Gills

[John]

Looks like Ambystoma alright. I would say A. maculatum - that eye stripe should be a good indicator of species - see if you can find photos of maculatum larvae and see if they have that stripe. It doesn't look like a tiger to me. Take a photo from directly above it and post it please.

 

[Otterwoman]

Your wish is my command, fearless leader!
Now they are back in their tank saying, "We were abducted by aliens! They came with a big net and put us in a little glass bowl, there were bright flashing lights, and then we were back here again!"
and all the other little larvae are rolling their eyes and going, "right. didn't we tell you not to eat the brown worms?"

I just googled images of "ambystoma maculatum larva" and an image I saw didn't seem to have the 'glasses' these have.
http://www2.kenyon.edu/Bfec/amphibians/ambystoma.htm
Well, we'll see what they look like in two weeks! "See" you then!

 

[Otterwoman]

Here are my larvae after my vacation: they are definitely larger! I saw about 5 or 6, so I'm sure there are more in there hiding.

 

[Otterwoman]

Here are some pics from today. Only these larvae would cooperate with the camera (I also have some T. grans and some alpestris larvae). Also, I made some movies of them moving around in the tank that I put on YouTube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W6MRToRfgE
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K43Zt8ri3g
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Shu0y51j-U
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yngF91AN-KY

 

[Bellabelloo]

What ever they are they look 'cool'..looking forward to see what finally developes!

 

[Otterwoman]

I suddenly got the feeling that they're getting so big I ought to set up their landing pads...so now all the larvae have them (the grans aren't even close, but the others might be). By landing pads I mean little bridges for the aliens to crawl out on and then be transferred to a terrestrial tank.

 

[Otterwoman]

Suddenly, overnight, they look like adults! I check on them every day. Yesterday they looked like larvae, and now they are totally recognizable. I guess there's no more question as to what species they are.
They haven't come out of the water yet, though on some of them I can barely see gills. Any time, now, I expect.
There's got to be at least ten of them. What am I going to do with them all? But aren't they amazing?

 

[Otterwoman]

Look who morphed over the weekend!
Also my first batch of corn snakes hatched, when it rains, it pours!

 

[mantighoul]

Congratulations with the morphing. Those are nice looking salamanders, maybe spotted ones. you going to be able to take care of all 10? wow! I always wanted some of these guys when I was little girl, or at least see them hiding under some logs. Congrats with the corn snakes. You just have one big zoo nursery going!

 

[Jennewt]

Lovely morphs! We can certainly tell what they are now.

 

[Otterwoman]

Here they are today. The second one says, "Enough with the camera! I'm going back under here to hunt springtails."

 

[i_love_necturus]

Congrats! Looks like all that hard work has payed off! I have only ever seen one wild spotted sal, they sure are neat!

 

[Otterwoman]

That's funny, they do all the work and I get all the credit! I just put a handful of eggs in a tank, some leaves, occasional pondwater (once a week) and later, twice a week, some blackworms, and magically they grow themselves. Then I sit back and everyone congratulates me for raising these beautiful animals!

 

[Otterwoman]

I changed their tank today. Final count: nine.
Oh, and three leeches. It was, after all, a pond tank. Eeew!

 

[Otterwoman]

Here is their new tank.

 

[Jennewt]

Lookin' good, Dawn! I think it's time to set up a terrarium for the morphed ones.

 

[Otterwoman]

Happy now?
I've been putting pieces of ripped up newspaper in with my springtails. They crawl all over the (damp) paper, then I take a piece of the newspaper and put it in with the newts. An easy way to move the springtails. Plus, the more intellectual among the morphs have something to read.

Directly behind their tank is my slug tank. You can see I recently added some fresh carrots.

 

[Jennewt]

I'll be happy when I see real dirt The first time I put dirt into a tank, it seemed like a strange and yucky thing to do. But I've gradually come to love dirt-substrate tanks, as they are easier to take care of.