Pacific Giant Salamanders

[anton]

Has anyone here ever found one of these guys i the wild?I'm wondering were I can find them since they live in my area[Western Washington].
Also, have they been bred successfully in captivity? I certainly am interested in keeping one as pet....

 

[mitch]

try woodland streams. you gotta look under detrius and in hollowed out banks and stuff.
you are unlikely to encounter adults, but hey, its possible.

 

[brian]

If you intend to keep one, remember they can climb.

 

[henk]

Well I have been 2 times on holyday in Ortegon and searched for salamanders there during 10 days eacht time. In the whole 20 days of constant travelling and digging I found exactly 2 adults (nice large ones), so they arev not the easy to find. Undigging one in a rodent burrow however is something exciting. The larvae however are easy to detect in stremsides and seepages. May you should try to raise some of those ... but this process might take some years....

 

[uwe]

I found quite some larvae in forestial streams in California (near SF). To my experience they are not to shy and show themselves even during the daytime.
If you want to keep some, I would recommend to start with larvae.

Uwe

 

[brian]

Did you find them South or North of SF?

 

[uwe]

South of SF.

Uwe

 

[joseph]

I think i may have found one...as Last November I was in a redwood forest about 15 feet up a slope from a stream(think it was part of the Russian(sp.) river).

I was just looking under logs and finding slender salamanders like crazy. Then, I flipped a rather deeply set log and encountered a large(about 9 in) brown salamander. It had the basic shape of a tiger, but was dark brown with black markings. I think it was a dicampton, as I don't think we have tiger sallies that fit that description in CA do we?

The critter slipped out of my hands and "ran" about 15 feet before I managed to get a hold of it again. I looked it over, than poured some water over it, replaced the log, and nudged him back underneath.

 

[william]

My nabor and I found maybe a 10-12incher in his yard, but it lives in holes in his yard and is very hard to even find. We are trying, but we still haven't caught him/her.

 

[jeff]

William, what part of washignton are you located in?

 

[brucedickinson]

This past June, I saw a Pacific Giant Salamander on the trail to [location deleted]. I can't remember if that is in Whatcom or Skagit county, but I observed it eating a slug and it was about 6" long.