Herps from the Olympic Peninsula

[warren]

Here are some photos from some of the herps I found on my two trips to the Olympic Peninsula. First off is a poor photo of a Cope's giant salamander.

Here are a couple of juvenile Oregon ensatinas. These seemed to prefer somewhat drier conditions than many of the other species.

Here are a couple of golden morphotypes of the western red-backed salamander.

Here is a melanistic morphotype of the western red-back.

This was certainly one of my better finds on the last trip- the Olympic Torrent salamander.

Heh, and last, but not least, a western toad.

I also observed many tailed-frog larvae as well as a couple of adults.

 

[charles]

Nice pic., love the toad

 

[simon]

Those Ensatinas are midgets! Odd; I never saw one on the Olympic peninsula- all in Seattle and the Cascades. That Cope's is a pretty good find too. Where'd you find the torrent sally- what habitat?
Fantastic animals, and nice photography

 

[warren]

Thanks, Simon!

Actually, the ensatinas are (at least from what I have read) are mainly coastal salamanders. I was up in the Lake Quinalt region which isn't too far from the coast. If you look at a range map, you can see a big circular gap in the Olympic NF where it is too far from the coast for them. They sure were small! lol Pretty cute too.
The Cope's are actually quite common, in the sense that nearly every stream I searched contained at least several of them.
There was just one stream in which I found the Olympic Torrents. I observed two adults and a juvenile. It was a very small stream- no more than a foot or two across and was mixed dirt/loam and rock substrate. The adults were found under rocks that were right on the border of the land and water. They took to the water rather quickly. The larva was found in the water. The stream also contained Cope's. I have read in some literature about the possibility of Dicamptodon preying on Rhyacotriton and that some anecdotal evidence had been found to counter that. From my observations of Dicamptodon larvae, the preferred food seems to be mayfly larvae. They readily accept frozen tubifex and bloodworms as well as live blackworms. I have not observed any feeding on Eisenia, but then those tend to burrow rather rapidly into the substrate.
Of the very little I have explored of the Olympic Peninsula, the most common herp observed was the western red-backed salamander and larval tailed frog. After that was the Cope's giant salamander. Because of the time of year and the drought conditions of Washington state, the observations are obviously a little skewed especially regarding the terrestrial herps. Ah well, spring will be here soon with rainy nights more suitable for terrestrial amphibian hunting.

 

[alexandra]

is that in a cage or in the wild?