Herpin' the Hills of the Ozarks

[KingCam]

I posted this story on fieldherpforum.com & caudata.org already, and I thought some of you might enjoy it also, so here it is

My little brother and I decided to take advantage of a storm forecasted for Sunday by hiking in the woods in search of salamanders.

We entered the woods at around 1:00PM. It was about 55F degrees, and lightly raining outside. It was quite windy. These woods are very very rocky. In many places there is no soil, just rocks, moss, and plants. They are also quite steep and difficult to navigate. The valley of each hill had nice clear spring-fed creeks and streams.

Unfortunately I did not have my digital camera with me. I had to resort to using my cell phone to snap some photos. I think these are easily some of the best photos I've ever taken with a cell phone. I'm quite pleased with how they came out, considering the less than desirable conditions.













And finally the first salamander!! 1:15PM 55F, Cloudy, Rain subsiding.











A few habitat shots. These photos came out very drab and dull looking due to the overcast skies. The photos look nothing like what we were seeing with our own eyes. There was moss all over everything, and every patch of it was a vibrant lush green. It was stunning, I wish I could have captured the beauty with photographs.





Ready for something truly unusual? According to an expert on salamanders, this could very possibly be a hybrid between a cave salamander & a dark-sided salamander. If any of you have any ideas as to what it could be, please offer them up.

This salamander was discovered by my brother at the bottom of a hill. The ground flattened out and there was a grassy flat area between the foot of the hill and the creek. He was under a large flat rock in the middle of this grassy area.

The rain had just started again, and was getting heavier fast.

2:07PM, 55F, Raining











And now for some more western slimys :P At this point it's raining pretty heavily.

2:15PM, 55F, Heavy Rain






^ Above is the last photo my cell phone was able to take in the woods before the battery was completely dead.

At 3:06PM we found two species of salamander I've never been able to find before. They were all in the same rock structure right on the edge of the creek. The structure was like shelves of limestone with deep recesses full of loose rock fragments, moss, leaf litter, soil, and water. I wish my cell phone had been working just to take some habitat photos

The rain was at an all out down pour at this point. Thankfully we had packed rain gear and were carrying it with us on our hike.

I had several spare jars in my back pack, so we put leaf litter and soil in them to temporarily hold the salamanders. We hiked back up the hill, out of the woods, and to the house. I let my cell phone charge for about 20 minutes, which gave me just enough of a charge to photograph 4 of the 5 specimens we had jarred.

We brought some mossy rocks, a fern, and a flower from the woods with us to pose the salamanders on. All of the photos below were taken on the back porch of the house.

I could have charged the phone again to photograph the last specimen, but I didn't want to stress these delicate critters out anymore than I already had.





























After we took these photos we hiked back into the woods and released them exactly where we found them.

We encountered several more western slimy salamanders, and 1 pickerel frog before we called it a day at around 4:30PM. Unfortunately we did not get photographs of them due to my cell phone situation.

Thanks for looking. Hope you enjoyed my post

[Heatheranne]

Truly awesome! And great pictures!

[KingCam]

Truly awesome! And great pictures!

Thank you

[toxxxickitten]

Awesome finds. I also have to agree they are pretty good pictures for being cell phone pictures.

[KingCam]

Awesome finds. I also have to agree they are pretty good pictures for being cell phone pictures.

Thank you I was really bummed about not having my camera, but my cell phone came through for me (for the most part).

[ViperJr]

You can not comprehend the amount of jealousy directed at you right now, if that's what a field herp generates for you...

Side note, I really like Eurycea lucifuga and someday, when the stars align and pigs can fly, I will get some. Your beautiful pictures of them just made this urge even stronger.

[Heatheranne]

I'd have to agree...quite jealous . We went to Cook's Forest in Pennsylvania this past summer and took a nice hike trying to find salamanders, frogs & toads and only found a few very small black salamanders near a creek in the leaf litter, though very cute. We did find a few crayfish in the creek also.

[KingCam]

You can not comprehend the amount of jealousy directed at you right now, if that's what a field herp generates for you...

Side note, I really like Eurycea lucifuga and someday, when the stars align and pigs can fly, I will get some. Your beautiful pictures of them just made this urge even stronger.

Hahaha, I'm sorry! But I must say, I'm usually the one looking at posts getting jealous. It's kinda nice to be on the other side of that for once! LOL

These are the first cave salamanders I've ever managed to find. It was a truly magical moment, and I'm glad I got to share the experience with my younger brother.

You want to keep E.lucifuga as a pet? Are they difficult to keep? I desperately wanted to collect one, but I didn't know their requirements, therefore I did what I felt was best and released them all right where we found them.

Thanks for your comment

I'd have to agree...quite jealous . We went to Cook's Forest in Pennsylvania this past summer and took a nice hike trying to find salamanders, frogs & toads and only found a few very small black salamanders near a creek in the leaf litter, though very cute. We did find a few crayfish in the creek also.

:P I usually have little to no luck finding salamanders. I think I've finally got it figured out Until this hike I had never seen anything except western slimy salamanders in the wild.

[ViperJr]

You want to keep E.lucifuga as a pet? Are they difficult to keep? I desperately wanted to collect one, but I didn't know their requirements, therefore I did what I felt was best and released them all right where we found them.

Yes, as "pets" in a nice terrarium. I haven't done nearly enough research about them in captivity, but from what I've heard they're quite delicate and their enclosure-requirement are rather unusual, since you basically want a moist cave as a setup. Can't really tell you any more that that, since I don't know much more about them in captivity.
On another side note, I'm glad you did not keep any of them.

[UncleChester]

Good stuff! The tiny snake is probably my favorite of the bunch

[KingCam]

Good stuff! The tiny snake is probably my favorite of the bunch

Thanks I have a special fondness for worm snakes. I have a worm snake to thank for my girlfriend being into my field herping hobby with me. She was scared of snakes when we met, but I drug her into the woods anyway. The first snake we found was a medium sized worm snake.


It took me about 5 minutes, but after assuring her several times that this snake would not herm her, or even attempt to bite her, she finally agreed to hold it. He kept trying to dig down between her fingers, but after I explained to her that he was only trying to escape into the darkness, she wasn't scared of him anymore. She fell in love with the little guy immediately!


Now she's semi-comfortable grabbing hold of 5' or 6' wild black rat snakes!

[Heatheranne]

Awe !!!

[UncleChester]

...She was scared of snakes when we met, but I drug her into the woods anyway...

Hmm, can't argue with the results but this sort of thing can get you in trouble.


Seriously, that's a nice story on how you and a wee worm snake converted her.

[KingCam]

Hmm, can't argue with the results but this sort of thing can get you in trouble. .

HA! I just pictured a caveman clubbing a mate and dragging her by the hair into his den.

[mikesfrogs]

She was scared of snakes when we met, but I drug her into the woods anyway...

THATS AWSOME. LOL

I think i was alittle to harsh on mine telling her to get use to 17ft retics.lol

[KingCam]

She was scared of snakes when we met, but I drug her into the woods anyway...

THATS AWSOME. LOL

I think i was alittle to harsh on mine telling her to get use to 17ft retics.lol

LOL! Yeah, she would NOT have been okay with those this time last year XD I still dunno if she would be :P

[mikesfrogs]

Ya a few times they got ahold of me.ol

[KingCam]

Ya a few times they got ahold of me.ol

Wow! No thanks!

[tgampper]

Great story! I really love those salamanders Thanks for sharing.