What species of salamander larvae are these? And, how do I keep them when they "grow up"?

[Bill B]

Jaymes might be right - see this page/pic:

 

[jasper408]

Looks spot on.

(Copper + caudates is not a good mix though!)

 

[Neotenic_Jaymes]

I've had suggestions for Ambystoma laterale, A. maculatum, and A. tigrinum. It's about 2 inches long. I've been told that that one can tell tigrinum from the gold in the eyes? Can all three be determined from the color of the iris?

Let's re-do that last sentence. Should be: The pond's standing WATER was almost GONE [this word was missing] when I collected it.

I'm aware of special circumstances causing salamander larvae to morph. Temperature, water level and other factors. This summer has been decently hot. If what you have are Tiger Salamanders that'll really be cool. I'm still leaning on A. maculatum. I've raised a couple A. macualtum from eggs and your pictures look just like pictures of my group when morphed.

If those are Tiger Salamanders and premature metamorphosis has taken place. Then it may be possible that they may look different and have under developed features. I guess we just have to wait and see.

 

[Neotenic_Jaymes]

Dude thats a Yellow Spotted Salamander! Another way you can tell is how they react to disturbance or if you surprise them. If they curl their tails up and lay low then they're definitely Ambystoma maculatum. Tiger Salamanders perform the unken reflex which is a tail whip or a diversion of the tail but I've never seen a Eastern Tiger Salamanders perform unken reflex. Yellow Spotted Salamanders are very shy and are very likely to curl up their tails and lay low.

 

[Bill B]

that photo with a coin is NOT by me.

 

[Bill B]

New photos - Spotted Salamander? It has spots, but they're not terribly BRIGHT yellow, but neither are the spots from that image in my post above, which are not from me.

 

[Jan]

You still haven't indicated what the underbelly color is? Looks like a tiger sort to me esp. if yellowish underbelly.

 

[Bill B]

You still haven't indicated what the underbelly color is? Looks like a tiger sort to me esp. if yellowish underbelly.

I looked before and thought I saw yellowish. I picked it up the other day and thought I would skip a detailed look at the underbelly because I did not want to almost torture the thing (as I thought this might be) and that the underbelly colors might not be fully changed yet. Just did not and thought I saw grey with yellowish color "trying to come in". Here is a photo.

I don't know how to use photobucket's editor or the editor in GIMP 2 on my computer, but this photo doesn't look right (vertically compressed - maybe it won't stay that way) in my preview screen.

 

[Bill B]

One person I know thought it was a Tiger because the yellow spots are so irregularly spaced. Another I know, who has raised Spotteds and Tigers a zoo says that the spots on Spotted Salamanders are very irregular in spacing on young specimens. Because has actually raised them, and because of the pictures I see on the web of both species, I think it is a Spotted.

- Bill

 

[Neotenic_Jaymes]

I was always confident they were A. maculatum.

 

[Bill B]

I was always confident they were A. maculatum.

Even when I first posted the photo of the lavae?

 

[Bill B]

Even when I first posted the photo of the lavae?

And if so, what was it about them that made you think so?

 

[Neotenic_Jaymes]

And if so, what was it about them that made you think so?

I've raised A. maculatum from eggs a couple times, and seeing the "larvae" pics posted earlier in your post was a good give away that it wasn't Tiger Salamander. Even if Tiger Salamander larvae did morph out recently or even a month ago they'd be about 4-5 inches by that time. Tiger Salamander morphs are about 6-7 inches here in MI and they start morphing out about Aug-Sept.

Any Ambystoma morphing out at 2 inches here in MI could be anything from A. lateral, A. maculatum, A. opacum, A. texanum or any variation of a smaller hybrid Ambystoma. Since your little guy have yellow spotting I was convinced it was a "Yellow Spotted Salamander" since the other smaller species don't have yellow coloration. Not to mention the I've hundreds of morphed A. maculatum at different stages.

 

[Bill B]

New photo of that sallie.