Ambystom texanum mystery...

Last September, right after I had finished mowing the lawn, I went to bed. (I work graveyard shift). My wife took our pug dogs out for a romp in the yard, when Chuy, the half Pug/ half Chihuahua started his hopping bark he does when he finds a snake. My wife ran over to save the snake from a quick demise, when she saw that Chuy had in fact found a large salamander cruising through the fresh cut grass.

Of course, I didn't find out about this until this morning while doing research for the upcoming field herping season here. A. texanum is a protected species here in Nebraska, but my goal is to find and photograph a some in a few weeks. I was explaining this to my wife and showing her the pictures from Caudate Culture when she got very excited and told me of her encounter last fall. She even managed to dig up the picture she took of it with her cellphone. While not a very useful picture for identification, It appears to be in fact an Ambystoma texanum.

Here's the mystery:

The closest body of water is nearly 3/4 of a mile away, and it is a pretty badly polluted stream that runs most of its course under our town in a tube. Its devoid of pretty much everything save the occasional snapping turtle or bullfrog. While I don't deny it may have been the source of this A. texanum, do these little guys travel that far over dry land? It was a very dry late summer here and it seemed shocking to me to find a salamander in our yard.

I have since spent the last few hours learning all I can about them, but it seems very unlikely to me. It appears I am a bit aways from the actual limited range of this species in Nebraska. Any input? I ask only because I am hoping folks can lend some input, it will make my expeditions a bit more exciting if I can get lucky searching close to home. Saves me a bit of a drive to known texanum territory.

NOTES: I am unable to post the picture as her phone's USB port is damaged, and she doesn't have a plan that allows here to send it, not that it is much of a photo. Also, Chuy was very upset she took his "prey" away, but he quickly recovered with a new tennis ball.

They don't lay in streams, so that's out. Ambystoma texanum breeds in temporary pools that fill after the rains. Around that time you should be able to find them under fallen wood near swampy areas in forests. Be warned though, A. texanum is quite secretive, so you could spend a few hours in their habitat and never find them, so don't get your hopes up. If there isn't habitat like this where you live, then we may need to re-evaluate your species identification.

Aside from this, are you sure you didn't find a tiger salamander? I don't recall hearing anyone call Ambystoma texanum large. Tigers are large and I would imagine they are easier to run into in Nebraska.