EGGS?

[jay]

I was down by my stream looking for some earthworms to feed my sals. I saw some white eggs on the bottom of the dirt, under a rock. They were pretty squishy, round, and pearl white. i didn't stop to measure them, but i'd guess they were about 1/16 inches in diameter. they were in a group of about 10. The only sals i'd seen around there were redbacks and the occasional yellow-spotted sal. not many newts. I live in Eastern Massachusetts. I didn't stop to pick them up, so i don't have a photo. What eggs do you think they are?

 

[william]

i'd guess snail eggs, i don't know if there are other salamanders in Massachusetts, but redbacks are independent of standing water and spotted salamanders would have either hatched by now, in anycase they don't lay eggs in streams or under rocks. so your best bet is snail.

 

[iced01]

Could they be Axolotyl eggs?

 

[jay]

I'm not sure, i've never seen Axolotyl eggs, or an Axolotyl in my area, other than pet stores. I found the eggs on land , and redbacks are in the same general place. I have recently seen two newts in the stream, Triturus helveticus larvae, and one that has two orange stripes down it's back and has an all black belly; i know it's not a redback because it swims down instead of up. here is a picture of the orange striped one i found (i got it off google).

. Here is a picture of the other newt in the stream. It is the one on the top right.

 

[joan]

axolotls and Triturus are not native to the united states and you will not find their eggs in streams. According to http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/dfwamph.htm mudpuppies are native to Mass. and these lay their eggs in streams under rocks.

 

[jay]

I think the salamander eggs are either two-lined salamander eggs or redback salamander eggs. I found a picture of the two-lined salamander larvae and I think that is the larvae I saw.

Joan- I have never seen a mudpuppy in my stream, and the eggs were on land, not in the water.

 

[iced01]

I have never seen a caudate in my area then one day I found Spotted sal (80% sure) eggs. So they could very well be mud puppies. (I meant mud puppy in an earlier post not axolotyl, sorry)

 

[jay]

I don't think the stream is deep enough for a mudpuppy, it is only a few inches deep in most spots, and 2 feet deep in the deepest spot (which is about 2 feet all around). But I thought mudpuppies layed their eggs in the water.

 

[jay]

I live in eastern Massachusetts, i just checked the mudpuppy care sheet and it doesn't look like they live anywhere near my area.

 

[joan]

if you found them on land, they're probably terrestrial-laying plethodontid or snail eggs.