes me look like I don't know what I'm doing and makes customers not want to deal with me. Thanks, rear end in a top hat. And now I've got some guy who apparently can't read. He asked for a price quote, despite the fact that I gave a quote in the post (all he needed to do was multiply 3 x $25 and add the shipping), and I responded ten minutes after he sent the request. I was sending some out to someone else the next day so I was hoping he'd get back to me that night or early the next day; getting animals ready and mailing them is really time consuming, so it saves me almost two hours of my time to send two packages on the same day. I waited until the last minute, but he never replied, which is fair; a lot of people don't check their mail during the day, but still frustrating since I'd replied almost immediately after getting his question. A few days later, I messaged him again, to see if he got my first message, and then I hear nothing from the guy until earlier tonight. He finally gets back to me, sends two e-mails, both asking for a price quote, one of which quoted the second e-mail I sent. Hello, read the message below the one you replied to! I checked and my first message was marked in the sent box. That guy was actually from the city I collected the adults from. Not a huge deal, but I kinda scratch my head when he could just buy a couple minnow traps or even get a heavy-duty dipnet like I have if he wants sirens so badly. I was half tempted to offer to deliver them, use the shipping for partial gas money, and then go have some fun dipnetting, but I don't really want to meet someone who's that dense. Who knows if he'll get back to me this time; I've had problems with not getting e-mails responded to and then having them ask the same question, but PM boxes don't have junk filters. Sorry, just a bit frustrated; seeing talk about crappiness on craigslist made me feel like venting, too. I started building my new dwarf siren pool today. I decided to go from scratch instead of cleaning the one I've got, and also to make it into a daphnia pool first and add the sirens once a population was established and the water was clean again. I'm half done with the setup, decided to let it sit for a day and make sure it's not leaking before adding any sand. I took some pictures of the process and could post them, if anyone wants to see how you can build a crappy-looking but functional 200 gallon amphibian or fish pond outside. Also decided I'm going to try trapping my larger greater siren since I haven't seen it since last fall and wanted to make sure it was okay; my attempts to net it were a complete waste of time. Might be able to get pictures of that, but I can't find my minnow traps. It's been a long day.
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Feb 6, 2012 11:29
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Josh's Frogs is a pretty decent place, I've bought a lot of bugs from them. You can feed them yeast, or even wet fish flakes.Trilineatus posted:I just wanted to share my first amphibian purchase in my adult life Pachytriton are really, really aggressive, so any other animals you add to the tank would be a bad idea, unless you didn't mind them getting eaten. I don't really recommend fish for food, though; they tend to carry parasites and diseases and newts don't really eat a lot of fish in the wild. With the aggression, I'd also advise against keeping them with other paddletails; breeding them is difficult because they tend to fight with each other. As long as you're happy with the one newt, though, she should do well. Pachytriton are stream-dwelling newts, so they can tolerate more current from a filter than other animals. They don't require it, though. The setup looks pretty good, though you might add some larger rocks for cover, or use PVC pipe, clay flower pots, etc. You may want to include some sort of floating platform. She shouldn't use it unless something is wrong, but that would be a tip off that it's too hot, the water quality is poor, or that it is otherwise sick. This page may be useful to you, too: http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Pachytriton/Pachytriton.shtml
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Feb 9, 2012 09:25
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There are people that are far smarter than me; my friend literally makes me feel REALLY stupid when I talk with him, though to be fair he's going for his doctorate in herpetology. On the Internet, though, I get to pick and choose the topics I know about to answer, so it works out well for me, haha. I'm terrible with identifying certain groups, don't even bother with Desmognathus spp., and I'm not really very knowledgeable about some (or maybe most) groups Plethodontids, which is unfortunately also the largest group of salamanders. But when it comes to basic care, aside from illnesses generally, I've got a pretty good idea for how to keep every group and most of the species you're going to run into in the pet trade. Thanks for the compliment, though! If you're ever in South Carolina for some reason and feel like going out for salamanders, feel free to message me. Or anyone else in the thread, really. I'm going out for four-toed salamanders in April, I'm hoping to go herping in the Francis Marion near Charleston in March if I can raise some money, and I'm overdue for a trip to the Congaree near Columbia for dwarf waterdogs and whatever other aquatics turn up. Salamander herping isn't as fun as going for snakes, but dip netting for sirens/waterdogs/amphiumas/Stereochilus is awesome (especially if you find some) and looking for four-toeds is always a blast, though extremely easy.
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Feb 9, 2012 10:27
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Big Centipede posted:I actually live in Savannah Ga, just over the bridge from SC. We may just need to go herping some time. the yeti posted:I'm in Columbia, totally down for being your Congaree expedition's photographer Yeah, that would be a blast. It's always great to herp with others. ZarathustraFollower posted:I plan on passing through SC in March to go camping. So if you make any plans to go herping, please tell me. I'd love to get in on that. Where in SC are you going? I can generally get to Congaree/Columbia area without much trouble or too much notice, but for anything further I'd need to sell some animals for gas money. And almost anything in the NW part of the state I can go any time, but that's too long of a drive for what there'd be to see. Kind of ironic to be selling animals so I can go look for animals, but it works out nice. I was already planning a March camping trip to Francis Marion, so I could always alter plans around that a bit. As far as herping sites go, I know a bunch in this part of the state, though nothing for anything all that impressive (except maybe four-toed salamanders; the site also has green salamanders (Aneides), but I haven't found any yet). Down by Columbia, I've got two aquatic salamander sites that are nearby, plus the Congaree obviously. Down near Charleston, the whole forest is generally pretty good from what I've seen, especially with road cruising, though it might be a bit early for anything impressive? Anyway, I'd be up for whatever, wherever and whenever, assuming I've got enough notice to raise the money.
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Feb 10, 2012 07:07
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Big Centipede posted:So, whats a species you've always wanted to keep?  Either of the Ommatotriton, banded newts. Males are really neat looking, and they've got an interesting ecology that's a bit different than other crested newts. Unfortunately, there aren't many in the US that I'm aware of.  Taricha rivularis, redbellied newt. They have a limited range (a few counties in California), and I'd have to know someone in the area. They can be kept, or even given away, but I don't believe they can be sold anymore (though they were never really sold, unlike the other Tarichas). I'd really love to get my hands on some eggs (or hell, even some T. torosa/sierrae/granulosa eggs - Taricha are really hard to find now), since that wouldn't require removing any adults, but short of going to California, it's not going to happen. Would really love to build an outdoor enclosure for some Taricha, though - they'd definitely breed like that, and I could get the species back in the hobby more securely.  I've got a weak spot for neotenic salamanders, especially mudpuppies and sirens. Two pairs of olms would be an absolute dream come true for me, but will never happen; they're protected as cave animals and for other reasons. They're Europe's cave-dwelling mudpuppy; they belong to the Proteidae like American Necturus.  Likewise, the American cave salamanders (not counting Eurycea lucifuga, the literally named Cave Salamander, which can be collected since it's not limited to caves), would be amazing to keep, but cave animals are always protected. Pictured above is Haideotriton wallacei, the Georgia blind salamander.  Grotto salamanders offer one exception; larvae occasionally get washed out of the caves and can be collected then. So maybe some day.   Andrias (top), the Japanese and Chinese giant salamanders, are another pipe dream, of course (size, endangered, etc.), but it would be really neat to have one. Likewise, the American version, the hellbender (bottom), would be another great salamander to own. They're protected in most of their range too, though, and even where they're not, their reproductive strategy means they're far too important in the wild to justify someone removing any. I'll settle on being within driving distance of a population so I can at least look for them.  Aneides aeneus, the green salamander, is another mostly protected animal. There are a few places where they could be collected, but again, their populations are too weak to justify removing them. (And even if that weren't the case, they are protected in South Carolina). I'd love to see one, though, so I'm going to work on that a bit this year.  Failing aeneus, Aneides lugubris is one that I could potentially obtain. They're more common, found on the west coast, but more importantly, a few people have managed to breed them and juveniles are occasionally offered for sale as captive bred. I've never had the money when they've been offered, though.  And lastly, the northern dwarf siren, Pseudotriton striatus. I keep southern dwarf sirens (P. axanthus), which aren't found in SC, and absolutely love the species, but P. striatus has it's own character, I've heard. There are three subspecies, but I couldn't legally keep P. s. striatus since it's protected in SC due to being at the edge of its range and habitat loss. I'll get some some day, though - probably after I move to Florida, if that ever happens.
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Feb 17, 2012 11:27
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You can keep benders in some states, but they're protected in most of their range; I don't remember which states they don't have protection in, but it's only one or two; so long as you live in those states or where they're not native and got your animals from those states, they're legal. The problem is, there's only two or three states that have populations that are moderately stable; the rest are in huge trouble, and they don't see signs of breeding in a lot of the populations anymore. There's some evidence that the removal of one individual can render an entire section of stream unsustainable in some areas, so collection is a huge risk. The Ozark hellbender just received federal protection last year in October, and it's probably time for the eastern bender to get it as well. They have a similar reproductive model with turtles; they live a long time (30-50+ years), and adults aren't supposed to die, for the most part. As a result, they're just not really capable of making up any losses of adults, especially in areas where they're not doing well to begin with. Just had to mention that; you wouldn't believe the number of people that have e-mailed me about buying hellbenders when I used to run my salamander website, and that was before I'd ever even seen one in the wild! But yeah, benders are pretty amazing, and I'd like to keep a pair if history had gone differently and they were doing amazing. As far as not finding salamanders, you're probably looking in the wrong spots if you're not finding any. Right now's actually a pretty great time to look for them; the Ambystomids would be breeding now in your area (mole, spotted*, and maybe even tigers). Just look for a nearby forested pond without large fish and you might find spotted salamander egg masses. Come back at night and you could see hundreds of them. I need to get out to my pond; it just rained tonight and they should start moving around here pretty soon. *Edit: Went to look up the range on A. mabeei, and you might not even have spotteds in your area, which is a bit surprising. You should still have talps, though, but they lay eggs singly, so you won't find any masses. Otherwise, flip logs in a forest stream and you should find red salamanders (though they're uncommon; you need to look for a few hours before finding one in most areas). There will be larvae in the streams, and you can always find tons of Desmognathus and Eurycea if you flip rocks and logs in and right next to streams. Slimy salamanders are pretty common, just flip forest logs, though you probably find them when looking for snakes and things already. As far as newts go, if the pond has them, there will be tons of them. Finding the right pond can be tricky, though, and it helps to go at night. The thing about salamanders is that while they're awesome, it generally gets boring looking for most species because they're TOO easy to find. I can find ten slimies in a day without too much trouble, and I could find 30+ newts if I tried at it. Eurycea and Desmognathus are extremely abundant; I could possibly find over a hundred of either (especially Desmogs) if I really worked at it. Ambystomids are a group I really like, but you don't tend to find many of them outside of the breeding season or when they're coming out of the water. The breeding congregations are great to see though, since you see so many all at once. The harder to find groups are the best, though, or finding things you haven't found before. Red salamanders are always a nice surprise, since they're so brightly colored and you don't find so many of them, and sirens/amphiumas/waterdogs are always a blast because it's like a treasure hunt through mud. And there's always the larger mudpuppies and hellbenders, which are simply amazing. If you ever want to see a bender in the wild though, let me know this summer and it's possible a trip could be arranged. You'd have to drive all the way to NC, though, which is pretty far from where you're at. I don't know if the herping group I go with is going to go again in April, and if they don't, I'd like to get out there since I don't know how much longer I'll be living here. I absolutely need to find Aneides, Plethodon yonahlossee, and Plethodon jordani before I move, and I'm even thinking I might want to try central NC for Necturus lewisi if I can spring the gas money.
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Feb 17, 2012 13:41
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Andrias Scheuchzeri posted:Oh hey there, Andrias. Lookin' giant today! Ha, nice username there! Everyone pronounces it differently. I've heard all types, so say it however you want! I personally say "Tar-itch-ah." Notos are great, but they're a bit overshadowed by the European species, since they're just kinda a dull green or brownish. I like them; I keep some peninsular newts (N. piaropicola) and was breeding them in my dwarf siren pool before my dad destroyed the pool one day and didn't bother telling me and I lost everything in it. The main problem with them is the eft stage, which is beautiful, but also extremely hard to raise. They need tons and tons of springtails before they can move on to larger food, like fruit flies. If you get them to stay aquatic, though, they do really well. There are a number of people on caudata.org that keep them, though, and there's another forums member here that has had some N. v. dorsalis for something like 20 years, though she hasn't posted in the thread in a while. I need to get a few more piaropicola so I can have a breeding population (only found three small animals when I was in Florida last time), which are great because they almost always skip the eft stage, and frequently keep the gills, too. I'd also like to set out some egg traps this year and raise up a bunch of N. v. v. larvae, and then if I can get them large enough I'll look into selling some then. I haven't raised any efts since college, though; I had a couple N. v. louisianensis. I want to try raising four-toed salamander eggs this year, so I'd need the springtails anyways for them. Four-toed salamanders are really cool. My site in SC is also a site that has Aneides, so I'm looking forward to looking for both when I go in April. Four-toed salamanders (Hemidactylium scutatum) are pretty hard to find most of the year, but in the spring, the females will lay their eggs in clumps of sphagnum moss and can be really easy to find; almost every good clump will have a female and eggs, or just the eggs. I raised some up in Wisconsin one year, but lost the ones that survived when I moved down here. I should probably get started on their enclosure now, actually; I'm going to need a lot of springtails.    Typical habitat, every one of those islands might have some inside.  Site has some pitcher plants, too, but last time I went, I didn't see any, when there used to be a whole field of them. I hope they recover; pitcher plants are awesome.   I also found this red salamander when I accidentally kicked a log on the trail. It was a small log so I wasn't even going to flip it. Red salamanders are really beautiful. And since I was talking about spotted salamanders earlier, here's a really bad picture that was in that album of some spotteds in the breeding season. The white things are the spermatophors, the sperm packets that the males deposit for the females to pick up.   And a Stereochilus, for the hell of it. They're neat salamanders you can find when dipnetting for sirens, and they're often neotenic and keep their gills. They're crazy, though; if you put them in clean water, they die. You need to get really crappy water conditions for them to survive. I'd keep them if they were easier, but I'll leave that to a friend of mine, he's more into Stereos. 
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Feb 17, 2012 14:04
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I just want to punch my cousin in the face. After killing four red-eyed treefrogs that he bought at petsmart some time ago and some really sick petsmart leopard geckos, he just messaged me on facebook telling me he bought a veiled chameleon! He wants to be the reptile guy, but he's not very bright, and he doesn't learn from his mistakes. After I told him not to buy from petsmart, since they're usually poorly cared for and full of parasites, he replied with "other than being skinny, there doesn't seem to be anything else wrong." Nice. Any of you guys have any advice I can pass on to him? This chameleon doesn't sound like he's got much of a chance. At least he did buy a screen enclosure. I started moving my dwarf sirens into the new enclosure, and things are going really well with that. I found seven of them and one newt, and they've really grown. Still have 1-3 sirens (can't remember if I had 8 or 10; I need to find my notes, and I might have included the greater siren larva I'd thought was a lesser in that) and two newts to find, though; the water is really dark and there might be some in the dead hyacinth I removed. It was really a pain; I'd scoop out the muck and dead plants and sort through it, but then I'd have to save it in case I missed anything. I'll go through everything again tomorrow. I hope the missing animals are fine. Drives me nuts not knowing if they died or not, though; there was an outbreak of dragonfly larvae that I worked really hard to eradicate, and some of the smallest animals might have been small enough for them. I saw two newts in one night last fall, though, so they should still be okay. There should be something in the hyacinth, but I need a better day to go through it all, it was raining and kinda miserable. Kinda worried about the newts, though. I know for a fact that I had three, but there's still a lot of places they could be hiding. Having a swimming pool for a tank does have its drawbacks; I could drain the entire thing, but that'd destroy the pool, so now there's just a few inches of dark brown water so I can refill it later. Peninsular newts and dwarf sirens are the only two salamanders I'd ever keep together, but I'm going to need to get them a separate enclosure some day, too. They won't bother each other, but the newts could eat any eggs or larvae that I don't see and remove. I wish I'd been able to find a couple adults when I collected them; normally it's really easy to find them and hard to find the sirens, but I found two greaters, a ton of dwarfs for a change, but only three little newt larvae and no adults last time. I really wish I was in Florida right now. Kinda funny, but after messing with the sirens, someone guy sent me a PM on caudata.org about his dwarfs laying eggs; his animals are the F2 generation from the original seven I had a long time ago. I sold some to one guy, and he sold some to him, and now there's a third generation developing. That's kind of a neat feeling, to know that you've started a line of animals like that. Also set up another swimming pool. I've decided to try going all out with salamanders this year. I've got some axolotl and Triturus dobrogicus newt eggs coming in the mail next week, I'm hoping for some mole salamander eggs from my guys, I've got some marbled salamander larvae and will be getting some spotted salamander eggs soon, and I'll be collecting some eastern newt eggs later this year.
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Feb 19, 2012 19:59
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Terrestrial salamanders would do well in a planted tank. Unfortunately, most of the salamanders available are aquatic or semi-aquatic. You could go with an Ambystomid; tiger salamander, spotted salamander, marbled salamander, etc. Tigers would be your best bet, though they're not always available and it depends on your state. Ambystomids tend to hide most of the time, though, but some will be more bold, especially if food is on the surface. A red eft (Notophthalmus viridescens) would work, but they can be tricky if they're small; you'd need a lot of springtails and eventually move on to fruit flies. One problem with salamanders is obtaining them, though; I checked the caudata.org classifieds, and didn't see any terrestrial animals for sale this year yet, except for the Ambystoma talpoideum/mole salamanders I'm selling (and their best point is that they can be kept aquatically!) I do a bit of work with Ambystomids, raising them from eggs; I'm raising marbled, spotted, and mole salamanders this year, and hoping to possibly get some tigers or blue-spotteds, though not counting on it. Other than through me, most of the terrestrial species are only otherwise available as wild-caught adults. Most salamanders on the market are aquatic; aquatic animals are a lot easier to keep and feed, and they're on the market in the first place because they're also easier to breed. Another negative is that while salamanders can be great to build an aquarium for, usually you want to specifically build the aquarium for that species. Making tanks for things like cave or longtailed salamanders is a blast and can look really nice, and you can make stream tanks for things like two-lined salamanders or duskies. If you'd really like to try salamanders, you might be able to collect a few without doing any harm. Post your state and I might be able to suggest something that would do well in a terrestrial tank, as well as how you might find one. Or, if you wanted to go aquatic with salamanders, I could offer you some better suggestions. You might need a larger tank, but you can plant aquatic tanks, too, and there's a larger selection of available newts out there. Failing salamanders, there are some smaller frogs that aren't quite as expensive as some darts. I don't know what's expensive to you, though; most captive bred animals are around $20-30, and you can generally get D. auratus dart frogs for $20-25 each. With some modifications, you could probably keep firebelly toads, or any of the small, commonly available frogs like pacman or tomato frogs. I just have experience with salamanders and dart frogs, though, so I'll let someone else recommend those in better detail. You could always go invertebrates, too. There are tarantulas, scorpions, and other inverts that would do well in a tank like that.
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Feb 27, 2012 21:42
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Trilineatus posted:Thanks a bunch! I love reading your posts because of your amphibious knowledge - I am actually an aquarium enthusiast by nature, and have a heavily planted Central American biotope tank as well as a 6 gallon planted tank which is home to the world's grumpiest paddletail newt juvenile. Thanks, I'm glad to be useful for something, at least! Unfortunately, California prohibits the possession of Ambystoma, so that rules out a lot of animals, including axolotls, that you could legally keep. Although you might be able to legally keep A. macrodactylium and A. gracile, since they're native and not protected; I didn't look at the exact wording on the Ambystoma ban and believe it's just an import ban. So that rules out most of the more popular (an available) terrestrial salamanders. Occasionally, fire salamanders are imported, but I don't recommend that anyone except breeders buy fire salamanders. They're being extremely over-collected, and since they only have a few young a year, they're really vulnerable to collection as adults. They'll probably also never really get established in the pet trade, either. Instead of laying hundreds of eggs, fire salamanders tend to give birth to a couple dozen larvae, or a pair of fully formed juveniles, depending on species. Otherwise, they'd do well in an enclosure like that. Some of the Tylototriton might be a good match, such as T. shanjing. I don't know their status in the US, though, whether anyone is breeding them. I bred mine once, but then lost them with some other animals when my basement froze one year. They're occasionally imported, though. Notophthalmus viridescens (eastern newt) efts would be great for your tank; they're super colorful, but without tons of springtails and later fruit flies, you wouldn't be able to keep them alive. The springtails are easy; just frequently add them to the tank, and maintain a few cultures on the side. They grow agonizingly slow, though, especially if you can't convince them to stay aquatic. You'd have 2-7 years of this, though, and then they'd want to be kept aquatically. Efts are occasionally available as captive bred or wild caught, and I plan on raising some this summer. Slowfoot posted a page or so ago about hers, too. Caresheet: http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Notophthalmus/N_viridescens.shtml Taricha would also be a possible choice, the western newts. T. torosa/sierrae would be your best bet; they're more terrestrial than the other species. A friend of mine from way back in grade school had what was probably a torosa and kept it for over ten years in a terrestrial enclosure. You may have torosa near your area. They're not really available much anymore; granulosa are occasionally bred, but not frequently. I'm currently in talks with someone to try and collect some eggs for me, though, so if it goes through I'll have some for sale this summer/fall, and I'll do what I can to get them firmly established in the hobby. Caresheet: http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Taricha/T_torosa.shtml So, without Ambystomids or Salamandrids (newts and fire salamanders), you're left with the lungless salamanders, so I'll go through the possible groups real quick. Aneides (arboreal salamanders) might be a possible fit, but they're, well, arboreal and tend to like being able to climb. California has some native Aneides, and unlike the eastern species (A. aeneus), they're not in any particular trouble, though you'd only want to remove them from areas where they are doing well; Aneides can become vulnerable to collection. I wouldn't recommend keeping them unless you planned on trying to breed them, though - I don't personally feel it's worth removing them unless you're going to help get them established in the hobby (so that others don't have to collect them). Russ Cormack has had success breeding Aneides, and does tend to offer animals for sale every year, but I have no idea when he would have any, probably in the late summer/fall. Batrachoseps (slender salamanders) are another group of terrestrial salamanders native to the west coast. They have extremely long tails and can be easily found in a number of places, apparently; just flip logs in a forested area. People get them in their gardens sometimes. They're kinda neat looking, though I don't know how often you'd see them; they'd probably hide a lot, except maybe after a misting at night. They're sort of like the eastern redback salamanders. I know someone that had some, and they would wait for fruit flies to land and then grab them. Desmognathus (dusky salamanders) are extremely common in much of their range. They're semi-aquatic stream salamanders, though, so they'd need a land and a large water area, which isn't quite what you wanted with the planted aquarium. You could really make a neat stream tank, too, for Desmogs, and they will breed in captivity with the right enclosure. No one really does it, either, since they're generally so common, so you'd be able to brag about your success on salamander forums, though a stream tank would probably have to be a 20 long, at the smallest. Some day I'd like to make a 55 gallon stream tank, with half land, half water lengthwise, for some red salamanders, and something like that would work great for Desmogs. Expensive, though. Desmogs are occasionally available for sale as wild caught animals. Caresheets, if interested. http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Desmognathus/D_monticola.shtml http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Desmognathus/Desmognathus_sp.shtml I would have totally forgotten them if I hadn't been going down a list, but Ensatinas are another CA native that would do really well in a terrestrial enclosure. They're also really beautiful. Russ Cormack also breeds Ensatinas occasionally, and now I've remembered that I want some, ha. Eurycea are another group of mostly semi-aquatic salamanders. E. cirrigera/bislineata (Southern/Northern two lined salamanders), E. guttolineata (three lined), E. longicauda (longtailed), and E. lucifuga (cave) would be the species to keep. Like Desmogs, though, they're more aquatic than your 10 gallon setup; with the stream salamanders you want mostly water, though you could decorate and landscape a land portion. The two lineds are more aquatic than the others. Lucifuga, longicauda, and guttolineata all follow the same body plan, and could potentially be kept in a drier aquarium, though it would need some water (bowl), and would need to be kept damp. You can find those three all in caves, and they can wander away from the streams outside of breeding. You CAN also find them right next to or in streams, under rocks. None of the Eurycea mentioned above are obligate aquatics, but a semi-aquatic tank would be best for them. Eurycea are occasionally available for sale as wild caught animals. Caresheet: http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Eurycea/Eurycea_sp.shtml You could potentially make a tank for Hemidactylium scutatum. I intend to raise some eggs this year, but the problem is that juveniles are TINY. Like quarter of an inch tiny. So they'd need springtails for a looong time. But you could make a really neat bog-aquarium for them and landscape it really neatly. Hemis are pretty neat animals otherwise. Hydromantes are native to CA, but are a protected genus, so I'll skip them. The genus Plethodon are all terrestrial animals. They're also fairly reclusive, but might come out in an aquarium; I've never really kept them. Species such as the Plethodon glutinosis complex (slimy salamanders) and P. cinereus (redbacked salamanders) are occasionally available as wild caught animals. There are some other neat Plethodons that would work really well, like P. yonahlossee, but these animals aren't ever available unless you collect them yourself, and they're all east coast. Pseudotriton ruber, the red salamander, is a species that you could make a really neat tank around, but I don't think they're commonly available. I used to see them for sale for $60-80. They're a semi-aquatic salamander that can be kept terrestrially; I sometimes find them a few hundred yards from water. You'd probably need to know someone or be out east to keep ruber, unfortunately. So without Ambystomids, you don't really havemany options for terrestrial salamanders. Your best bet would be the three newts (Noto efts, a Taricha, or a Tylototriton), or a Batrachoseps for the enclosure you've designed. A Batrachoseps would probably be pretty cool, but you might need to feed them fruit flies, though they might take small worms; I've never kept Batrachos. Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to get most terrestrial salamanders if you can't personally collect any; since there is so little demand, no one bothers breeding most of them, and when they do, it can be hard to give away eggs. Aneides and Ensatinas would be exceptions, since they're colorful and there are no (legal) eastern equivalents, but they're not really bred much, either. Ambystoma are generally very available (tigers, spotteds, and marbleds, and when I work with a species), but prohibited in California. And that's pretty much it for non-aquatic salamanders. Anyhow, if you want specific care information about any of those groups or species, feel free to ask and I can get down to tank recommendations, food, temperatures, and so on. Trilineatus posted:So... if I were to, say, set up a salamander tank for something eye catching and interesting, what species would you recommend? I'm going to take this question separate from the rest of the post, and broaden it to all salamanders that one could potentially get, since other people in the thread might be interested, too. With that question, I look at it two ways. The first, is that you can have the TANK be eye catching and interesting. A cave tank would do this. With good planning, some experience, a water feature, and some work, you could make a really impressive cave tank. Here's my crumby old lucifuga tank for a basic example of this:  I've got better ideas now, and would like to give it another shot some day. A cave tank would work for any of the Eurycea I mentioned, but especially the long-bodied ones (lucifuga, guttolineata, longicauda). If you swapped the water on the bottom out for something more like your planted tank, you might get a neat little cliff-side tank, instead of a cave tank, and it could be pretty neat; you could use it for any of the Plethodons, too. Another type of impressive tank would be a stream tank. Get a long aquarium, a filter that pumps water from one side to another, and you could design a really beautiful stream tank. There are a lot of cool ways you could do this; have the whole tank be the stream, or have a stream bank made out of clay or great stuff, or design a divider for a stream in glass, or any of a number of ways, this tank would look really neat. Something like this would work for Eurycea or Desmogs, or even red salamanders if it was large/deep enough and had enough land area. Or your paddletail; paddletail newts come from fairly fast moving streams. The other way to look at that question is an impressive salamander. You can never go wrong with a siren or waterdog; they just look so unique and interesting. Red salamanders, Eurycea longicauda and lucifuga, and eastern newt efts are all colorful, very attractive red/orange salamanders that immediately catch you eye; they'd all be somewhat visible, as well. Likewise, Ensatinas are really beautiful, too. Some of the crested newts can be fairly breath-taking, too, when the males are in breeding dress, and Triturus spp. are generally quite available. A planted aquarium can also be fairly attractive. Hardly a great case, but I always liked my old siren tank, heavily planted with plants that would get uprooted and drift down the river by my house.  The thing that stinks about salamanders is that there's generally only a dozen or so species that are commonly available, and the rest are all not available unless you can collect them yourself. I'd like to try some western salamanders, but most aren't available in the east, at least until Russ breeds his again. It's probably very similar in the west for eastern animals! Anyhow, sorry for the long post, detailing salamanders you probably can't get, but hope it helps! OneTwentySix fucked around with this message at 06:17 on Feb 28, 2012 |
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Feb 28, 2012 03:36
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Trilineatus posted:On that note, your cave set up is awesome and I am now entertaining the thought of doing a "cave mouth" stream tank - having the sort of "side cut" view of the cave as you have in yours opening into open water where I could grow low light plants. There's a couple of ways to do a cave-kinda tank. You can make an expanding foam style thing like Nesbit's gecko tanks. When it starts to harden, put some lightweight rocks on it; it works really well if you have some sticking out as ledges. I did this with my tank, but I don't really like how the covering of coco-fiber or whatever ends up looking, all patchy. And it's a lot of work. Another route is to make the background out of clay kitty litter. You can shape this however you want, and you can insert or carve rock ledges. You might try making most of the structure Styrofoam, and covering this with the clay, for extra strength and lighter weight. The main benefit is I feel it looks nicer than great stuff backgrounds, but the weakness is that you need to be careful curing it or else it can collapse. Hence the Styrofoam. This was a big fad on Dendroboard for a while, though a lot of people gave up on it after theirs deteriorated. The tank I did like this has been good for almost two years, though. Another benefit to this method is that you can mix cut sphagnum moss and peat moss to the surface of the clay, and you'll get little plants and mosses growing naturally. Plus, once cured right (around 2 months), these backgrounds can be submerged under water and will still hold; great for streams. I'd really like to do another tank like this some day. Another method is to use grout and Styrofoam to make fake rocks. You could make the whole background like this if you wanted, or use the fake rocks with the other techniques. I've never done this, though, so I can't offer any advice. Here's a basic guide though, and google turned up a bunch of other things. https://www.ehow.com/how_2310990_make-fake-rocks-.html A rock face can look really nice, though. I want to make one with a stream going across the back (made out of clay, with a plastic lining underneath) that ends in a waterfall, and then continues a second section of stream, running down until it ends in a pool, where the pump would take water from. quote:Your siren is also fantastical and awe inspiring and I want one. I still have a few left, though all the bigger animals are gone. All proceeds go to a good cause; the "let me go herping in Florida again fund!" That animal I posted was a western lesser siren (mine are the smaller easterns), though, which I don't really recommend as pets (unless you just get one). They're really cool, but extremely aggressive towards each others. I wouldn't mind getting a couple for an outdoor pond, though. quote:On the whole I am big on making the tanks as interesting as possible. I have a track record of making elaborate naturalistic settings for ugly or common inhabitants. This aggravates my one fish buddy who is sad that I won't buy him pretty fish to look at. The paddletail newt is also an elusive and grumpy beast, and for all intents and purposes his tank might as well be empty. He has found a way to wedge himself (or more likely, herself) into a crack in the drift wood. I only know (s)he is there because I can see a tail in the reflection. I think the "unattractive" animals deserve to get some love, too! Though personally, I can't see any salamanders as ugly. Paddletails are interesting animals, but I just wish they weren't so aggressive. People've bred them, but more often than not, they just end up killing each other, so you often need a 55+ to keep a pair. quote:While the outdoors is something I goon-ishly think of as "that place with the bugs and the golden disc that burns" I am actually a student at the local research university and surrounded by ecology graduate students (best roommate ever included) who regularly tromp around in marshes doing things like collecting bird feathers and falling into mud pits and flailing. So if collection is a thing that I could do, that intrigues me. Those slender salamanders are apparently something my buddies have seen around before as well. Aww, going herping is way better than keeping animals in captivity! Falling into mud pits and flailing around is also awesome. I went with the local herp group to the Congaree National Park last year, and afterwards I showed them my siren/waterdog site. One of the guys almost immediately fell in; it was hilarious, but then he got to have fun dipnetting with me, while the others just got to dig through the mud for waterdogs. Bobby got some major herping cred, though, which he needed, because he's afraid of snakes. If you've got marshes, you've probably got salamanders. You're too far south for most things; I was going to suggest that you might get some Ambystoma gracile or macrodactylium eggs or larvae (native Ambystomids should be okay, minus A. californiense), but you're too far to the south for them. You'd be able to raise them up, and then keep them terrestrially. There should be Taricha torosa in your area, though; maybe your friends have seen them. Here's a range map:  I don't really like collecting commercially, but usually taking a couple animals for your personal use is okay and not going to hurt the population any. I always go for juveniles, eggs, or larvae if I can, though. Batrachoseps or Taricha are generally really abundant, though, so there's not much harm in taking a couple. California law allows the possession of five of each native species, I believe. Today, I got some more larvae and eggs in the mail. I've decided to go all out with salamanders this year again; I did this a few years back and it went pretty well, so I'm going to try to have a variety of species available this summer/fall. Today I got some GFP axolotls (Green Florescent Protein, they're genetically modified with a jellyfish protein, like glowfish), which aren't a huge interest to me, but some people seem to love them. I prefer the wildtypes over the leucs and albinos myself, so I'm more of a traditionalist. I also got some Pleurodeles nebulosus larvae, which are a type of Spanish ribbed newt that I've never kept before, so that's exciting. Other than those, I have some regular axolotl eggs, which aren't doing the best since a lot went back before they got here, and some Triturus dobrogicus (Danube crested newt) eggs. I'm really hoping to get some Taricha torosa (western newt) eggs from someone, but he hasn't gotten back to me yet, so I'm crossing my fingers. I've got three other Ambystomids this year, too. I collected a few spotted salamander eggs, and I collected some marbled salamander eggs last fall (maculatum and opacum). And now I went outside and saw some talpoideum larvae in with my adults; they bred this year! I'm pretty excited, I didn't know if they would or not. I only found two or three larvae, though, and haven't seen any eggs, but there are probably a bunch in there. I hate how talps lay single eggs; masses are much neater looking and easier to find! I'm planning on raising some eastern newt eggs this year, too. I'm going to make some egg laying strips and I'll throw them out into a nearby pond, and then I'll collect them later and hope they're full of eggs. If not, I get to wade through the plants and spend forever searching plants for tiny little single eggs. And then finally, I'm hoping my sirens breed again. I could get lucky and have my dwarf sirens breed, but I don't think they're old enough. The lessers should, though. I went through the dead plants and things looking for nests, but didn't find anything. I probably won't, until I see little sirens rising to the top for air, later this summer. Or dipnet up a few. I took a few pictures today, but apparently imgur is down. I'll post them later. ^^^ What Nesbit said. Roaches are so much better, and cheaper, than crickets. Roaches are kinda gross, but they're just better in every other way. They're really easy, too; just feed them dog food and table scraps. You could always sell or give away extras if you don't go through very many. OneTwentySix fucked around with this message at 03:33 on Feb 29, 2012 |
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Feb 28, 2012 23:21
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Imgur is working for me again, so thought I'd post some salamander photos. I posted some of them in the Critterquest thread, too. Here are some spotted salamander egg masses. There were a bunch of them, though I need to go back at night some time to see the adults.   I also saw some that were laid too shallow, and on a colder night, it froze and killed the eggs. There were quite a few of these, as well as some that had been eaten by something; they were just masses of jelly full of holes, though I didn't take any photos.  I also caught a greater siren!  There was a leak in my greater siren pool, so I had to get him out. I ended up dumping everything out, since I couldn't seem to net him. (Picture above was after I'd secured him). One problem was that I'd forgotten how slippery they are; he started burrowing through the lawn a bit and I was worried I'd lose him before I finally got a hold of him.      I went through one of my pools and saw a few larvae, so my Ambystoma talpoideum (mole salamanders) are breeding. I got one kinda neat photo of one:  And here are some axolotl eggs, getting ready to hatch.  Here are some Pleurodeles nebulosus (Spanish ribbed newts) larvae. They're too small to eat the blackworms, but I didn't want to keep any in the fridge, so I spread them out into my pools and larvae tubs.  Here are some Triturus dobrogicus eggs, wrapped in plastic egg-laying strips. They're slowly coming along, I'll post some updated photos later maybe.  And here are some of my dwarf sirens, after I set them up in their new pool. Not the best photo, unfortunately; it was raining, too. You can see one of the newts in there, too. I mentioned earlier I was missing some animals, but found them the next day, fortunately. http://i.imgur.com/nCZfD.jpg (linked for size; forgot to resize it before uploading)
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Mar 2, 2012 02:46
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How warm are you talking? Pleurodeles waltl are generally pretty common, and they can take low 80s. Some of the terrestrial salamanders can take low 80s, too. Sirens can survive low 90s. And keep in mind that water temperatures are going to be a few degrees below air temperatures; just avoid using a filter or light. A fan can be employed for evaporative cooling, too. Most salamanders need low 70s, but there are always a few exceptions (well, there are a lot of exceptions, but Pseudoeurycea, Dendrotriton, Bolitoglossa and so on aren't available, ever). Waltl are some of the better aquatic newts, too; very easy to feed, take care of, etc. Michael Shrom is currently selling some. I've sold and bought animals to/from him before. https://www.caudata.org/forum/f49-a...gon-smooth.html I'll hopefully have some Pleurodeles nebulosus at the end of the summer, otherwise, and I have a couple sirens left, though it's one okay-sized animal and three runts.
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Mar 2, 2012 04:26
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Thanks! Axolotls are really easy, though. If you want to be absolutely safe, get one animal, put it in a 30 gallon or larger tank with a relatively weak filter/airstone, a bunch of java moss and/or Elodea, and keep it in a basement/area that never gets very hot. Feed chunks of earthworm, and really, I don't see how anything could go wrong. Problems come from a few areas, and you can avoid them if you're careful: temperatures, feeding, fighting/aggression, disease, water quality. Temperature is pretty simple; get a thermometer in the tank, and keep the tank in an air conditioned house, and out of sunlight. Basements work great for this. Keep in mind that water temperature is going to be a few degrees cooler than air temperature; filters and lights can add to this, but generally not by much. Fans can decrease water temps by a few degrees, and in emergencies, you can float frozen water bottles; I've done this for a few weeks back in college. Feeding is easy; worms are a great food for all salamanders big enough to eat them, and you can cut them up for smaller animals usually. Axolotls will also eat pellets, some/most of the time. Fighting isn't generally a big deal with salamanders (outside of the larger animals, like mudpuppies, sirens, and especially amphiumas, or things like Pachytriton - paddletail newts - that are just aggressive by principle). Just watch animals and if necessary, separate them if they nip each other. Disease is generally a sign of other problems; temperatures and water quality mostly. Caudata.org offers health advice on their forums, and there are a number of amphibian vets that frequent the site. Provided you don't mix species or keep chytrid carriers like dwarf frogs, disease isn't a common issue, and is usually treatable. Water quality is generally pretty simple. More tank volume is best, as it provides a buffer zone. Use gravel or sand as a substrate to provide areas for beneficial bacteria to grow (don't use small gravel for things like axies, though; they can swallow it and that causes problems). Plants are excellent filters; I have a friend that jams his tanks full of java moss, that's it for his filter, minus a partial water change a few times a year. Elodea is also a good oxygenator. Use a relatively weak filter to avoid stress (most salamanders don't like current, stream species not counted); an airstone to agitate the surface can work really well. And if you can smell, just keep an eye on what the tank smells like. Salamanders are generally easier than most fish; they're not so susceptible to water quality issues, and don't excrete as toxic waste. Some groups thrive in bad water, and literally die in clean water (one-toed amphiumas Stereochilus). Next time you go to a herp show and see axies, consider picking one up. You would not believe the things retarded keepers do to them that they manage to survive. A little common sense and some preparation in advance can make them really simple and problem free, and they're pretty tough so that if there is a problem, if you pay attention to it and its tank, you can generally see what's wrong and solve it before anything bad happens.
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Mar 2, 2012 06:28
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Big Centipede posted:What would you suggest for a 10 or 15 gal cave setup? Too bad I can't have some kind of olm. It's nice to see salamanders getting some attention for once! For a cave you might try one or two of the larger Eurycea, or a slimy or closely related species. Eurycea guttolineata (three-lined salamanders) and one of the slimies (Plethodon glutinosis) are the only salamanders off the top of my head that live in your area that would work well for this. Screw it, let me get a species list and go over it. I don't think people really understand how many salamanders are found in the south-eastern United States. And some people might be interested in seeing a rough description of every group. And I had a really good day herping for salamanders with a group from college, and just feel like relaxing and typing for a bit. In GA, you have the following animals: Amphiuma, One-Toed (Amphiuma pholeter) Amphiuma, Two-Toed (Amphiuma means) Black-Bellied Salamander (Desmognathus quadramaculatus) Black-Bellied Salamander, Dwarf (Desmognathus folkertsi) Seal Salamander (Desmognathus monticola) Dusky Salamander, Apalachicola (Desmognathus apalachicolae) Dusky Salamander, Southern (Desmognathus auriculatus) Dusky Salamander, Spotted (Desmognathus conanti) Ocoee Salamander (Desmognathus ocoee) Seepage Salamander (Desmognathus aeneus) Shovel-nosed Salamander (Desmognathus marmoratus) Four-Toed Salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum) Green Salamander (Aneides aeneus) Many-Lined Salamander (Stereochilus marginatus) Marbled Salamander (Ambystoma opacum) Mole Salamander (Ambystoma talpoideum) Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) Flatwoods Salamander (Ambystoma cingulatum) Newt, Eastern (Notophthalmus viridescens) Newt, Striped (Notophthalmus perstriatus) Blind Salamander, Georgia (Haideotriton wallacei) Cave Salamander (Eurycea lucifuga) Dwarf Salamanders (Eurycea quadridigitata) Long Tailed Salamander (Eurycea longicauda) Three-Lined Salamander (Eurycea guttolineata) Two-Lined Salamander (Eurycea bislineata) Red Salamander (Pseudotriton ruber) Mud Salamander (Pseudotriton montanus) Spring Salamander (Gyrinophilus porphyriticus) Cave Salamander, Tennessee (Gyrinophilus palleucus) Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) Waterdog, Alabama (Necturus beyeri) Waterdog, Dwarf (Necturus punctatus) Mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus) Slimy Salamanders (Plethedon glutinosus) Jordon’s Salamanders (Plethedon jordoni) Pigeon Mountain Salamander (Plethedon petraeus) Red-Backed Salamander, Southern (Plethedon serratus) Webster’s Salamander (Plethedon websteri) Zigzag Salamander, Southern (Plethedon ventralis) Siren, Northern Dwarf (Pseudobranchus striatus) Siren, Greater (Siren lacertian) Siren, Lesser (Siren intermedia) Forty four species, if I counted right, from seven of the ten families (the other two being the Dicamptodontidae and Rhyacotritonidae, both of which are from the NW US, and the Hynobiidae from Asia). So in your state, you have seven percent of all salamander species in the world (assuming 618 species of salamander; depends on your taxonomy; some say around 550). The United States have every family except the Hynobiidae, and we have more salamanders than anywhere else in the world, with 127 species (as of 1998; several more now, since a LOT have been split and a few have been discovered). Amphiuma, One-Toed (Amphiuma pholeter) Amphiuma, Two-Toed (Amphiuma means) The first group are the Amphiumas. These are permanently aquatic salamanders, but they have lungs and can travel a bit over land. Females are sometimes found under logs above the water level. Amphiumas are really neat, and two and three-toed amphiumas get big; two toes can get nearly four feet in length. They also have a really hard bite, extremely painful and serious; I've heard them compared to snapping turtles, of all things. A. pholeter is a more primitive species, with just one toe, and they're not so large. They live in really murky, horrible water, and were only discovered in the 1950s. They barely come into GA, but means can be found throughout the state in swamps and streams. They're not easy to find, though; I've only found five and I've done a lot of dipnetting. I don't recommend keeping 'umas; pholeter just don't seem to survive for anyone, and means need a lot of space and the right conditions; I've tried to keep them like I do with sirens, but I've heard small amphiumas don't seem to do well in captivity. Black-Bellied Salamander (Desmognathus quadramaculatus) Black-Bellied Salamander, Dwarf (Desmognathus folkertsi) Seal Salamander (Desmognathus monticola) Dusky Salamander, Apalachicola (Desmognathus apalachicolae) Dusky Salamander, Southern (Desmognathus auriculatus) Dusky Salamander, Spotted (Desmognathus conanti) Ocoee Salamander (Desmognathus ocoee) Seepage Salamander (Desmognathus aeneus) Shovel-nosed Salamander (Desmognathus marmoratus) Desmogs are a group of stream-dwelling salamanders that all look pretty much alike; brown or black with occasionally some different markings. I see a Desmog and I don't bother to ID it, though I want to change this. Desmogs do best with a stream tank. They're highly aquatic, though you can find them a bit from the water. If you go to any clean stream, especially a clean mountain stream, you will find Desmogs if you flip enough rocks. Some places are better than others, though. You can find a species of Desmognathus pretty much anywhere in the eastern US, with a few of the northern midwest states missing out. Four-Toed Salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum) Hemis are neat. They're found in sphagnum bogs, though they wander outside of them a bit outside the breeding season. The female will lay eggs in the mats, sometimes communal, and then they'll generally guard them until they hatch. The larvae then drop into the water and live there for a few months before transforming into TINY little metamorphs. I'd like to try raising some eggs this year again, but the babies are just so tiny and need tiny food. The adults are neat, though, but they easily lose their tails as a defense mechanism. All in all, they're an interesting animal, they're small, and really kinda pretty. You can find them in the northern part of the state, minus the mountainous areas, so long as you can find good sphagnum habitat. Green Salamander (Aneides aeneus) Green salamanders belong to the Aneides, the arboreal or climbing salamanders. Greens are generally state protected, and found only on cliff-sides. They'd work well for a cave tank, but they're protected and difficult to find. They're found in extreme NE GA. Many-Lined Salamander (Stereochilus marginatus) Stereos are neat; they're facultative neotenes, meaning they sometimes keep their gills, but not always. They're found where you find sirens, 'umas, and other aquatics. Neat animals, but they require specific water quality conditions, so they're difficult to keep in captivity. They're found in SE GA along the coastal plane. Cave Salamander (Eurycea lucifuga) Long Tailed Salamander (Eurycea longicauda) Three-Lined Salamander (Eurycea guttolineata) Two-Lined Salamander (Eurycea bislineata) Dwarf Salamanders (Eurycea quadridigitata) Dwarf salamander (Eurycea chamberlini?) Eurycea are generally stream dwelling salamanders. I break them into two groups; the long bodied Eurycea, and the shorter bodied. And things like the various obligate cave Eurycea, but those aren't on the list. The long-bodied Eurycea are all good for a cave tank. You'll find all three at the entrances to caves, or also around cave streams and the forests around caves, and longicauda and guttolineata are common where there are no caves at all. Lucies can be found further into the caves. In Arkansas, at the opening to the cave we would find longicauda and lucifuga near the entrance, and then after a fifty yards or so in, it was just lucifuga. For another hundred yards, we saw lucifuga, but then we started finding more and more Eurycea spelaea, which are obligate cave dwellers, the grotto salamanders, and they're completely awesome. You can find guttolineata everywhere in GA except for the SE part (though I don't buy that; my map must be off because I've found them in central Florida, and they're not listed anywhere NEAR that area.) Longicauda and lucifuga are all in the far NW part of the state in the mountains. The smaller Eurycea are more stream-going. They're all pretty similar, except for size; the dwarfs are, well, smaller. I added chamberlini to the list, since they may occur in GA. They're a new species that was recently discovered, and ironically, one of the few places they've been identified is on the campus where I do herp stuff out of. Cirrigera is found throughout the state (and most of the SE; with bislineata in the NE), and quads can be found in southern GA. Oh, just thought I'd mention, Eurycea can jump. Some of the others can too, but especially Eurycea. They're neat, have a projectile tongue (not far), and are just kinda cool little guys. Slimy Salamanders (Plethedon glutinosus) Jordon’s Salamanders (Plethedon jordoni) Pigeon Mountain Salamander (Plethedon petraeus) Red-Backed Salamander, Southern (Plethedon serratus) Webster’s Salamander (Plethedon websteri) Zigzag Salamander, Southern (Plethedon ventralis) The Plethodons. These are entirely terrestrial salamanders, and have no larval stage. You could *probably* keep any of them in a cave tank, though they won't be as good as the larger Eurycea; they're more of a forest group in general, though they're ALSO highly associated with mountains. They need humidity, though. They're the most abundant group of salamanders, completely lack lungs (all oxygen through skin), and they're the only group of salamanders to penetrate into the tropics. There are also a lot of species that are only found on one or two mountain-tops; you'll get a mountain with a low altitude species and a high altitude species, and then the next mountain will typically have another high altitude species, etc. You tend to some of them at the openings of caves, but mostly under rocks and logs in forests. I've found some in cliff faces; in areas, Aneides are found high up, while Plethodons and Eurycea (and sometimes Desmogs) are on lower areas. You probably have a couple species of glutinosis all over the state; they all look pretty much alike. They can excrete a really sticky slime that is a huge pain to get out. Jordani are basically black slimy salamanders with no spots, but in some areas they can be really neat looking; red checks, red legs, or both. They're in extreme NE GA, and I found some today (just black ones, none of the really pretty red and black ones). Plethedon petraeus is protected, only found in two spots separated by 7.5 miles in NW GA and nowhere else. Plethedon serratus, websteri, and ventralis are small, southern red-backed salamanders. Serratus can be found in the NW quarter of the state, websteri in the middle NW part, and ventralis was described in 1997 so I have no idea where; probably NW. Red Salamander (Pseudotriton ruber) Mud Salamander (Pseudotriton montanus) Pseudotriton are neat. They're large red salamanders, commonly associated with mountain streams, with muds, well, occurring more in mud. Muds are more fossorial and are far less frequently encountered, while reds can be found either aquatic or terrestrially. Search rocks and logs near and in streams, as well as leaves alongside streams. Larvae can be frequently encountered. Ruber can be found (three subspecies) in the northern part of the state, with some areas in the south having them; they're probably in your area, or near it. Montanus can be found everywhere except some areas of the NW part of the state, but they're difficult to find and worth getting excited over; I haven't found one yet. Spring Salamander (Gyrinophilus porphyriticus) Cave Salamander, Tennessee (Gyrinophilus palleucus) Gyrinophilus are spring salamanders, and are neat. They're associated with clean mountain streams, and are found under rocks and logs generally. They're fairly large and fast swimmers. Palleucus is an obligate neotene, and is generally found in caves. They're not really found in GA and are (federally?) protected. Extreme NW GA. Porphyriticus are found in the NW third of the state, and I found my first one today and was very excited. They're a near orange/red color, and are easily identifiable with their nasolabial grooves in in their snouts. Marbled Salamander (Ambystoma opacum) Mole Salamander (Ambystoma talpoideum) Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) Flatwoods Salamander (Ambystoma cingulatum) Almost skipped the Ambystoma, had to edit them in; hopefully I didn't miss anyone else. Ambystoma are one of my favorite groups. They're the mole salamanders, and have two lifestyles. You've got the terrestrial ones, which breed in the water and then spend most of the rest of their life underground (though you can occasionally find adults under logs in parts of the year, and juveniles frequently under logs in the late summer/fall.) And then you have the neotenes, which stay aquatic and retain their gills. Sometimes, the same species (or population) will have both life-styles, with gills and terrestrial adults. Marbled salamanders are common, and they're fall breeders. They lay their eggs on dry land, and wait for them to fill up with water, guarding them often until they hatch. You'll have them in everywhere, except a section of the SE, more towards the south. The others breed in the spring, mating and laying eggs in the water. Mole salamanders have neotenic and terrestrial populations (I breed them in my backyard and sell the transformed juveniles), and can be found in SE GA, as well as some random places in the NW. Spotteds are found throughout the state, minus the southern fifth and a section of the SE, with one outlier near the coast. Tigers are found throughout the southern part of the state, but are probably uncommon. They sometimes like drier areas, with ponds nearby. Tigers may have neotenic populations, but I don't think they're common, like they are in the western species. Cingulatum are federally endangered and found basically in the parts of the state where spotteds aren't. They like flatwoods, and I'm guessing they'll go extinct in our lifetime; chytrid, drought, development, and other issues are wiping them out, and they're extremely uncommon throughout their range. Newt, Eastern (Notophthalmus viridescens) Newt, Striped (Notophthalmus perstriatus) Two newts in GA. Viridescens is found throughout the state, with v. louisianensis in the NW half, and v. viridescens in the SE. Do well in captivity, are mainly aquatic but have a terrestrial stage. You'll find them in shallow, permanent (or mostly permanent) water with surrounding forests, though the shallow isn't a requirement. We found them today in a fairly deep lake (30 feet?) and they've been found deeper in the wild. We found them near the shore (since we can see there). Perstriatus is protected in GA. They're pretty neat, but they're mostly just like viridescens, minus appearance (they have a stripe and are shaded a bit differently) and they're more touchy. SE part of the state. Blind Salamander, Georgia (Haideotriton wallacei) Protected salamander, found in the extreme SW part of the state. Only in caves, permanently aquatic, with no eyes. My friend saw one cave diving once and didn't even appreciate how awesome it was. Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) Benders of course, are awesome. Protected, only in a few areas in the far north of the state. Waterdog, Alabama (Necturus beyeri) Waterdog, Dwarf (Necturus punctatus) Mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus) You've got a couple species of mudpuppy, but I'm not up to date on what's what; there was cf. beyeri, and albamensis was all confused, and I'm just not sure what's what, so I'll go with beyeri (though I think it's c.f. beyeri instead). Mudpuppies are large, permanently gilled, aquatic salamanders. They live in small to medium sized rivers, as well as lakes and some ponds. They're awesome and also the best group of salamander; this is a scientific fact and not just my opinion. You've got maculosus in the extreme north; they're probably fairly uncommon, though, since it's the edge of their range. Beyeri/alabamensis/c.f. beyeri are in the western part of the state in a fairly narrow strip. Both of these will be mostly in rivers, under rocks and other cover objects. Check nice areas with 2-3 feet of water and tons of rocks. Punctatus are a little different; they're the smallest Necturus, and are in smaller streams, typically found in leaf packs or mud rather than rocks. They're quite cute, and found in the SE part of the state, minus a section of the south. You probably have them near you; with a good dip net and a good spot (takes a bit to find), you can find a bunch in an hour or so. It's a complete blast, too; you can also find sirens, stereos, and umas in these sites, along with Eurycea guttolineata and bislineata and Desmogs. Siren, Northern Dwarf (Pseudobranchus striatus) Siren, Greater (Siren lacertian) Siren, Lesser (Siren intermedia) And finally, we have the sirens. Sirens were once considered a separate order of amphibians. They're the farthest related to other salamanders as well. They are very different; they don't have hind legs or even the hip bones for rear legs, and they have keratinized beak-like structures in their mouths. They have lungs and they can aestivate for months; if the pond dries up, they form a cocoon and curl up and conserve moisture in the mud under the lake, emerging when the water returns. Studies have found that greater sirens can survive for over five years like this, only dying of starvation. All three are found in the SE and SW parts of the state. Dipnet leaf-packs like you would for 'umas and dwarf waterdogs, set trap arrays (minnow traps or other setups), or get lucky shining with a flashlight. Check ditches, streams, etc. The P. striatus are far less common, and are more associated with cypress pools I believe. TLDR- For a cave tank, Eurycea guttolineata should be near your area and would do well. In the far NW, you have longicauda and lucifuga, which are very attractive salamanders, and they'd do well. Some of the Plethodons might work, particularly glutinosus, though they won't use the cave much, I don't think; they don't climb quite like Eurycea do. So Eurycea are the best choice; especially lucies or longicauda. Outside of your range, the western Aneides. They're arboreal salamanders, and well, they climb. You might have an interesting take for Plethodons if you make it a multi-layered tank with a cliff, rather than a cave, with two flat areas and a cliff separating them. You'd get different microhabitats, and any of the Plethodons would do well in that; they wouldn't need the cliff, but it'd look nice, and any recesses in the cliff would provide hides. You'd probably need a larger tank for this, though. Two animals would work for a 10-15. Maybe one or two more in a 20-30; they can get territorial, so you'd need several good hiding spots per animal. So yeah, that was far more than you asked (or wanted) but I am a salamander nerd. If anyone else wants a rundown of their species in their area, I can find a species list and talk a bit about anything you don't have here, or a basic where/how to find certain groups. And if anyone wants specific care on a specific species, I can give you any advice I might have, direct you to caresheets if they exist, or whatever else. Salamanders are neat and under appreciated, especially our US natives, and I'd be completely thrilled if someone managed to breed any; I know a lot of species probably can be bred in captivity, but no one ever tries because there's no money or demand for it, unfortunately. I'll post some photos from my trip tomorrow, after I've had some time to relax and resize them, etc. OneTwentySix fucked around with this message at 04:12 on Mar 4, 2012 |
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Mar 4, 2012 04:00
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That's a pretty cool photo; something like that would work really well for almost any of the lungless salamanders (Plethodon, Eurycea, Desmogs, Pseudotriton, etc). It would be best for the last three groups, though, since Plethodon don't need or use water. Kinda funny to see one of my threads pop up in this thread. Taherman from that thread is a zookeeper at the Toledo zoo, and he's bred a number of Desmogs and Plethodons there, so those enclosures work. Lucifuga would do really well in a tank like that. Lucifuga are more terrestrial than aquatic, from my experience, though. They don't even need water outside of breeding; they've been found over a kilometer from the nearest cave or spring, but at least a waterbowl is good for captivity since things can go wrong otherwise. When I've found them, they've been in caves near water but not in it; the caves had water running through them in Arkansas, but in the one in Alabama, there wasn't water in the cave itself; it was just a huge opening full of rocks, with a pool of water in front of the cave. They were under some damp rocks, and some where quite a ways from the watered area; though the cave was very humid. So lucifuga would be a most terrestrial animal that would frequently venture into the water; if you had a group of five, you'd probably have one of them in the water at any moment, depending on how it's set up/individual preferences. I'm not sure how they'd do in 80 degree temperatures. I would guess they'd be okay for a little bit; if you can install something like a computer fan with screening that they do with dart frogs, that would help things a lot. If I were to guess, I would say they would be okay in the low 80s. Terrestrial salamanders typically tolerate heat better (a cold-blooded animal can radiate heat easier on land than in water), and they are a southern genus; it's going to be hot under the logs in the woods. Caves will be in the 50s to 60s, though, so they'd escape the heat there. I wouldn't risk it for more than 80-82, though, but my best guess is they'd be okay for a little while. As far as water quality, it needs to be pretty clean. A filter attached to the water source would be needed, but something weak. If the water is bad, they just won't go in it, though, which isn't horrible, but defeats the whole purpose of it. Finding lucifuga isn't hard if you're in their range and know where caves might be; when I went to Alabama, I asked my cousin's husband where there might be caves near streams, and the first cave we went to, we found them. We found them in the next cave, too. That was a fun trip, though the Arkansas caving trip was the best. They're my favorite Plethodontid, though, and one of my favorite salamanders. They climb really well, though, so the lid needs to be completely secure. Feed them small insects (around half an inch or so), pieces of worms, waxworms, phoenix worms, house flies, crickets, etc. They do well, and people have bred them, though it's not common at all; Tim posted that pdf on their breeding, which might be of interest, and I think I have a translated german article somewhere, too. Desmognathus and the smaller Eurycea would be more aquatic and would rest on the rocks, but might occasionally hunt on land, if that was what you were aiming for. But in any event, if you went with the tank in that thread, you could put a lot of species in something like that. And as Taherman mentioned, his glutinosis did eventually lay eggs in that tank. He's also bred some Desmogs, so they were probably kept pretty similarly, with a bit more water, possibly. That tank is probably several feet wide, though; I don't think the perspective shows anything for scale.
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Mar 4, 2012 06:08
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I mentioned a trip I went on a few days ago, and then didn't post the pictures. So here are some pictures; it was a real blast and I'd really like to get out there again sometime soon. Cross-posted in the Critterquest Thread, which you should be following anyway! Here's a habitat shot. We hiked around this mountain mountain stream for a few hours, flipped rocks and logs, and found a few things.   A big Desmognathus we found. Desmogs were the most common salamanders we found, though we didn't find as many as I'd have expected us to.  Plethodon jordani/metcalfi, dependng on your taxonomy. Our jordani are really, really dull, but they can have red cheeks or legs in other parts of their range.   Eurycea guttolineata, three-lined salamander. They're a common stream salamander that I've mentioned a few times for being decent captives.   A little Desmognathus larva. Tiny little guys!   Two pairs of toads we found in one corner behind an unused building in amplexus. They did not want to let go, and kept on doing their thing.  Toad eggs, tons of them in a pool near a really fast part of the stream. Didn't realize they'd breed in that kind of place.  Black widow spider.   The only snake we found, a little worm snake. And finally, the highlight of the trip:      A spring salamander! Or, as I asked a little boy who was walking by with his parents and wanted to see it, "Can you say Gyrinophilus porphyriticus?" I can't believe I spelled that right on the first try. It was the first one I'd ever seen, and I was really surprised by how red it was. Very pretty animal, and even Dr. Pilgrim was excited about it. Three of us had been trying to roll a log, and we got the big Desmog from under there, but then someone dropped it. When they went to go after it in the mud, I spotted a flash of movement, and dived after it, and pulled up the first Gyrino I'd ever found. I was excited; first I thought it was a red salamander, which would be cool, but I've found a dozen or so of them, and then I saw its back and thought it was a mud salamander, which would be really neat (another lifer), but then I saw the naso-labial grooves on its nose, and was all, "Woo! Gyrino!" His tail was half missing, maybe from a fight with another Gyrino, I do not know. We also found this larval Gyrino:   It was a pretty good day, only now I kinda want to get back out there. There are green salamanders at that site, but we didn't find any habitat. I really want to find one of them, but also want to go looking for more Gyrinos.
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Mar 9, 2012 23:56
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The biology professor that runs the local herp group asked me to help with one of her labs, so I went out with a group of students looking for salamanders with her last night. We were at least a week (probably two) late to see any of the spotteds, but we did see some frogs, a ton of eggs (one 20 foot long tire rut had over 40 spotted salamander egg masses), and a few larvae that had hatched. I completely blew a joke I'd planned, though. I hid one of my sirens in a plastic container in the woods, and was going to "net" it, and scream that she wouldn't believe what I found (we're ~90 miles north of their range), but then I missed the trail leading to where I hid it and the joke fell apart. Didn't get many pictures, since there wasn't much to take photos of and I have problems getting photos to turn out acceptable in the dark, but do have some American toad eggs. When I'm stressed out, depressed, lonely, bored, trying to pass time before the Daily Show, or simply just want to relax for a while, or forget that I live in a fairly large (by my standards) city, I like to go outside and look at my salamander swimming pools. It's really relaxing and peaceful, and it can be really fun to try and spot some of the animals that are hidden really well.  Here are some Taricha torosa (Western/California newt) eggs. I just got them today from someone in California, and it really made my day. Taricha aren't really available anymore, unfortunately, so hopefully I'll be able to start a breeding project with these, and sell a few, too. I just wish he would have sent me more, since there's only around 30, but I'll be happy with what I can get. Now I just wish I could find someone to send some Taricha granulosa or rivularis eggs, but those species are more problematic (granulosa lay eggs singly, and rivularis have a fairly small range). Still, I'll hopefully be able to get a secure population of breeding torosa in a few years; they're more terrestrial than the more common granulosa that a few people still have. Such a shame, though; granulosa (and to a lesser extent torosa) were commonly available as wild caught animals, but once CA passed laws against selling them, there really weren't many left around at all, and only a few ever bred them. If I can get these guys breeding (in probably 2-5 years), I'll be feeling pretty good about that.  Some axolotl larvae.  A really bad picture of an Ambystoma talpoideum larva (mole salamander). I'm starting to find larvae in their pool. Fortunately, the adults and juveniles don't really seem to mind them and mostly ignore them rather than eating them. Feels kinda odd to call them adults and juveniles, though; they're all the same age, but some stayed aquatic, keeping their gills, and so they reached maturity faster. They're quite a bit larger and fatter than the ones that transformed, even though they're all kept the same exact way. Neotenes are awesome, though a bunch will probably transform this summer; their parents all transformed after breeding.  Here's a dragonfly larva. I got a crummy, out of focus video of him eating daphnia, which was kinda neat. These guys are the worst in most of my setups; they'll eat the salamander larvae, but he's okay since he's in the siren enclosure and is hopefully food.  My camera started crapping out on me, unfortunately, but that's a siren with very fresh bite marks on her back. Normally, you don't want to see wounded animals (obviously), but I was very excited to see this. For whatever reason, during courtship the males will bite females like that, and older females often end up with heavily scarred backs. Even dwarf sirens do it; that's the best way to identify a female, though it's not entirely reliable. So I was feeling pretty good seeing that (it's not a serious wound; she'll heal just fine). I came back later and saw that she (or another one of the larger sirens) was hanging around that same area. I got a crappy video of one of the juveniles I left in the pool (the juvies are a blast to see; I don't know how many I have, but it's always fun to see these little salamanders swimming around that I didn't have to catch in the wild). And then when I was looking at the tank bottom to see if I could see any of the animals, I noticed something white on a water hyacinth root.  Really crappy photo; my good flashlight is dead and I take bad photos in the dark regardless, but that's an egg! I started peering around, and moved a nearby plant over to look at its roots, and saw a big animal swim out. I looked closer, and then saw there were a ton of eggs in that plant's roots! I didn't get a good look and the photo didn't turn out, but I'll go back again when the sun's out and get a closer look. I don't want to disturb them much, since the female should guard them, but I want to get an idea of how many there are, and then I'll decide to remove them or not; siren gut content surveys commonly show siren eggs. If there are over a hundred, I'll probably remove fifty or so and see how they do; some species' eggs (especially those that have parental guardians) tend to be more likely to go bad when removed. Pretty exciting for me, at least. They bred for me last year, but I didn't think I'd ever see eggs; they're not generally seen by people; GIS only has five or so pictures. This time, I knew to look, though. I'd also thought they might be up to something in that part of the pool; I found a lot of siren crap in the plants in that area. In any event, this is pretty exciting for me. I need to find somewhere that sells kiddie pools, though; I don't think places start carrying them this early. Last year, I kept all my juveniles in the same bin, and it didn't go quite as well as I'd have hoped.  Here you can see the smallest sirens I had left, and one that grew up in the parent pool. Even though those are the smallest animals (I sold the largest ones first to keep them from hogging food/space), the bigger sirens I removed were nowhere near as large as the ones that stayed in the pool. I could leave them in and let them fend for themselves, but now they have the adults, dragonfly larvae, and last year's juveniles that might eat them. I'd like a separate swimming pool, so that way they won't be crowded for space, and there will be plenty of microorganisms to eat. So there's my night, feeling pretty good. On Sunday, I'm going out to the NW part of SC to look for more spring salamanders (Gyrinophilus porphyriticus), red salamanders (Psuedotriton ruber), four-toed salamanders (Hemidactylium), green salamanders (Aneides aeneus), and maybe even some mud salamanders (Pseutotriton montanus). I've never seen greens or muds, and my friend is rubbing the muds in my face by finding 13 of them in two days (normally it's a big deal to find one.) Edit: Went out after posting this, and got these pictures of the female guarding her eggs (no eggs shown).   I'm also wanting to go to Columbia to look for sirens and waterdogs. Anyone want to go to the Congaree next weekend on the 24th or 25th? We talked a bit about something like that a while back, so just thought I'd see if anyone wanted to meet up. I figured we could herp around a bit in the park, do some dip netting for aquatic salamanders at two sites I know, and then maybe go look a bit for snakes; I know a stream nearby that I've found cottonmouths in, and there might be other snakes there, too. Or whatever. I'm up for pretty much anything, and I've been wanting to look for waterdogs for a bit now; I want to try breeding them like I do my sirens. Bring a friend or two, even; group herping is the best, even when you don't find anything, and I can pretty much promise waterdogs, slimy salamanders, Eurycea, and Desmogs; with marbled salamanders and worm snakes being fairly likely as well, as well as who knows what we could find (I've found Stereochilus salamanders, ringneck snakes, various watersnakes, sirens, amphiumas, numerous lizards, frogs, and other things in the area, too). OneTwentySix fucked around with this message at 08:09 on Mar 16, 2012 |
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Mar 16, 2012 07:45
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That would be very much appreciated! T. gran eggs are really distinctive; I don't think there's anything else in the West coast that would have similar eggs. They lay them one at a time in plants, and generally fold the plant over them. (not my photos)   Those are granulosa eggs. Laying them singly is a pain, though, and makes it more difficult to collect them. Typically, you want to look for plants with bent or oddly glued together leaves, and then you'll typically find several eggs on that plant. I've done this with eastern newts (and was planning on doing it sometime in the next few days with them, as well), and it's a bit time consuming, but it's kind of fun if you're a newt-nerd like me. Just break off pieces of plant around the egg (generally a small leaflet), and leave the rest. Here are some more photos. They're not granulosa eggs, but they look similar.    When unfolding the leaves, you find something that looks like this:  You could also try making egg-laying strips. I don't know how well it would work in the wild, though; I've wanted to do it, but never got around to it. What you do is cut a plastic trash bag into long, thin strips, and then attach them to a rope or something and throw it out into the pond. Leave it sit for a week or so, and when you come back, it's hopefully full of eggs. This would probably only work during the height of the breeding season, though. http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/eggstrips.shtml There's one final way to get eggs; if you can find animals in amplexus, you can collect a couple pairs and set up a 20 gallon plastic tote (or an aquarium) with water outside. Add a bunch of egg laying strips, and leave them outside for half a week or so (until enough eggs have been laid). Assuming everything goes well, they should lay their eggs in the strips, and you can then release them back into the wild without hurting them any (just keep them away from any captive herps/foods/things that may have touched captive animals). I've done this with blue-spotted salamanders; those didn't even need the strips and they barely used the sticks I provided.  And now I miss Wisconsin again; they've been having really nice weather, and the big migration is probably going to happen soon. One species of Ambystomid migrating to the pools just can't come close to three, especially when one of them are tiger salamanders. Oh well. Regardless of me, you ought to go out there at night some time whenever they're breeding; you'll probably see huge orgies and mating balls and dozens to hundreds of animals. It's really amazing; I've never done that with Taricha, but the Ambystomids are explosive breeders, too. Depending on where you are, there might also be A. gracile and/or A. macrodactylium in your pond; they typically breed at the same time the newts do, and are pretty neat to see. If you go during a rain when it happens, you can see so many crossing the road, and maybe over 200 of one species in a night. As far as mailing goes, it's really easy. What I did for the guy that sent me the torosa eggs is, I mailed him one of my shipping boxes with some breather bags and other shipping supplies. When he was ready to send it back, I e-mailed him an XPS document for a paid shipping label. He put the eggs in the bag, packed them in, and mailed them back with the label. They probably don't need all that, but I prefer using Kordon breather bags to ship aquatics in, and it's easy to just mail a package with the bags in them. The eggs arrived today and a few even hatched enroute and were fine. Eggs are really easy to mail; larvae are tricky, but people ship larvae all the time, too. I hate shipping larvae, though; I've gotten dead larvae so many times - a few times on some really cool species that I really wanted to keep. I could make some egg-laying strips if you wanted to try them, but it would depend on whether or not they've already started laying in your area (T. grans have been found breeding every month except November, but most breed in the spring). In any event, if you're interested, I'd really appreciate it and could send some money for your trouble. And if you don't want to go through the trouble of looking for individually laid eggs, that's understandable, too; I've been lucky enough to get some torosa eggs; it was kind of a fantasy of mine for a couple years now, but I didn't know anyone out west. Anyhow, if you feel like giving it a try, send me a PM, and if not, that's perfectly fine.
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Mar 16, 2012 09:34
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Captain Foxy posted:OneTwentySix, Pardalis and I are about to go collect some granulosa adults to keep in a paludarium, since they're insanely plentiful around our favorite fishing hollow. We had planned to wait a few more weeks for it to warm up, the breeding season will really get going by then and the nuptial pads will be obvious. Would you like some adults? Kinda funny how everything involving Taricha is happening at once right now. I would like some adults, but I've got too much salamander stuff going on now and I'm not prepared to house any adults. Plus, if there's a chance to get eggs, I'd rather go that route since it has basically no real impact on the population (though there's nothing wrong with collecting a few animals for personal use). It's incredibly tempting, though; a part of me really wants to say, "Screw it, just say yes! You want these, and could probably even set them up in pools like everything else. Plus, if you get some adults, you'll be able to breed them next year rather than waiting for any eggs I might get to reach maturity!" But it's probably best to concentrate on raising as many eggs of as many species as I can this year. Eggs are always welcome, though! I just bought two more swimming pools, and I'll probably need a few more by the time summer is through. I never really worry about the toxin much. You generally need to eat a whole animal to get a fatal dose, and they don't really excrete it unless they're provoked. So, aside from eating or licking an animal, you need to get the animal to go defensive, need to come into contact with that toxin, and need to deliver that toxin to a wound, eye, or mouth, and need to deliver enough of it to matter. Since it probably hurts to get it into a wound or whatever, you'd probably notice right away and work to wash it off. Taricha were one of the most popular and widespread pet store newts for a few decades, and the only instances that I've ever heard of someone getting poisoned involved someone actually eating the newt (and they died within six hours). RabbitMage posted:Very possible. We're in Central CA. This guy claims to have about 70. I wonder if he just grabbed them somewhere and is trying to make some cash. Unlike personal collection, this I do have a problem with. Those are torosa (not sure why he's calling them red-bellied salamanders; rivularis are called red-bellied newts, and sometimes grans have red bellies, but I don't think torosa ever do. They could be granulosa; I'm not fluent in telling the two apart, but they look like torosa to me), and that guy basically destroyed a breeding pond to make a few dollars. What's he asking for them, $10 each? He came in at night and collected every single adult he could and he's seriously damaged that population; that could be 10-30% of the total adult population for that area that he removed. The population probably isn't huge; just a single pond and the area around it for a couple kilometers, but that population has still be seriously damaged. It's also illegal. California has very specific rules on what you can and can't keep and how many; you're limited to five of each native, unprotected species, and you can't sell them. I'd report him to the DNR. People like that are why I work with eggs so much. If I remove 100 eggs from somewhere, I'll get 50-100 juveniles. In the wild, maybe as many as five of them could have become adults (several years down the road), and it's far more likely that none of them would have made it that far. Removing them doesn't really have much of an effect, especially when the pond dries up early one year, or the eggs get stranded. So with those 100 eggs, I'm able to provide some animals for the pet trade and all it costs are my time, the setup, and the food. Everyone wins, basically; the pet trade gets its animals, I get to work with larvae and have things to watch at night, if I can sell them I get some money to pay bills/pay for their upkeep, and I get to take road trips to see animals while the wild isn't really impacted at all. By taking 70 adults, he's taking 70 animals from the population, their reproductive output for that year, their reproductive output from two years from now, their output from four years from now, and so on. Torosa tend to breed every other year (females, at least), and they all tend to breed at once, so it's possible to collect a large majority of the entire local population like that. Taricha work on a model dependent on adults surviving to breed repeatedly, with large numbers of adults coming back to breed for a decade or more, and only a few juveniles ever reaching the adult stage. It could literally take decades for that population to recover, and it will negatively impact anything that would eat the juveniles they would be producing (mostly garter snakes, but probably some birds and other animals that can get around the toxins). Sorry to rant, but commercial collection really bothers me, especially with species like the Taricha and Ambystoma that are especially vulnerable to that kind of collection. I don't have a problem with personal collection; collecting an animal or small group of animals is fairly harmless (depending on the species) and can be sort of beneficial if you end up breeding them. It's also one of the ways people can connect with nature, which is important. But when you reduce an entire population of animals to "How can I make money off of this?" you're exploiting nature and missing the point entirely. Nevermind that 95% of all those animals you collected and sold will be dead in 2 years. So yeah, I'd definitely report him to the DNR. No idea if they'll do anything, but he is clearly breaking the law, and there's always the chance they'll seize the animals and release them.
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Mar 17, 2012 04:08
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Yeah, I used to know how to tell back when they were in the pet stores, but now for whatever reason, I just can't "see" the eyelids or something; they look basically the same to me. I can guess based on whether the eye looks right based on my mental image of each, but can't really quantify that, which makes it hard to be sure. The eyes looked like they stuck out from the head in that photo, though it was hard to tell, so I figured it was torosa from that. I'm bad at IDing salamanders based on features rather than basic shape When the professor asked me to explain to the others how I knew the Plethodon metcalfi was a Plethodon and not a Desmog, I could only reply, "Because it looks like a Plethodon?" She just laughed. You know a bit about the newts, you ever keep either species? I got one picture of the siren eggs today and thought I'd post them. Most of them didn't turn out, unfortunately.  Not a great photo, but still something to be excited about. Turns out that the female guarding them isn't the one with the bite marks on her back, so maybe there will be another nest somewhere else, soon. I love salamander breeding season.
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Mar 17, 2012 05:50
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It doesn't matter if they're from his legal collection; you can't sell them at all in California. You could give them away or trade them, but you can't sell them. He's breaking two laws; he's selling them, and he has more than five of them. Regardless, it would be up to them to investigate or not, but it would be pretty easy; all they need to do is offer to buy six of them and they've got him on both accounts when he completes the deal.MrGreenShirt posted:Yep, I kept a pair of T. granulosa as a kid and they were pretty great! I haven't had any since then since I was under the assumption that it was illegal to catch and own ANY Caudata in Oregon. Turns out it's illegal to catch and own MOST Caudata in Oregon, but granulosa is completely legal. Maybe it's time I finally return to an old passion... Of course it is! Oregon has some insane laws for salamanders. As far as I'm aware, the only salamander that has ever become an invasive species is A. mavortium in California, and that's because they were escaped fishing bait. They breed with and compete against A. californiense. If there are any smaller scale introductions, I doubt they caused any major problems, and the problems then are likely due to hybridizing with a closely related native. Salamanders don't really disperse well at all, for vertebrates. They can move a mile or two in a lifetime (minus a few aquatics), can't really hitch a ride on anything, and most don't really breed all that fast. So Oregon just went kinda crazy and banned everything that isn't native. They actually go out of their way to mention the banning of Euproctus, Ranodon, and Mertensiella. I've never even HEARD of Ranodon (an endangered monotypic genus of Hynobiid salamanders), which is saying something, and only heard of Mertensiella because of their strange tail structures. Seriously? I doubt anyone in the US are keeping any of those, and anyone that is isn't doing it legally (there were never any importations of those three groups that I know of). It's sort of like saying, "rodents can be a problem if they escape into the wild. Let's make sure we mention Ctenodactylus when banning all rodents!" Washington has similarly crazy laws. I don't think you can even keep natives there. That said, Mertensiella are kinda neat, though. They're native to western Georgia, but unfortunately, it's not the one that's within driving distance.
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Mar 17, 2012 08:50
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Well, went out herping today. I saw a ton of things, so I don't want to clutter up the thread with dozens and dozens of pictures, so I'll post more of them in the Critter Quest thread later, but just thought I'd share some of the cooler ones here now. I went to a site in NW SC, hoping to find a few neat salamanders, and today certainly didn't disappoint. Desmognathus (dusky salamanders) were the most common animals, and they were everywhere. Tiny ones, as well as some giant black-bellies (D. quadramaculatus). Quads are the biggest Desmogs, and they're certainly big, when you more commonly see the smaller species. Lots of different colors and patterns, though I'm terrible at Desmog IDing.    (Very gravid D. fuscus; ID thanks to a friend who does better with Desmogs)  (Quad)   I also saw a couple of newts.    This one was a male (same animal, all three pictures). You can see his keratinized toes that are a part of his breeding dress; he uses them and some nuptial pads to hang onto females during mating. They have internal fertilization, but prior to this, he basically hangs on like crazy while trying to make the female smell how awesome he is, and other craziness.  Pitcher plants are always neat to see.      Four-toed salamanders (Hemidactylium scutatum) were one of my targets for the trip. This time of year is one of the few times you can find them, and they're really easy to find now if you have a site. I found three females and five nests, and then stopped looking. It's best not to disturb them more than you have to, especially since you need to tear around the sphagnum moss where they lay. I'm always worried they'll lose a tail, and then I'll feel terrible; they drop their tails really easily. I did take a couple eggs, but these guys morph out TINY. They're really cute, though, you just need a ton of springtails to keep them going.       I also saw another spring salamander (Gyrinophilus porphyriticus) and three larvae. They're really pretty, but fairly hard to find. Like Pseudotriton (red and mud salamanders), the larvae take over a year to transform, generally around 18 months, so you'll see tiny (new), medium, and larger (ready to transform) larvae in the streams at the same time, depending on when you look. I also saw a northern watersnake, but it got away before I got a picture. I was pretty exhausted, since I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, and mountain hiking is tiring, and decided to head out. But I really wanted to see another species, so I decided to check out where the road went, regarding a spot I'd scouted out on google maps, so I could look later, or possibly then if it was close enough. I never got that far. Just down the road, I spotted a rocky outcropping, and stopped to check it out. It didn't look terribly impressive, but I figured it was worth a shot.  There was a cave going into the mountain, with a bunch of cracks in the rock reaching the surface. Almost immediately, I shined my flashlight and saw a face staring back at me. There was a snake in there! None of my photos turned out, and it wouldn't come out when I prodded it gently with a stick, but it looked like a copperhead; I could see the pupils and pits, and it didn't look like a rattlesnake. Eventually, it retreated deeper into the crack. Nearby, I shined into another crack, and saw another face!  Hell yeah! I'd been looking for those guys for so long; I walked everywhere, climbing semi-dangerous slopes, walking miles through the mountain trails, and nothing. Then, I stop and look at a rock twenty feet from the road, and find a green salamander right there. After some prodding, he came out for some photos.      Aneides aeneus, the green salamander. They're a rare species, protected in most of their range. They had some major population declines due to habitat destruction and scientific collection. Some schools have jars of these guys, sitting in their collections areas, doing little of anything. Scientific collecting was really competitive, and people didn't seem to care that they were destroying entire populations of these guys, which is very depressing, especially coming from scientists, of all people. Fortunately, that doesn't happen anymore, and these guys are doing fairly well, wherever they have protected habitat. It was really neat to see them; I also spotted two more at that place. Eventually, I left him be, and he went right back into his hiding spot.  Oh, and here's a siren guarding her eggs, for the hell of it.  So that's how I spent my Sunday. It was a blast, even though I'm going to be sore for a while. I definitely like to get back there; I'm pretty sure there are timber rattlesnakes there, and I'd like to find a mud salamander, though I don't know if they can be found at that site or not.
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Mar 19, 2012 04:32
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Cowslips Warren posted:I loving love these amphibian pics. Thanks for them, makes me want to go scouting for cool poo poo. But in AZ most cool poo poo can and will kill you. Cool poo poo can kill you just about anywhere; I mean, I poked a copperhead with a stick that couldn't have been more than eight inches long on that trip. You just have to be smart about things; watch where you step and put your arms/body. Wear boots (or get high quality snake boots to be extra safe) just in case you miss something, but overall, just be careful, and for the most part, you'll be fine. Venomous animals aren't all that common; I'd love to find more copperheads, and I've never found a rattlesnake, and not through lack of trying. It's not as dangerous as it seems, provided you're careful; I mean, the local bio professor takes her students out to see rattlesnakes when they go down to Florida. These are just normal college students, and she has an idiot rule; i.e., you have to find one in order to not be an idiot. So she sends them wandering around the area to find rattlesnakes, in an area with a very high density of rattlesnakes. They're told how to flip objects properly (keep the object between you and where the snake could be) and to watch where they step/put their arms, etc. They've never gotten bitten. Hell, she's never been bitten, and she used to be a rattlesnake researcher, finding dozens in a week and working closely with them in the lab. Which is fortunate; she's allergic to the venom due to so much of it being in the air/skin due to all the lab work over the years. Failing that, go road cruising. That's fairly safe; you can stay at a safe distance from anything you find, and there's nowhere for anything to hide on a road. It's also pretty exciting, and there are some really neat animals out your way. Some of the others might be able to give you tips if you wanted to try that. You definitely won't find a lot for amphibians, though. You do have tiger salamanders, and a handful of frogs. The tigers are pretty sweet, though; the western subspecies frequently are neotenous, so you can see these giant gilled adults if you're lucky. If you search online a lot, especially with things like JSTOR if you have access, you might be able to find a population near you, depending on where you live. You've also got the playas and other vernal ponds; check those out for amphibians and really neat invertebrates. Triops and fairy shrimp and all sorts of cool things. And don't forget scorpions. Before I die, I want to get out that way, but the American SW is just too far to drive right now. OneTwentySix fucked around with this message at 01:29 on Mar 20, 2012 |
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Mar 20, 2012 01:21
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Looks like a stonefly larva to me, though like Mr. Greenshirt said, it could also be a mayfly. As for the salamander, that's a two-lined salamander; probably either Eurycea cirrigera or bislineata, depending on where you are. They're neat little salamanders. Desmogs will be dark brown or black and you'll find them in the same kind of habitat. Your stream must definitely be improving; stoneflies seem to be associated with cleaner streams in my experience, though I could be wrong, and sals tend to disappear from polluted areas entirely.
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Apr 3, 2012 00:21
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If you're in MD, then you've got E. bislineata. Some of the Eurycea form a bit of a complex of related, similar looking species, with bislineata, cirrigera, wilderae, junaluska, one or two other populations that might be elevated to species status, and the dwarf salamanders Eurycea quadridigitata and E. chamberlaini. Fortunately, it's not a huge mess like Plethodon glutinosis and the main problem is telling bislineata and cirrigera apart, but they have distinct ranges. Eurycea are a neat group of animals, though I prefer the larger ones (longicauda, guttolineata, and lucifuga) and some of the crazy cave species.
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Apr 3, 2012 05:54
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Well, found some money, so looks like I'm going for a week long herping trip in Florida tomorrow. I'm hoping to see northern and southern dwarf sirens, striped and peninsular newts, and I'm going to make a big effort to turn up some snakes, especially rattlers. Wish me luck, and hopefully I'll have some photos to post later!
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Apr 11, 2012 01:24
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Captain Foxy posted:SKINK. Too tired, staring at newt tank while posting is not a good idea. To be fair, crocodile newts are pretty sweet, too. And I'd never feel that staring at newts is a bad idea.
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Apr 16, 2012 18:45
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If they're eating them, removing them is the best bet. Usually newts don't eat their own eggs that much, but there's always exceptions. I would definitely be interested in granulosa eggs! Just got back from a herping trip yesterday, I need to get some pictures downloaded and edited, but I picked up a couple new projects that I'm a bit excited about.
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Apr 16, 2012 19:16
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Send some to slowfoot, first, if you send any my way! It'd be nice to get some more people working with them again!
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Apr 16, 2012 20:56
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