Ambystoma maculatum pics

David Tobler · Jun 19, 2008

I snapped some shots of one my spotties today. I picked up a group of 10 about 2 months ago, and finally got around to taking a picture today. I only snapped pictures of one of them. Hope you guys like them.

Otterwoman · Jun 19, 2008

Re: A. maculatum pics

Those are really pretty! Even the leaf is really pretty!

Jan · Jun 19, 2008

Re: A. maculatum pics

Very nice pictures.

Nathan050793 · Jun 19, 2008

Re: A. maculatum pics

Great pictures. Ahhh, it makes me love my own spottie even more.

ali000 · Jun 19, 2008

Re: A. maculatum pics

beautiful animal, looks very healthy, you must be extremely proud.

David Tobler · Jun 19, 2008

Re: A. maculatum pics

ali000 said:
beautiful animal, looks very healthy, you must be extremely proud.

Thanks, I got 9 more just like it. I only feed them a couple crickets every 7 to 10 days. I'm trying to keep them lean before attempting to breed them. I plan on bulking them up at the start of the breeding process.

Otterwoman · Jun 19, 2008

Re: A. maculatum pics

Where did they come from, that they have that orange?

fishkeeper · Jun 19, 2008

Re: A. maculatum pics

They look happy, plump, but not overly so. Did you ever take photos of the suspect spermatophores?

Fer · Jun 19, 2008

Re: A. maculatum pics

They are really beauty!!!

David Tobler · Jun 19, 2008

Re: A. maculatum pics

otterwoman said:
Where did they come from, that they have that orange?

Well, I'm not sure what location they came from. I'd think that they are fairly polymorphic with any given population. Not all of my spotties have orange spots on the head, just 5 out of the 10. I deffinately prefer the orange-spotted heads over the others. 1 has the pale spotting, and the others have all yellow spots.

I wonder if there's any field herpers in here that could give a guess on the locale?

David Tobler · Jun 19, 2008

Re: A. maculatum pics

fishkeeper said:
They look happy, plump, but not overly so. Did you ever take photos of the suspect spermatophores?

Hey, thanks. I never took a photo, I jumped the gun in assuming they were spermatophores. I think that the little white clumps were just broken up feces, or shed. I don't know, they disappered after a few days. Regardless of what they were, no eggs were produced by the females.

I'm going to attempt to breed these beasties following the natural reproductive pattern of our local Ambystomatid salamander, A.californiense. I've spent some time in the field observing the start of their migration, which usually starts around December in Central California.

dane_zu · Jun 20, 2008

Re: A. maculatum pics

very nice spotted, is your spotted more outgoing then the shy ones most people know?

As for locals, Im pretty sure orange spots on the head doesn't seem to only occur in one place, so it could be from anywhere.

Andy Avram · Jun 20, 2008

Re: A. maculatum pics

Nice shots of a very cool salamander. Too much WC herping for you. For the most part our eastern herps cannot be guessed to locality by color patterns. You guys can guess what road some of your herps come from! The orange in the head spots just happens in various populations (and unfortunately, it seems not in any populations near me).

Andy

David Tobler · Jun 21, 2008

Re: A. maculatum pics

dane_zu said:
very nice spotted, is your spotted more outgoing then the shy ones most people know?

As for locals, Im pretty sure orange spots on the head doesn't seem to only occur in one place, so it could be from anywhere.

All of mine are very skittish. It took awhile to get that spotted to sit still. He just wanted to crawl and hide underneath something.

David Tobler · Jun 21, 2008

Re: A. maculatum pics

Andy Avram said:
Nice shots of a very cool salamander. Too much WC herping for you. For the most part our eastern herps cannot be guessed to locality by color patterns. You guys can guess what road some of your herps come from! The orange in the head spots just happens in various populations (and unfortunately, it seems not in any populations near me).

Andy

How true, with the "what road" comment! I thought I recognized the name, you're from FHF. See what us WC (West Coast) herpers keep? Central and Eastern species!! Haha..

Plethodonae · Jul 4, 2008

Re: A. maculatum pics

Great pics! Everything came out clear. I really liked the background you put him in.

Kaysie · Jul 6, 2008

Re: A. maculatum pics

In addition to what others have said, be sure to enter some of your photographs into our Calender competition!

David Tobler · Jul 10, 2008

Well, I've entered the photo competition. I think a few have asked about my camera and flash setup previously. As John stated in the competition thread, and I'm sure I've posted before on here, my camera is a Sony F828. I use an auxilery (screws on the end, like a filter) Canon 500d close-up lens. I use the onboard flash, set at it's lowest power. I diffuse the light using a plastic milk container mounted with a few elastic straps around the body and lens. I place the plastic diffuser as close as I can to the end of the lens barrel to minimize lens shadow.

You can catch a glimpse of my camera and diffuser in this picture.

David Tobler · Jul 10, 2008

I do wish I had a DSLR with a true 1:1 macro lens for these little guys...

Batrachoseps m. major - Garden Slender Salamander

John · Jul 10, 2008

David Tobler said:
I place the plastic diffuser as close as I can to the end of the lens barrel to minimize lens shadow.

And that gives you pretty awesome diffusion because you're diffusing already diffuse light. I need to rig something like that for my flash because the diffusion dome doesn't cut it for close-up.

Ambystoma maculatum pics

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