Andy Avram
New member
I have been a forum reader for many a year but have only recently begun to post.
This has been posted on another forum before, so some of you may have seen it already, but if not I hope you enjoy.
I tried unsuccessfully in 2005 to find Ohio Hellbenders (I have seen them in PA before) and decided to try again this past summer.
July 8, 2007, we are in the middle of large drought in Ohio and the streams are running low and the weather is running hot. Perfect for stream walking. I made my girlfriend, Jess, come with me, despite some of her objections. We hit the stream early afternoon and I began flipping the biggest rocks I could. I was looking for areas similar to what a friend who found them in the area had described and what I found my PA benders in.
We were getting to the end of our rope (and I had to bribe Jess with a restaurant of her choice if she found the first one) when we came to a perfect looking area. A large cliff against a deep hole in the stream with many large rock chunks. I flipped a large rock and waited about a minute and a half before scooping my net through the silt. Nothing. Reluctantly I put the rock down and turned around the lift another large one when it materialized out of the depths. A giant Hellbender was crawling towards me and the rock pile. Whether I spooked it out and it was returning to the rock pile or if it was just wandering I can’t say but either way I was screaming Hellbender as I guided it into the net.
Many pictures were taken and once when grabbed it opened its mouth and tried to bite, those suckers have TEETH! But overall it was pretty cooperative. I believe it may have impaired sight, or blind as its eyes seemed white and distant. A seamstress tape measure put it at just over 21” and part of its tail was missing, so I would guess an honest 2’ individual. After letting the beast go it slowly crawled around the deep hole as if it wasn’t sure where to go, again I think it was blind. We walked a little further but saw nothing more.
Now to the good stuff… the pictures!
The beast in all its glory!
Check out the eyes, you can vaguely see the cloudiness.
The release…
Off he goes…
Here is his rock pile.
Lastly, me looking on as the creature goes back into his watery lair.
Fast forward a month and half. I was lucky enough to jump on part of the 2007 Ohio Hellbender survey on August 30. We were going to meet up at 12-noon, which meant I didn’t have to wake up at the butt-crack of dawn to make the 3 hour drive. I still ended up getting there an hour early so I wandered around a nearby cemetery. I always find those places morbidly fascinating. Finally, people start showing up and with a crew of 7, including myself, we drove to a nice section of stream and hopped in.
Habitat shots.
More habitat shots.
Pretty quickly we found an adult Queen Snake, unfortunately, my camera is inside 2 bags and on the other shore so I didn’t get pictures. Regrets. The snake had a few water blisters on it and lots of nasty feces from it and of course lots of people held it but only I got bit.
A few minutes later a large rock is lifted and one of guys is snorkeling in the stirred up silt and BAM! first Bender of the trip! Due to an unfortunate series of circumstances the salamander was lifted from the net for some pictures and with a flick of its tail it was sailing through the air to freedom. Last I saw it was hell-bent (<-- how’s that for a pun?) on disappearing. A little while and a Bullfrog later another HUGE rock buried in the muck was lifted and another Bender was captured. This time it was put in a bucket and taken to shore right away for processing. This one was probably about 20” in total length and was a recapture as told by a pit tag.
Here is a shot of the team hard at work.
The release.
That is an awesome head.
After some more searching and nothing we moved a few miles downstream. A relatively small rock was lifted and the smallest Hellbender I have ever seen was captured. This one measured about 10-12” in total length. Also the Hellbender that made it official that I have now seen more Hellbenders than Mudpuppies (what’s up with that?). Nothing else herp-wise was seen that trip but a few possible Hellbenders were seen by one of the leaders as he snorkeled around.
In a bucket.
In a stream.
As a parting shot here is one of me with the larger Hellbender, also one of the few pictures that include me with an animal (that is what happens when you typically have the camera). Picture by Katy G.
Andy
This has been posted on another forum before, so some of you may have seen it already, but if not I hope you enjoy.
I tried unsuccessfully in 2005 to find Ohio Hellbenders (I have seen them in PA before) and decided to try again this past summer.
July 8, 2007, we are in the middle of large drought in Ohio and the streams are running low and the weather is running hot. Perfect for stream walking. I made my girlfriend, Jess, come with me, despite some of her objections. We hit the stream early afternoon and I began flipping the biggest rocks I could. I was looking for areas similar to what a friend who found them in the area had described and what I found my PA benders in.
We were getting to the end of our rope (and I had to bribe Jess with a restaurant of her choice if she found the first one) when we came to a perfect looking area. A large cliff against a deep hole in the stream with many large rock chunks. I flipped a large rock and waited about a minute and a half before scooping my net through the silt. Nothing. Reluctantly I put the rock down and turned around the lift another large one when it materialized out of the depths. A giant Hellbender was crawling towards me and the rock pile. Whether I spooked it out and it was returning to the rock pile or if it was just wandering I can’t say but either way I was screaming Hellbender as I guided it into the net.
Many pictures were taken and once when grabbed it opened its mouth and tried to bite, those suckers have TEETH! But overall it was pretty cooperative. I believe it may have impaired sight, or blind as its eyes seemed white and distant. A seamstress tape measure put it at just over 21” and part of its tail was missing, so I would guess an honest 2’ individual. After letting the beast go it slowly crawled around the deep hole as if it wasn’t sure where to go, again I think it was blind. We walked a little further but saw nothing more.
Now to the good stuff… the pictures!
The beast in all its glory!
Check out the eyes, you can vaguely see the cloudiness.
The release…
Off he goes…
Here is his rock pile.
Lastly, me looking on as the creature goes back into his watery lair.
Fast forward a month and half. I was lucky enough to jump on part of the 2007 Ohio Hellbender survey on August 30. We were going to meet up at 12-noon, which meant I didn’t have to wake up at the butt-crack of dawn to make the 3 hour drive. I still ended up getting there an hour early so I wandered around a nearby cemetery. I always find those places morbidly fascinating. Finally, people start showing up and with a crew of 7, including myself, we drove to a nice section of stream and hopped in.
Habitat shots.
More habitat shots.
Pretty quickly we found an adult Queen Snake, unfortunately, my camera is inside 2 bags and on the other shore so I didn’t get pictures. Regrets. The snake had a few water blisters on it and lots of nasty feces from it and of course lots of people held it but only I got bit.
A few minutes later a large rock is lifted and one of guys is snorkeling in the stirred up silt and BAM! first Bender of the trip! Due to an unfortunate series of circumstances the salamander was lifted from the net for some pictures and with a flick of its tail it was sailing through the air to freedom. Last I saw it was hell-bent (<-- how’s that for a pun?) on disappearing. A little while and a Bullfrog later another HUGE rock buried in the muck was lifted and another Bender was captured. This time it was put in a bucket and taken to shore right away for processing. This one was probably about 20” in total length and was a recapture as told by a pit tag.
Here is a shot of the team hard at work.
The release.
That is an awesome head.
After some more searching and nothing we moved a few miles downstream. A relatively small rock was lifted and the smallest Hellbender I have ever seen was captured. This one measured about 10-12” in total length. Also the Hellbender that made it official that I have now seen more Hellbenders than Mudpuppies (what’s up with that?). Nothing else herp-wise was seen that trip but a few possible Hellbenders were seen by one of the leaders as he snorkeled around.
In a bucket.
In a stream.
As a parting shot here is one of me with the larger Hellbender, also one of the few pictures that include me with an animal (that is what happens when you typically have the camera). Picture by Katy G.
Andy
