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Stew Man Chew posted:Is that a pseudoscorp of some sort or just a kind of spider I've never seen? It alternates between the 3rd and the 10th. 10 + 3 = 13.... e: I'm in central Texas. Can anyone ID this little thing?
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| # ? Mar 28, 2012 04:23 |
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| # ? May 23, 2013 20:01 |
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It is in no way dangerous, guaranteed.
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| # ? Mar 28, 2012 04:39 |
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Better shot![]() What is this thing? Have I discovered a new species? the kawaiius adorablus?
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| # ? Mar 28, 2012 05:00 |
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Looks like some kind of jumper to me, though that's not super helpful.
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| # ? Mar 28, 2012 05:28 |
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the kawaiiest posted:What is this thing? Have I discovered a new species? the kawaiius adorablus?
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| # ? Mar 28, 2012 06:24 |
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It kind of looks like one of the ant-mimic jumpers, but I can't find your particular guy.
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| # ? Mar 28, 2012 08:27 |
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Thanks to this thread I didn't immediately launch into a attack mode when a moth found its way to my desk. I was actually pretty pleased to see the moth chilling next to my speaker for a few minutes, I should've thought to take a photo with my iPad (shush, it was right nearby!).
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| # ? Mar 28, 2012 15:52 |
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Was out with the lads catching baby turtles again. Red ear sliders this time.![]() babymapturtle3 by RReiheld, on Flickr ![]() babymapturtle by RReiheld, on Flickr
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| # ? Mar 28, 2012 21:48 |
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I guess I didn't realize just how very small a 2-week-old mantis nymph was going to be. They could easily sit on my pinky nail! I ordered three, and the shop's policy is to ship two nymphs for each one ordered, so I have six happy little mantises. Pics to come when the man with the macro lens gets home from work.
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| # ? Mar 28, 2012 22:20 |
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It's gotten really hot out again in Florida. So obviously these guys are everywhere again.![]() Anole sitting on the deck by HavenWaters, on Flickr They really love our yard. Sometimes I think there's over a hundred out there because they are everywhere during the summer.
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| # ? Mar 28, 2012 23:01 |
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You like baby turtles? Baby Turtles I got.
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| # ? Mar 29, 2012 00:12 |
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So, I found this little dude crawling across the sidewalk tonight, anybody have a guess as to what he is/is going to turn into? Edit: Forgot to add that I'm still in the eastern peninsula of WV, if anyone's wondering. Defensively curled up against the big evil monster: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Some action shots: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I currently have him in the little tub I took my hermit crabs home in. Should I keep him, let him go, what? If I let him go, where should I take him? nildrohain454 fucked around with this message at Mar 29, 2012 around 01:09 |
| # ? Mar 29, 2012 01:03 |
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nildrohain454 posted:So, I found this little dude crawling across the sidewalk tonight, anybody have a guess as to what he is/is going to turn into? Edit: Forgot to add that I'm still in the eastern peninsula of WV, if anyone's wondering. That is probably a Cutworm of some sort or another. They are interesting because they live out the winter as caterpillars and don't pupate until late spring. You can tell because he is big caterpillar sized before the leaves are even out. Some species become Underwing moths, which are also interesting, because they have dull brown top wings, and brightly colored red or yellow hind wings that they will flash at predators. Lot of others become the slightly larger than average brown spatter on your windshield moths. Some species are regarded as crop pests, and a good cutworm plague will wreck your early plantings. They aren't especially picky about what they eat. I expect if he was out and about he was looking for somewhere shady and dark to pupate. Throw him in a mason jar with some yard-salad and a couple inches of dirt in the bottom and see what happens. Slo-Tek fucked around with this message at Mar 29, 2012 around 02:03 |
| # ? Mar 29, 2012 01:41 |
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Awesome. And you're right, it does seem like he was kinda big, especially since all the trees around here are just starting to get some leaves. I put him in my little half gallon fish tank with some dirt and different kinds of leaves. We'll see if he decides to turn into anything. This thread has turned me into a total bug hound. I check out just about any kind I see now. It's also pretty much cured me of my fear of bees, now I think they're just adorable. Here, have another jumper I found on my screen door the other day. Tiny enough it was hard to get a good picture, but then he showed up the next day too and I was able to get a slightly better shot of him.
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| # ? Mar 29, 2012 02:18 |
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I give you Tenodera sinensis.![]() This little guy (or gal) is about 2-4 weeks old, according to the seller. I believe you can sex them even at this size by counting the abdominal segments. I couldn't get him back in the deli cup he came in without releasing the other one, so there are now three in one cup. Thankfully they've got a ton of fruit flies in there so they're not tempted to start devouring each other just yet. Tomorrow morning I'll take them out and disperse them around the yard, and find a safe place for the ootheca I ordered as well. He was really hard to photograph, mostly because he kept wanting to scuttle around and check stuff out. There are a few pictures of him nibbling on his feet and otherwise preening. Feisty little bugger. I wrangled him gently with a cotton swab.
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| # ? Mar 29, 2012 03:08 |
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Slo-Tek posted:That is probably a Cutworm of some sort or another. They are interesting because they live out the winter as caterpillars and don't pupate until late spring. You can tell because he is big caterpillar sized before the leaves are even out. Some species become Underwing moths, which are also interesting, because they have dull brown top wings, and brightly colored red or yellow hind wings that they will flash at predators. Lot of others become the slightly larger than average brown spatter on your windshield moths. Some species are regarded as crop pests, and a good cutworm plague will wreck your early plantings. They aren't especially picky about what they eat. I expect if he was out and about he was looking for somewhere shady and dark to pupate. Throw him in a mason jar with some yard-salad and a couple inches of dirt in the bottom and see what happens. I was finding them all over the place when I was little, and put a bunch of them in a large tupperware container with leaves and grass at the bottom and a few sticks at various angles. I came back later and they had all killed each other, and there was a quarter inch of black goo at the bottom of the container. It was horrifying.
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| # ? Mar 29, 2012 10:55 |
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Ah, the time of year when people start showing me snakes they valiantly decapitated and asking if "its' a copperhead???????" (Never once in my life has it been a copperhead or anything else venomous.)
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| # ? Mar 29, 2012 13:00 |
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I have a question about identifying a type of bird that I've been seeing in my yard. I live in Louisville, KY. Its a small bird, about the same size as a robin, with shiny black feathers and a green sheen to the feathers on its head, and in flight, its tail is spread out like a fan. There are only maybe a total of 3 or 4 that hang around in my yard. I've been wondering what they are for a bit now, as the only black birds I'm really used to seeing around here are crows and starlings. I've been trying to get a picture but all I have is my cell phone camera and the birds haven't been cordial enough to let me get closer for a picture. I know its not much to go on, but any ideas would be appreciated until I can get a picture.
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| # ? Mar 29, 2012 13:58 |
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From your description it might be a grackle. They were goddamn everywhere when I lived in in Dallas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Grackle
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| # ? Mar 29, 2012 14:30 |
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Fitz posted:I have a question about identifying a type of bird that I've been seeing in my yard. I live in Louisville, KY. Its a small bird, about the same size as a robin, with shiny black feathers and a green sheen to the feathers on its head, and in flight, its tail is spread out like a fan. There are only maybe a total of 3 or 4 that hang around in my yard. I've been wondering what they are for a bit now, as the only black birds I'm really used to seeing around here are crows and starlings. I've been trying to get a picture but all I have is my cell phone camera and the birds haven't been cordial enough to let me get closer for a picture.
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| # ? Mar 29, 2012 14:33 |
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the yeti posted:Ah, the time of year when people start showing me snakes they valiantly decapitated and asking if "its' a copperhead???????" Timely post! Because I'm curious what this is. I have a feeling we forced it into the water while walking up the path because it didn't seem to want to go swimming to flee at all but eventually did. Found it in the Tennessee River, in NE Alabama.![]() ![]()
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| # ? Mar 29, 2012 17:55 |
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PREYING MANTITS posted:Timely post! Because I'm curious what this is. I'm going with northern water snake, maybe the midlands subspecies based on where you are and that they seem to be a little more brightly colored. They can be ill-tempered, but harmless. Capable of musking and making GBS threads prodigiously if picked up
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| # ? Mar 29, 2012 19:12 |
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the yeti posted:I'm going with northern water snake, maybe the midlands subspecies based on where you are and that they seem to be a little more brightly colored. They can be ill-tempered, but harmless. Capable of musking and making GBS threads prodigiously if picked up Awesome thanks! It seemed to be a pretty chilled out snake, all things considered. It wasn't aggressive in the slightest and even the slowest of movements would send it hiding. As payment for modeling for a couple photos I dropped some minnows in the area it was in just for something to eat if it ever came back. ![]() edit: also snake poo poo is some of the most rancid smelling ever. I can see why it's an effective deterrent. PREYING MANTITS fucked around with this message at Mar 29, 2012 around 20:12 |
| # ? Mar 29, 2012 19:28 |
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The girlfriend and I ran into this guy one night just chilling on the side of our building. It was the biggest insect we'd ever seen, and some research confirmed that it is indeed the largest beetle species in North America (Ergates spiculatus, aka the pine sawyer beetle).![]() EDIT: this was in western Montana.
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| # ? Mar 29, 2012 20:38 |
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What a beautiful beetle! Although, for some reason, the first thing that I thought of when I saw it was The Metamorphosis Is the little yellowish bit sticking out from the back of the abdomen an ovipositor?
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| # ? Mar 30, 2012 00:44 |
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I went out herping the other day. Found some neat things. I hadn't been out long when I flipped this salamander under a log. ![]() Marbled salamander, Ambystoma opacum. Typically, you don't find them very often in the spring; they're fall-breeding mole salamanders. Mole salamanders (genus Ambystoma; not to be confused with the mole salamander, Ambystoma talpoideum) spend most of their adult lives underground, except for the breeding season, when they can be found near the surface or in breeding pools. And then I flipped another log and found this: ![]() Another opacum and a slimy salamander (Plethodon chlorobryonis or P. cylindraceus; it's a closely related complex (P. glutinosus complex) and I'm near the edge of the two species' ranges.) The slimy was really big, which was kinda neat; I typically see the smaller animals. I moved into some different habitat, and saw some of these on the ground. ![]() Spotted salamander (A. maculatum) egg mass that had dried out. We haven't had much rain, and a lot of the pools dried up before the eggs could hatch. Unless we get some rain soon, there will probably be a lot more dead; they're mostly in tire ruts, though most have maybe two weeks worth of water in them right now. Most of the eggs have hatched by now. I flipped a log and found this guy: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Adult spotted salamander. Usually you don't find many of them this late in the season, either, but he was hanging out near the surface. I was happy to see him; I hadn't seen any this year since I missed the migration. A little ways away, I found this little guy: ![]() Eurycea chamberlaini, I believe; could also be E. quadradigitata. I think E. chamberlaini was the most recently described salamander in the US, described in 2003. They're a species of dwarf salamander (a smaller version of E. cirrigera), and they're kinda neat; I think this might be the first one I've found. He must have been eating these worms; they were all over his log. ![]() I also saw this toad. ![]() A while later, I found these. ![]() Morels! A crapload of morels! I found two or three or maybe a few more than that. ![]() I kinda forgot about herping for a while after that, but I flipped a log and then noticed this round yellow circle. ![]() ![]() ![]() Diadolphis punctatus, a ringneck snake. Tiny little guy, really cute, too. They're actually mildly venomous but don't bite people, and in the one in a million chance that they accidentally do, it's not medically significant in humans. I went home to get another bag so I'd have something to hunt morels in, and came back. I found this slimy salamander under a huge log. ![]() I headed for a stream nearby and found three northern watersnakes (Nerodia sipidon.) ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Nerodia are also venomous, but again, it's not medically significant in humans. It's more of an anti-coagulant, so their bites hurt a bit more, and they bleed a little longer. They also tend to be very eager to bite, but I don't think I've been bit by once since I was six or so, when I had a pet water snake for a week before my parents made me let it go, and was bit many, many times. One today sort of bit me, but was too small to do anything: I felt his tooth scratching my finger when he missed his strike and was closing his mouth again. Really cute. ![]() Found that little Desmognathus spp. salamander; the only Desmog of the day, oddly enough. I also found a few three-lined salamanders (Eurycea guttolineata), but those pictures didn't turn out. Finally, at the end of the day, after finding a ton of animals I didn't expect to find, I found my target species, the queen snake (Regina septemvittata). ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() He was actually kind of bitey and kept striking at my camera. I'd only seen queen snakes once before (at this site), and had been to the site a few times to find them last year, but hadn't had any luck. They're state endangered in my home state (Wisconsin), so it's fun to see them where they're more common. I let him go, and he headed back into the rocks. ![]() Overall, it was a fun day. You can't really beat mushrooms and field herping.
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| # ? Mar 30, 2012 01:25 |
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OneTwentySix posted:I went out herping the other day. Found some neat things. Man, I want to hang out with you. We don't have nearly this many critters out here...
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| # ? Mar 30, 2012 01:46 |
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Those are some fancy sallies you found there. I haven't seen one in person in a long time. What are the best places to look?
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| # ? Mar 30, 2012 01:52 |
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![]() Sorry for the out of focus-ness, my phone refused to cooperate. I'm fairly certain this is a black rat snake. Two dogs on one of my study sites (private property) had it cornered, you can kinda see the blood on its side. I don't think it was dead though, because every time I tried to turn it over to take a picture it flipped back onto its belly, probably playing possum. After I took pictures I moved it to the other side of the fence so the dogs would leave it alone. ![]() And here's a eastern bluebird hunkered down in a nest box incubating eggs. Normally they fly off when my car pulls up (They recognize my car and the sound of car doors), but every now and then mom decides to chill on the nest some more. Today I had to pick a bird up off the nest to check her eggs and then put her back, and she still didn't fly away. Never had that happen before.
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| # ? Mar 30, 2012 01:59 |
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7thBatallion posted:Man, I want to hang out with you. We don't have nearly this many critters out here... Your profile says you're in Washington; you've got a ton of neat animals to look for! 14 species of salamander, and a lot of those are endemic to your state/region. I'd love to spend a week or two in the pacific northwest to go herping. You've also got some other neat herps (7 turtles, 7 lizards, 12 snakes, 13 frogs). It's not the best state for herping, but it's a bit better than back home in Wisconsin (7 1/3 species of salamander, 12 frogs, 12 snakes, 4 lizards, 12 turtles), and Wisconsin is still fun to herp. Detective Thompson posted:Those are some fancy sallies you found there. I haven't seen one in person in a long time. What are the best places to look? Where do you live? I've been giving some tips to a couple people; I can give you a run down of your state/area's species and what you're likely to find and where/how. ^^^ Yeah, that's a black rat snake. Poor guy, hope he can recover. I found a worm snake the other day with a really beat up tail that might have been through a similar encounter; I was going to upload that photo and forgot. He was doing okay, so maybe your snake will recover, too. ![]() ![]()
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| # ? Mar 30, 2012 02:15 |
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OneTwentySix posted:Where do you live? I've been giving some tips to a couple people; I can give you a run down of your state/area's species and what you're likely to find and where/how. I live in southeastern NH.
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| # ? Mar 30, 2012 02:32 |
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OneTwentySix posted:Your profile says you're in Washington; you've got a ton of neat animals to look for! 14 species of salamander, and a lot of those are endemic to your state/region. I'd love to spend a week or two in the pacific northwest to go herping. You've also got some other neat herps (7 turtles, 7 lizards, 12 snakes, 13 frogs). It's not the best state for herping, but it's a bit better than back home in Wisconsin (7 1/3 species of salamander, 12 frogs, 12 snakes, 4 lizards, 12 turtles), and Wisconsin is still fun to herp. Do you know of anything native to western Massachusetts? Pioneer Valley, to be more specific. I'm so jealous of all of you people getting to see cool turtles and frogs and salamanders.
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| # ? Mar 30, 2012 06:26 |
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OneTwentySix posted:Your profile says you're in Washington; you've got a ton of neat animals to look for! 14 species of salamander, and a lot of those are endemic to your state/region. I'd love to spend a week or two in the pacific northwest to go herping. You've also got some other neat herps (7 turtles, 7 lizards, 12 snakes, 13 frogs). It's not the best state for herping, but it's a bit better than back home in Wisconsin (7 1/3 species of salamander, 12 frogs, 12 snakes, 4 lizards, 12 turtles), and Wisconsin is still fun to herp. in the past 15 years I haven't seen a snake. Not a one. Never seen a lizard in my life up here, never seen a salamander, only seen bullfrogs, and as far as turtles go, I've seen a small snapper and a painted. Where the hell are these herps and why can't I see a thing anywhere but birds, fish, and mammals?
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| # ? Mar 30, 2012 07:39 |
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Every kid should catch a slimy salamander when they're young enough it overhangs their hands held together.
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| # ? Mar 30, 2012 12:45 |
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the yeti posted:Every kid should catch a slimy salamander when they're young enough it overhangs their hands held together. When I was about ten I rescued one from a bunch of younger boys who were mistreating it, and it still gives me the warm fuzzies. I'm sure they thought I was crazy, marching in there and demanding they give me the slimy thing they were poking with sticks.
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| # ? Mar 30, 2012 12:50 |
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My apologies for this derail!Detective Thompson posted:I live in southeastern NH. New Hampshire kinda stinks for salamanders; not a huge diversity (12 species), with a number of those species being restricted to a very small area. I used this site for range maps in NH: http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Wil...salamanders.htm Under each species, you'll see a link for a range map. Note that these maps aren't always complete, but they're generally fairly accurate. You have four Ambystoma and some unisexual hybrids (not sure if you have JLL or JJL, or others) Blue-spotted Salamander (Ambystoma laterale) Jefferson Salamander (Ambystoma jeffersonianum) Marbled Salamander (Ambystoma opacum) Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) Of those, opacum are endangered in the state, due to being at the edge of their range. The other three are all found in the SE part of the state. You might be a little late, given how the weather has been much warmer than normal, but now's the time to look for them. What you need to do is find a forested area near a small, hopefully fishless pond, a vernal pool, or even some tire tracks that hold water for a couple months a year. You should find spotted salamander egg masses in it; they're really conspicuous and there can be hundreds of them in an area. They'll generally be green and fairly large, though they have different shapes and color variations. Then, just go flip tons of cover objects in the woods near them; rotting logs work best. You'll have more luck the closer you are to the breeding season; I don't know when they'll go in NH, but in Wisconsin, it was always the end of March/early April, but this year was really warm. You can also go out at night and see if there are any animals in the water. You can find tons of them crossing the road if you go out during the first warm rain of the year, too. They'll all tend to use the same breeding ponds. Ambystomids will tend to vanish after the breeding season, but occasionally you can still find an adult near the surface, it just becomes harder and harder as time passes, until the fall, when they may be near the surface again. You'll also tend to find metamorphs after the middle of summer, since there will be tons of them leaving the ponds. You have two stream salamanders: Northern Dusky Salamander (Desmognathus fuscus) Northern Two-lined Salamander (Eurycea bislineata) These are both really common animals when they're present. Look for them in clean streams; some forest cover nearby may also help. They drastically decline when the stream becomes urbanized, though, so your best bets are streams that run through forests or moderately protected areas. They don't have the best distribution by that site's map, but I don't know how well they surveyed for them, and both species were at least historically found in parts of the SE part of the state. People don't tend to go out and survey for Desmogs and Eurycea unless they're doing a specific study on them, so you could easily find a new site for them, too. Just flip cover objects near or in the stream. I tend to find them under leaves near the stream, too, but the best bet are logs and rocks near the stream. Spring Salamander (Gyrinophilus porphyriticus) You also have Gyrinos, though you might need to drive a bit to find them, depending on where in the SE you are. You'll find them like Desmogs and Eurycea, but they're less common and need clean, cool mountain streams. I tend to find them under leaf litter, but have only found two adults. Larvae are very obvious; they're large and heavy bodied with prominent gills. Mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus) The best salamander. Unfortunately, it appears to be introduced or otherwise not very present in the state, so it's not worth looking for them in NH. Eastern/Red-spotted Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) Widespread across the state. Look for adults in forested ponds; typically Ambystoma will breed in these ponds, too. Notos can be found in ponds with larger fish, unlike Ambystomids most of the time, too. Just walk along the shore and watch for movement; they're fairly small and blend in well. Efts can be found under logs and leaves in the woods, or out in the open during a rain. They're bright red, small, and hard to miss. Four-toed Salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum) Hemis are really neat. Now is the time to find them; look for a sphagnum bog. One good bet is to go to the DNR website and search for them; sometimes you'll find a site that's listed as having them, since they're otherwise uncommon. You can also search for rare bog plants that they might list as having, since they can be found in the same sites. Regardless, find a sphagnum bog. Look for small islands of moss in the water, and then gently dig into them; if you're lucky, you'll turn up a female guarding eggs. You'll generally only find them at this time of the year. Northern Redback Salamander (Plethodon cinereus) Slimy Salamander (Plethodon glutinosus) Finally, you have two Plethodontids. The slimies are extremely limited in distribution in NH, so you won't find them, but redbacks tend to be everywhere. Flip rotting logs in a forested area, and you'll probably find some. Lady Charlemagne posted:Do you know of anything native to western Massachusetts? Pioneer Valley, to be more specific. I'm so jealous of all of you people getting to see cool turtles and frogs and salamanders. You've got the same species as Detective Thompson, except you don't have slimies. All of your species can be found in or near your area. You also have mudpuppies, but there's only one small area where they're confirmed to be, so they're probably not worth looking for; it's a lot of work, so it's best to do it only if you know for sure they're at the site. This site gives a list and range maps, but basically, just follow the advice I gave Detective Thompson, and you should be able to find a nice variety if you put in some effort. http://www.massherpatlas.org/amphib...iles/index.html 7thBatallion posted:in the past 15 years I haven't seen a snake. Not a one. Never seen a lizard in my life up here, never seen a salamander, only seen bullfrogs, and as far as turtles go, I've seen a small snapper and a painted. All of your salamanders are kind of hard to find if you're not specifically looking for them. This site has some species lists and a few fairly nice range maps: http://www.burkemuseum.org/herpetology/amphibians Ambystoma gracile, Northwestern salamander Ambystoma macrodactylum, Long-toed salamander Ambystoma mavortium melanostictum, Blotched tiger salamander You have three Ambystomids in your state. Gracile and macros should be in your area, with tigers being to the east a bit. They should be moving to the breeding pools fairly soon, if they haven't already, so take the advice I gave Detective Thompson on the Ambystomids there. Gracile lay very large, prominent egg masses, very similar to how maculatum do, so look for those to know if they're in the area. Gracile and mavortium are also possible neotenes, where they reach adulthood in the larval stage. This can happen a lot in mountain populations. If you have a pond where this is the case, you can find them any time of the year in the water. Using a seine net or just wading in the pond and watching for movement can be productive. It's hard to know when a population will be neotenic; if you have access to a university library, you can search JSTOR for species accounts and get a decent idea. If you really want to find a site, PM me and I'll see what I can dig up. Dicamptodon copei, Cope's giant salamander Dicamptodon tenebrosus, Coastal giant salamander You also have two giant salamanders, both of which can be found near you. Dicamptodon are really, really neat; they can get to over a foot long. They're closely related to the Ambystoma, but I don't know much about them; I've never seen one, even in captivity. Terrestrial adults are not generally found; they spend most of their time underground like Ambystoma do. Larvae and neotenic adults can be found in streams, though; flip rocks in cool, clear streams. I hear redwood forests are good places to look. Ensatina eschscholtzii, Ensatina Plethodon dunni, Dunn's salamander Plethodon larselli, Larch Mountain salamander Plethodon vandykei, Van Dyke salamander Plethodon vehiculum, Western red-backed salamander You've got four Plethodons and an Ensatina. I really don't know much about these Western species, but Ensatinas are really beautiful. All five of these species lay eggs on land that develop into small adults rather than larvae, so they don't need water, just humidity. You'll find them under rotting logs mostly. You have Ensatinas in your area, along with vehiculum and vandykei. The other two are a bit to your south-west (dunni) and south-east (larselli). Rhyacotriton cascadae, Cascade torrent salamander Rhyacotriton kezeri, Columbia torrent salamander Rhyacotriton olympicus, Olympic torrent salamander You also have three Rhyacotritons; they're all near your area, but to the west, SW, and south. I don't know much about Rhyacotritons; I get the feeling that they fill a similar niche to the Desmognathus and stream Eurycea. They're found in streams under rocks, cracks in wet cliff faces, rocks near the streams, and so on. They prefer cold, shaded streams that run through humid forests. Taricha granulosa, Rough-skinned newt And finally, you've got T. grans. Look for permanent and semi-permanent ponds, especially during the breeding season (which should start now, or soon). You might flip them under logs as they migrate to the breeding grounds. If you go out at night to a breeding pond at the right time, you might spot tons of them in these huge breeding orgies. Basically, if you want to find salamanders, find a humid forest and just start flipping logs. You'll definitely find something. And if that's your thing, try flipping rocks near streams. Anyhow, I hope that helps a little. Sorry for such a long post! the yeti posted:Every kid should catch a slimy salamander when they're young enough it overhangs their hands held together. And then when they slime you, and you get your hands stuck together. That stuff is a HUGE pain to get off; I try not to touch slimies when I don't have to, ha. Blue-spotted salamanders do the same thing, but only during the breeding season.
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| # ? Mar 30, 2012 14:53 |
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I remember my hands suddenly being coated with what felt like snot, rubber cement, and rotted wood more vividly than the salamander, really.
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| # ? Mar 30, 2012 15:08 |
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It's fun, isn't it? =) I knew slimies could do it, but when a blue-spotted got me for the first time, I was all, "Uh, what the hell?" I'd held tons of them before then as a kid and adult, and they never slimed me. I wiped my hand off on some snow, but even then it took forever to come off. Told my friend and he just laughed, "Yeah, laterale will do that."
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| # ? Mar 30, 2012 16:08 |
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At the time, it was the best thing ever. As a kid I had lousy luck finding with salamanders so finding a slimy was pretty memorable. In retrospect I was 8 and my hunting ground wasn't the best.
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| # ? Mar 30, 2012 16:34 |
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| # ? May 23, 2013 20:01 |
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Hey the yeti, if there's one thread to ask this it's probably here: What is that thing in your user picture? I can't help staring at it every time you post, it's mesmerizing.
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| # ? Mar 30, 2012 18:10 |




































I have a feeling we forced it into the water while walking up the path because it didn't seem to want to go swimming to flee at all but eventually did. Found it in the Tennessee River, in NE Alabama.








































