So, some of you, I have spent my time as an undergrad in a social insect lab. Well, one of my lab's collaborators works with termites (specifically Zootermopsis nevadensis) and his grad students go to central CA periodically to collect the termite nests (rotting logs)
Well, sometimes things other than termites get found in the nests. In this case, two little salamanders, Batrachoseps attenuatus, the california slender salamander. These little guys are neonates, as this species does not have a larval stage. Each one is less than a cm long. I am going to try to keep them alive as lab pets.
Photos taken courtesy of a dissection scope
GALE Force Biological Agent/
BOTM/Great Dolphin Conspiracy/ Entomology and Evolutionary Biology Subdirector:SD.net Dept. of Biological Sciences
There is Grandeur in the View of Life; it fills me with a Deep Wonder, and Intense Cynicism.
Definitely different pets than usual
How large will they be when fully grown ?
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Alyrium Denryle wrote:The obvious answer is eating very tiny termites. The alternative is that mom laid her eggs inside the log, which is good and soaking wet.
Ah, so the termite species under study feeds on wet wood?
Alyrium Denryle wrote:The obvious answer is eating very tiny termites. The alternative is that mom laid her eggs inside the log, which is good and soaking wet.
Ah, so the termite species under study feeds on wet wood?
Yeah, they build their colonies in it
GALE Force Biological Agent/
BOTM/Great Dolphin Conspiracy/ Entomology and Evolutionary Biology Subdirector:SD.net Dept. of Biological Sciences
There is Grandeur in the View of Life; it fills me with a Deep Wonder, and Intense Cynicism.
