Grotto pics

Here's some more photos of my T. spelaeus. These guys are definitely a pain to photo. Spring is in the air so I wanted to show you all what I'm seeing...

Good ole Mr. Pink


Jaw muscles are even more enlarged than usual... approaching Aneides proportions even? You can't really see it in the photos, but the dorsal ridge of his tail has become a little more enlarged too near the region where E. multiplicata have the enlarged hedonic glands


My newest, most secretive individual. Still don't know its sex yet.


This animal was very beat up and emaciated when I found it. Life must be brutally hard in the caves. You can still see some scars on its body and on its tail especially, but it's slowly bulking up.


This is my female.


Notice in this photo and the last you can see the creamy hint of eggs through her side! Let's just say I'm "happy" about this development and fingers are crossed for a summer mating.


I have a 4th adult, but it was behind the rock wall and didn't want it's photo taken. This one is very light like the big male. Typhlotriton do come in various shades of pink, grey, and brown.

Great Pics of A Great Species Nate. I just love that name, Mr. Pink

Here's a few more pics:

Very cool, Nate. Beat up by what? Fighting amongst each other in the caves? Do the larvae of this species have direct development or do they go through a larvae stage?

Hi Tim, I think they get beat up by each other, crayfish, fish, and there are also some pretty formidable cave invertebrates. Not only that, but where these guys exist in bat-less caves, the food seems to be exceptionally scarce. It really depends on the cave and the fauna present I'd think. I've certainly seen big, healthy adults in caves that do not appear to have any scars or troubles finding food.

I should mention 3 of the 4 adults I have were collected above ground in a spring, after heavy rains. There is no visible cave entrance anywhere near this spring. Seems that the "stragglers" tend to get flushed out from underground at this particular site. All 3, including Mr. Pink, were very thin and covered in scars.

They have a very long larval stage. There's some photos of the larvae at the Caudata Culture species entry.