Cold Day Herping

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pabstman
Posts: 20
Joined: April 12th, 2012, 12:31 pm

Cold Day Herping

Post by pabstman »

This has been some really junky weather for snake hunting so yesterday I decided to go to a secret creek and see how the breeding season went for California Newts.

I was there for not even 2 minutes before I almost stepped on this little guy, i've only seen adults in the past.
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They were all around the same size, about 2 inches.
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I was able to somehow spot a few larvae, they blend in really well and are pretty fast.
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Habitat
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I also came across a few of these really nasty worms, i'm guessing it was some kind of parasite.
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Pacific Tree frog?
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This place was totally infested with newts, it's good to see there's still at least one area with a good population. Strangely enough I did not come across one adult, nor did I see any other frogs besides those two. I was there till about an hour after sundown and could hear a bunch of different croaking but never found any of the sources. Great day of herping on a crummy day!
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monklet
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 4:44 pm
Location: Ventura, CA
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Re: Cold Day Herping

Post by monklet »

Some very nice shots, especially the newts. Love lighting in some of those.

That worm appears to me to be some sort of earthworm like annelid, I would guess non-parasitic.
pabstman
Posts: 20
Joined: April 12th, 2012, 12:31 pm

Re: Cold Day Herping

Post by pabstman »

Thanks man, I was actually really surprised with how some of the photos turned out. They were all taken with a crappy Coolpix Nikon camera which is absolutely terrible at focusing in on what you want to take a picture of. Thank god for Photoshop. Oh and thanks for the insight on the worm, i'm absolutely repulsed by parasites so after seeing that I completely avoided contact with the water.
hellihooks
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Re: Cold Day Herping

Post by hellihooks »

Your frogs are Baja treefrogs. Wish I could see newts without driving for hours... Newts are so cool... :thumb: jim
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Natalie McNear
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 5:54 pm
Location: Northern coast of California

Re: Cold Day Herping

Post by Natalie McNear »

Cool stuff! Yep, the worm is just an earthworm that got trapped in the creek and is looking for a way out. The only large, parasitic worms you are likely to find in freshwater environments are leeches and horsehair worms (the latter only parasitizes insects).
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