Ensatinas?

[joseph]

Been reading on these guys. They sound pretty interesting. I remember last November I came across what was probably an adult E. e xanthopica...but of course left it where it was.


I've done a bit of research...and it turns out that E. e. platensis is in my county. Thats about the last thing I would expect as it is dry and hot here(110 degrees in July). Turns out they are one of my favorite subspecies after browsing the pics


So for the questions...

What are the restrictions for collecting ensatinas for personal use. I heard that you can only keep 4 WC individuals at any given time and all you need is a fishing license. The number is fine with me.

How hard are they to keep? What temps/foods/housing do they require. I'm guessing you will only see them once every couple weeks...and even then only at night.

Also, how would you locate the juveniles? I don't think I would want to take fully grown breeders from the population.

 

[paris]

i think you have the rules right. i kept mine at 65 and lost some -so they now live in the fridge fine. they are found in high densities in some areas and mixed in with the adults will be hatchlings too-some under the same piece of bark. i got mine from an area of woods that had recently been cut down-there were piles of bark all around and some logs with bark peeling away. i found mine during the day. they do well in a woodland set up with areas that are dry (like stacks of bark and dry leaves and on the other side mine have live moss.

 

[joseph]

How big of a tank would you need to houjse them? any other ways to keep them cool?

Thanks!

 

[russ]

They're relatively easy to keep. Though I have to disagree with Paris about the temps. Mine do fine into the mid 70's, though I prefer ~65F. I even had some in the low 80's once while living in UT and didn't lose a one (and I have several of the subs), but I would definitely avoid that kind of temp. But you don't need a fridge. I feed mine crickets and wax worms. They're on a pine bark substrate with varying cover. I think where people run into a problem with caudate temps is direct sunlight moving around a room through the day. My herp room only receives diffused natural light.

If platensis is in your county they're in the upper elevations (4000+). I'm assuming you live in the central valley. Of all the subs I have found that platensis is the only one you have to really cool off (~40F) to get to ovulate.

Pick up a copy of CA's fishing regs to get the straight poop, but you have it generally correct. Just remember that you have to ALWAYS have a valid license as long as they're in you possession in CA. So if you collected some this year and never left the state, you'd have to keep buying an annual license every year as long as you held them.

RUSS

 

[joseph]

What happens if you get babies? Are they restricted? The habitat pics on livingunderworld.org show Fresno county...that shows what you would see a few miles out of the city(say, if you were headed to Yosemite, but not in the mountains yet).

Even in Fresno city it gets down to 40 degrees, though I seriously doubt any caudates live in that area.

 

[russ]

You have to give them away (no sales). That's the problem with CA, its not friendly to breeding native species.

They're not in Fresno for sure. But you are correct, they're just up the canyons. I've seen them along 180 above 5000ft.

RUSS

 

[joseph]

Wouldn't selling them create a a commercial demand in a sense. Praps that would encourage poaching.


What kinds of foods do they eat?

(Message edited by fishkeeper on June 13, 2004)

 

[russ]

That's why CA regulates native species the way they do, they don't want the bother with differentiating between CB and WC. That topic becomes a real circle j#$k.

I feed my adults 1/8-1/4in crickets and wax worms. Hatchling I start on springtails and graduate to fruit flies, then 1/8in crickets.

RUSS

 

[greg]

Russ Cormack please e-mail me. I've lost your e-mail address in a tragic Mac OS X reinstallation.


thanks,
greg