Found Salamanders in a puddle

[joan]

Ellena, bless your heart. It's unfortunate to be in the situation you were in, but if more people felt the way you did, I'm sure we'd have much better conservation laws in this country.

 

[sherrisixxx]

Ellena, such cute babies you have there. And its so wonderful you are trying to save them.Makes my heart go all warm from happiness when I see this kindness to animals from us humans. Hope you can save them, and find somewhere for them to live in. Good luck!

 

[luke]

look similar to my Ambystoma Laterale larvae. Perhaps a bit too dark though.

 

[luke]

And in my neighbor hood, there are a lot of new ponds being dug, and since many of them don't have any amphibians yet, I merely release all my native species I don't want tinto them to naturalize them, never venturing very far from the wetland they were found in of course.

 

[ellena]

Well thank you all for the suggestions, opinions and support.

I just heard back from WA fish and wildlife and they told me that saving them, touching them or owning them is illigal. Soooo I dont know what to do now? I still want to raise them and release because had I left them there they would be dead for sure..... but now im not even supposed to posess them.

*sigh*

 

[jeff]

Well unfourtunatly its not possible to just toss them out now that you have rescued them from death, so I would wait a while and let them grow and come out of the water first. Besides, they will have a much better change of surviving when you re-realese them beacuse you know what areas are dangerous and can put them back safely when it is time.

 

[paris]

WA F&W doesnt mention this, but i bet its perfectly fine to kill them though?

part 2 possibility-could you do the wading pool /tub thing in your grandmas backyard? you said she likes wildlife-she could top off the tub until the morph out.

 

[ellena]

Well two of them morphed!!!! Last nite as I was going to bed I noticed one was resting on the duckweed so I ran outside and grabbed the river rocks I got from their area and washed them and put them inside. So now this morning the one was out of the water resting on the rock and now another one has morphed!

I took these pics really fast before work, so ill get better ones later I promise. These look like long-toed to me. Opinions?


Thanks!

 

[mike]

I think you did the right thing. I say release them somewhere close by where you found them and hope for the best.

 

[ellena]

Ok more pics.

There are now three that are coming out, but none so much as this little guy. He seems to even like the attention and was really curious about the camera.

Long toed? These are for sure not Northwestern Salamanders correct?

Thanks!

 

[hayden]

Cute little guys. Regardless of legality I believe you did the right thing.

 

[ian]

But releasing the egg mass to the wild might be destructive to the environment.. Anyhow, they are pretty cool creatures.

 

[paris]

ian,
i talked to her over the phone about them.(before she had heard back from WA F&W) they looked as if they only had about 2 weeks max till they would morph. i made sure she knew to use native water, native food and native plants in the big tub she has them in and to wash her hands before working with them to mitigate most sources of potential pathogen introduction (she does have other non-native newts.) and i gave her suggestions on releasing them once they were done. the 'might' level is pretty low here.

ellena,
those guys are pretty cute! the pattern looks like long toes-but you know the TOES should be the final clue!

 

[kim]

Well done Ellena! Its great to see people like you willing to save something even if your not legally allowed to! Good on you! They are looking great now! Over the next few years you might even find some of there off spring in the local area!