esn
New member
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2011
- Messages
- 518
- Reaction score
- 17
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Portland, Oregon
- Country
- United States
- Display Name
- Elena
Hello,
This rainy night I was hunting earthworms for my salamander buddies and discovered something amazing - I have Plethodon Vehiculum on my campus!
They were down near the gardens in crevices in a concrete brick wall that ran for about 20 yards. I found them in cracks less than an inch wide, and 5 specimens roaming on moss. I found none in drier portions of the wall, only the portions covered in moss. There were millipedes, beetles, earthworms, and slugs accompanying them, which I assume they fed on the offspring of.
I found a range of sizes from 1 1/2 inches to 4 inches. I found 14 in total, and one was a mother that had just deposited 5 eggs deep into the crack. I could not retrieve the mother or the eggs, but I'll go back to that spot later. I had two containers for worms, and sacrificed the opportunity to get more worms by collecting some specimens. I was only able to catch 9, but they're brilliant. When I put them in, they secreted a bubbly foam sort onto the plastic until I got a small amount of water and moss in there with them. I brought them back to my room as they are legal to collect and keep without a permit. I have them on very damp paper towels followed by sphagnum and frog moss. I just fed them a bunch of fruit flies from my cultures. Delightful to watch them eat. Curiously, they seem to have no predator reflexes or defensive stances. They just sit there. They don't even run away. They were so easy to catch, almost docile.
Cute, no? Put them in a temporary shoe box - bigger enclosure later. For these little guys, how big do you think it should be? They're mostly around 3 inches at most, except for one biggie.
This rainy night I was hunting earthworms for my salamander buddies and discovered something amazing - I have Plethodon Vehiculum on my campus!
They were down near the gardens in crevices in a concrete brick wall that ran for about 20 yards. I found them in cracks less than an inch wide, and 5 specimens roaming on moss. I found none in drier portions of the wall, only the portions covered in moss. There were millipedes, beetles, earthworms, and slugs accompanying them, which I assume they fed on the offspring of.
I found a range of sizes from 1 1/2 inches to 4 inches. I found 14 in total, and one was a mother that had just deposited 5 eggs deep into the crack. I could not retrieve the mother or the eggs, but I'll go back to that spot later. I had two containers for worms, and sacrificed the opportunity to get more worms by collecting some specimens. I was only able to catch 9, but they're brilliant. When I put them in, they secreted a bubbly foam sort onto the plastic until I got a small amount of water and moss in there with them. I brought them back to my room as they are legal to collect and keep without a permit. I have them on very damp paper towels followed by sphagnum and frog moss. I just fed them a bunch of fruit flies from my cultures. Delightful to watch them eat. Curiously, they seem to have no predator reflexes or defensive stances. They just sit there. They don't even run away. They were so easy to catch, almost docile.
Cute, no? Put them in a temporary shoe box - bigger enclosure later. For these little guys, how big do you think it should be? They're mostly around 3 inches at most, except for one biggie.