You did the right thing, having a California Tiger could have gotten you into very hot water ($10,000 fine etc.)!
They spend most of the year underground in the burrows of ground squirrels and gophers with a very limited period of surface activity. They are most commonly seen above ground starting in December when sufficient rains have fallen to start fillling their breeding ponds. They take about 5 to 6 years to reach sexual maturity and with the high rate of mortality the average CTS only survives to breed once.
They have several things going against them. The first is habitat destruction, if a pond is stocked with fish it becomes unsuitable for breeding this is why most CTS are found in vernal pools which dry seasonally, they require large areas of upland habitat with healthy ground squirrel / gopher populations where they can spend the dry season, they also are hybridizing with introduced barred tiger salamanders which were released by pet owners or bought and used as fish bait then escape. They are being killed off by chytrid (sp?) fungus, this is a fungal infection spread from pond to pond and is a major player in global amphibian declines as well as rana virus. In addition, roads often separate their upland habitat and their breeding ponds. Attempting to cross these roads many are run over, or flushed down storm drains.
If you want to observe these guys in the wild, your best bet is to go out at night during a good rain and slowly drive roads through habitat. I've seen several this way on a road that goes behind my house. Due to the rapid conversion of pasture land (CTS do fine with cattle grazing) to intensive ag and vineyards though I'm not sure how much longer this will last.
-Alice
