Cave Sals in IL

A

aaron

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Cave Salamanders: awesome lil critters that EVERYONE should see in person
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Habitat:
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As you can see, I really liked those guys-all of those pics were taken in the dark of night
 
Thanks for the kind words, I'm glad you enjoyed them. They're even more spectacular in person
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My goodness there is a lot of them! Wonderful sals indeed.

Nice avatar as well Aaron, is that a dwarf sungazer?
 
Dave, Southern IL is as far as I'll go in divulging their location, as they're pretty easy to get to and it would be pretty easy to capture most of them within a few minutes.

Kyle, about my avatar, I've heard them called dwarf sungazers, but I believe the proper name is "Armadillo Lizard".

(Message edited by Babamba on May 24, 2005)
 
My country don't have such places to explore for Sal or newts....
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What an absolute awesome set of pictures, Aaron. Thanks for sharing. From the pics, it looks like they walk up the walls Gecko style?
 
Walking up a cave wall should be cake for these guys. Some Plethodontids can climb glass.
 
Most salamanders and newts can climb glass according to adhesion of their wet skin. Here you can see a Fire Salamander climb his tank.

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Much more difficult it is, to climb rough surfaces, as walls or trees, but even that do Fire Sals manage, but only at a certain ankle:

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(bigger version of these photos you can see HERE

Really fantastic pics and fascinating creatures, Aaron
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(Message edited by Inshi on May 24, 2005)
 
jeff check this out

http://herpcenter.ipfw.edu/outreach/accounts/amphibians/salamanders/Cave_Salamander/CaveSal_group_climb_GL.jpg

apparently this is a not uncommon site...if you have access to caves and live in the right area

i have this really great photo of a group of them climbing straight up a wall,i cant find the source anymore on the web and its file size is too big to post-i also cant adjust the size either since its bitmap, i dont know who took it,but i do have a saved version on my computer just cause its soooo cool, if any one wants to see it i can email it to them
 
WOW! i'm really surprised to see a fire salamander climbing glass because of their mass. The ambystomids i've kept in the past never showed the ability to do this and i assumed similarly sized animals would be unable to do so.
 
I know an example from Neurergus strauchii barani, which climbed up glass in a row one after the other
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Unfortunately, I haven´t got a picture here to show you
 
Aaron, great photos. How far were you from live water where you saw these guys. I went out in Arkansas a few weeks ago at night and saw three, but they were extremely skitish. I only saw one at each spot I went to and all three spots had active water so I wasn't sure if I might find some in other damp locations that were not that close to active water. I had a spot light and was afraid that I might damage their eyes if I held it on them for more than a few seconds. It was the first time I had ever looked for any...they are beautiful creatures!
 
It was amazing to see how easily these guys climbed up the vertical rock walls.
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We were approximately 15 meters from a very small pool(1 meter from side to side) fed by an underground spring. There is also a huge swamp about 60 meters from this site.
 
I almost missed these photos. Nice! I'll bet you really enjoyed yourself, Aaron.

How deep in the cave can they be found, do you suppose? I guess these were found near the cave's entrance, what with the moss growing there and all...
 
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