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<i>Onychodactylus japonicus</i> habitat (2004)

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sharon

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Oh you lucky man!!! LOL! I wonder if I could get my relatives to export a few of those for me...??? LOL! JK.

I spent 5 hours today digging around in our local river for Arizona Tigers... ugh, I smell bad. All I found were WAY to many spiders, a huge bunch of crayfish/crawdads and net loads of unidentified tadpoles OH and a pair of olive green snakes w/an orange band around their necks breeding. Got that on dig cam and camcorder!

I love Japan and can't wait to visit again!
Sharon
 

TJ

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Hi. Well, even if you did try having them exported by normal post, I doubt they'd survive the trip without special measures being taken as this species is very sensitive to heat, especially larvae, which require temps under 20C to survive
wink.gif


As for being lucky, well, lucky to live in Japan maybe but as far as accessing this site goes, there was more hard work than luck involved. It took a lenghty drive, followed by a long walk up a mountain road closed to vehicles due to rockfall, and then an hour and a half of strenuous hiking, most of it not on trails (and while wearing undersized spiked wading boots). Finding larvae in the main stream was relatively easy. Finding adults,however, required fairly treacherous climbing way up a steep, rocky feeder stream. Two days later, muscles I didn't even know I had are still aching! And getting there was one thing but actually finding Onychodactylus japonicus required real expertise (something I lacked). I only found one larvae on my own, and only after coaching -- and it got away
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My two very experienced friends found three adults (of which two were captured) and four larvae, among them a Hynobius kimurae larvae.

(Message edited by TJ on June 01, 2004)
 

TJ

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I should point out that one reason it's much easier to find O.j larvae than adults of this species is that the larvae inhabit cool mountain streams year-round. It takes as long as three years for them to morph!

Here's a link with some more pics of adults and larvae:

http://www.rieo.net/amph/saramand/sansyouo/onych.htm
 
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jennifer

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Awesome job, Tim! I'm quite impressed, both by your hard working in getting there and your photography! I think you know where these photos are going to end up
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TJ

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Thanks Jen. I'm very glad to hear that...though it doesn't do much to relieve my aching muscles
uhoh.gif


You're certainly welcome to use them on Caudate Culture. The habitat pics look much nicer if enlarged a bit. I'm confused as this site usually takes my pics at 630 pixels in width but for some reason this time around I had to reduce them to below 500!

(<font color="ff0000">I've since figured out the problem and readjusted the size of the pics</font>)

Let me know if you require the originals
wink.gif


Uhnfortunately, the mountains were shrouded in mist for most of the day so many of the pics I took didn't come out all that well, using the normal mode camera setting.

I was tempted to post pics of a rare hammerhead leech and a truly exquisite yellow cone-shaped mushroom we happened across
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. We saw signs posted on the way in warning of bears but didn't see any, though we did hear some deer calls. Monkeys also inhabit this beautiful area and there is a huge limestone cave in the vicinity.

(Message edited by TJ on June 01, 2004)
 

TJ

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Aside from one juvie and one adult, I brought back two larvae for observation, which I'm keeping in a small fridge. I've rigged an external thermostat by drilling a small hole in an unwired side of the fridge and inserting the sensor through it. They're being kept at 18C. Anything over 20C is supposed to be lethal.

The adults are being kept with moss and rocks in a container located directly under the air conditioner, with an inserted ice pack that's changed 2-3 times a day.
 

TJ

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These are some pics from an exciting trip I took over a weekend in May to the mountains west of Tokyo. The size of the pics and their order have been changed somewhat from when I originally posted them.

16428.jpg



(Message edited by TJ on June 01, 2004)
 

TJ

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Here's another habitat pic. Check out the funky mushroom in the left part of the first pic
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16440.jpg


16441.jpg
 

TJ

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Here's the hammerhead leech that I mentioned:

16444.jpg
 

TJ

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Here's an action shot of a friend intensively engaged in a sal search:

16448.jpg
 
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john

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Tim, that last photo in itself is beautiful. I want to go to Japan ;).
 
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