Slender salamanders (Batrachoseps)

I spent a couple of hours in the Monterey area looking for salamanders and came across these. They were easy to find in damp locations under logs.











There seemed to be at least two variations:






(Message edited by TJ on May 07, 2004)

I'm told that only B. luciae is known to occur in the Monterey area so I'm assuming that's what they are. They were found under pretty much any log heavy enough to retain some moisture underneath, such as this one under the tree:







I found that the conscientious way to search for them in a dry environment like that of central-southern California is not to just kick the log over and leave it there or to restore it haphazardly, but to, as best you can, put it back in the same way it was before being disturbed so that the microhabit doesn't dry out. This generally entails removing the sals while the log is being reset and then finding a space for them to slip under again

Here's a cute lil fella that was small enough to fit into my wife's wedding ring (and she's got very small fingers):

Another habitat pic:



The area was generally very dry, though there was a small creek:



Try as I might, I failed to find any Taricha or other sal species

Those are everywhere in Sonoma and Napa Counties as well. And I do mean everywhere. Everywhere that looks anything like the habitat pics you've provided, and there's plenty of that up here.