I think I got some Ensatina eschscholtzii oregonensis eggs on my hands...

[NathanF]

Alright so here's the story...I live in Southern Ontario and I saw a post online about a florist who opened a box of flowers around Valentines and what she thought was a worm turned out to be a salamander. I contacted the women and her daughter let me have the salamander. Having no chance to return to the wild in Oregon(where the flowers and greenery had come from) and seeing as how I had quite a bit of experience and 17 caudates of my own they thought I would be better suited to take care of the animal. It wasn't hard to narrow down the possibilities and I am now 100% sure I have an Ensatina eschscholtzii oregonensis(I'm pretty sure I even know what county it's from).

Anyways, in looking the animal over I noticed not only was it's underside nearly transparent, but inside my new little friend was at minimum 10 round white...??? what I think to be eggs, but I'm not sure. I tried to turn the animal over and take a picture, but she didn't like that and secreted white milky toxin all over my fingers.

So I have two questions about my little Ensatina eschscholtzii oregonensis first of all...HOW BAD IS IT'S TOXIN ON MY SKIN BECAUSE MY FINGERS ARE TINGLING??? and secondly: Would that be eggs I'm seeing in her belly!?!?!

Let me know your thoughts...Thanks

 

[axolotlfriend]

that is a very cool story :happy:

i don't know anything about oregon ensatina sal

but i did find this which makes it sounds like it's not so toxic to humans

good luck

AmphibiaWeb - Ensatina eschscholtzii

Ensatinas lack traditional amphibian mucous glands as well as lacking typical, acidic mucus, instead secreting neutral mucus via specialized, derived granular glands (Fontana et al. 2006). The toxicity of E. e. xanthoptica has not been evaluated; high concentration of granular glands are found in Ensatina tails, and secretion under stress of a milky, sticky glutinous substance with an astringent taste has been observed (Kuchta et al. 2008). However, since Western Scrub-Jays are able to eat Ensatinas without any apparent ill effect, these salamanders appear not to be particularly toxic (Kuchta et al. 2008). The birds did spend considerable time scraping their beaks during and after consumption of E. e. xanthoptica (Kuchta et al. 2008). The stress-induced, sticky white mucous secretions may actually be an antipredator defense by virtue of being extremely adhesive, enabling Ensatinas to avoid being consumed by predators such as Western Terrestrial garter snakes (Thamnophis elegans; Arnold 1982).

 

[NathanF]

That is helpful and good to know...I still can't find anything about what I'm seeing on her underside though!?!?!

 

[Greatwtehunter]

Those are probably eggs you're seeing. Whether or not she lays fertile ones (assuming she even lays at all) depends on if she's picked up a spermatophore yet.

Do the white area look like the areas on these gravid longtails?

 

[LittleGreenFrog]

YES THOSE ARE EGGS I HAVE SOME LIKE DAT

 

[Thanassi07]

Yes she is gravid, I don't know any keepers of orgeons though

 

[LittleGreenFrog]

I am!

 

[LittleGreenFrog]

Ohh in her pics she is WAY to dry. try misting her more