Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A rare treat on the "first" day of Spring: Went out last Friday afternoon and found this little fella crossing a gravel road and heading towards a still mostly frozen lake.

He was heading straight for a ditch still filled with snow. Couldn't resist snapping a quick pic of him on the receding glacier, then put him down on an old pocket gopher mound and he dug right in.

Here's a pic of him digging in and also some typical sally habitat here in southern Minnesota in March. The vast majority of the landscape is monocultured cropland (corn and soybeans) but there are still plenty of tiny ponds and wetlands scattered around. As you can see...there is only a small ring of open water around the edge. Most of this small lake is still iced over. Light rain showers with an air temp of 42 degrees was just enought to get this guy up outa the dirt and on his way to meet the ladies!
Happy Vernal Equinox! This far north, we don't quite call it "Spring" yet. TJ.

Very cool! I cant wait to find some arround here. Are most of the ones you find as dark as that guy?

Dan Eby

Here's one of the biggest, prettiest ones I've ever found around here. (It was also the last one of the '08 season)
Big old female. Most are pretty dark... but thats usually because they've just emerged from the black dirt. I have actually found a few that were nearly entirely black, showing very little yellow pattern at all. In the Fall during the rains, they are pretty shiny. And as you can see, this is why they are called Tiger Salamanders! TJ.

Haven't seen one of those down here in a long time.

justin