Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ

UP FROM’THE MUD-ABUNDANT AMPHIBIANS
By Jim Hale (from Snow Fleas to Snowflakes: Notes from a Natural World, p. 30-31).

This is the latest essay in our monthly series featuring the writing of ORUCC member Jim Hale, who wrote nature columns for the Friends of the Arboretum Newsleaf newsletter for many years. These writings are reprinted with his permission.

Tiger salamanders are not creatures that usually bring joy to the person who finds one. Homely, slow-moving, slimy-skinned adult salamanders give a first impression that they are lizards, but they’re not. They are true amphibians adapted to live both in the water and on land, although their terrestrial habitats must be moist.
Wisconsin has eight species of salamanders. The tiger sala­mander (Ambystoma tigrinum) is one of our largest. It reaches about 13 inches in length, half of which is tail. It is found over most of the southern half of the state, except for the driftless area of the western counties. The species is widely distributed over the central United States.

Tigers can be recognized by their color pattern composed of many yellow blotches scattered over a dark brown or dark green body. These yellow spots vary widely in size and shape.
Adult tiger salamanders spend most of their lives under­ground. However, they appear on the surface, sometimes in great numbers, on warm rainy nights in early spring as they move toward their breeding ponds. They are often seen crawling across roads at this time. During their treks they occasionally manage to get into window wells, basements and ditches.
When my Madison home was new, it became a rite of spring for the kids next door to collect salamanders by the pail full from the neighborhood window wells. Occasionally, I have seen salamanders at night crossing Arboretum Drive near the Teal Pond Creek, as well as at the Teal Pond itself.
Breeding areas can be woodland or prairie ponds, farm ponds, marshes and lakes. Courtship and egg-laying takes place under water. Eggs hatch in three to four weeks and young remain in the ponds until August, during which time they mature into their adult form, much as tadpoles trans­form into adult frogs. Another nocturnal movement takes place on warm, wet, late-summer nights as young of the year move toward a wintering area.
Tiger salamanders live in burrows of mammals, enlarged earthworm trails, and even in sewer and water-line tunnels. Proximity to people does not seem to be a hazard as long as a breeding pond is nearby. They feed on insects, earthworms, spi­ders and other invertebrates. While young are still in the aquatic larva stage, they eat primarily zooplankton. An unpleasant char­acteristic of tiger salamanders is that the slime on their bodies will irritate your eyes and sometimes your skin, too.
Zoologist R. C. Vogt wrote that even in suburban areas, “There may be hundreds of tiger salamanders under your feet, but you will never know it unless you see the fall or spring hordes or happen to excavate them.”