The Long-Toed Salamander is a salamander that is considered a mole salamander. It is found in North America.
What Does the Long-Toed Salamander Look Like?
The Long-Toed Salamander has a long body and is usually black with a stripe of yellow, green or tan. This salamander has spots so that they can be on the side of the body followed with blue or white specks.
The belly of the Long-Toed Salamander is brown or dark in color and has white flecks. The Long-Toed Salamander has wart like things on its body.
The eggs of the Long-Toed Salamander are long and clear looking. They make the eggs look like they are in green jelly instead of clear like other animals.
When the Salamander gets older, it will have brown, black and yellow colored skin and this will change as it gets older.
The Long-Toed Salamander can grow up to 5 inches long.
Where Does the Long-Toed Salamander Live?
The Long-Toed Salamander is found in different parts of North America. It likes to live in areas that are rainforests, coniferous forests, areas with a lot of brush, in meadows, in rocky areas and in areas that are covered in debris.
The Long-Toed Salamander is also known to hide under rocks and in other animal burrows. This salamander also likes to be close to waters such as ponds, lakes, rivers or streams, but mostly during mating season.
What is Interesting About the Long-Toed Salamander?
The Long-Toed Salamander is one of the most known salamanders in North America. It is found in different areas including California and Alaska.
Lifecycle of the Long-Toed Salamander
The Long-Toed Salamander goes through different stages, it starts off as an egg, goes to a larva, becomes a juvenile and then becomes an adult.
When it is a juvenile, it has gills and spends most of the time in the water. When it is an adult, it will dig and hide in the soil or in logs that are laying around.
What Does the Long-Toed Salamander Eat?
The Long-Toed Salamander eats things such as worms, small fish, beetles, tadpoles and insects. The Long-Toed Salamander is a carnivore which means it eats meat.
What are the Predators of the Long-Toed Salamander?
The predators of the Long-Toed Salamander are mammals, birds, fish and snakes.
How Long Does the Long-Toed Salamander Live?
The Long-Toed Salamander can live up to 10 years.
Behavior of the Long-Toed Salamander
The Long-Toed Salamander will find a mate when there is a big rain or a lot of snow melt.
The male will rub his nose on the females nose to show her that he is interested. He will also wave at her with his hand. If the female follows, then this means that she is interested.
The female Long-Toed Salamander will lay eggs in February and will lay her eggs close to water areas.
In some areas, the Long-Toed Salamander stays active all year long. In some areas, it will hibernate when it becomes winter.
Protection
When the Long-Toed Salamander feels threatened, it will secrete poison from its tail, and it can taste bad to the predators. The color of the salamander shows the predators that it is poison and to leave it alone.
Facts About the Long Toed-Salamander:
- The Long-Toed Salamander will drop part of its tail called autotomy which will scare the predators. The tail will grow back.
- The Long-Toed Salamanders will hibernate together around 14 of them at a time.
- When hibernating, the salamander will live on protein that is stored in the tail and in the skin.
- Long-Toed Salamanders that live in lower elevations breed in the fall, winter and spring and in the higher elevations they breed in the summer.
- Long-Toed Salamanders will go in waters such as ponds and lakes that still have ice floating on it.
What Did You Learn?
- What is the Long-Toed Salamander? The Long Toad Salamander is one of the most known salamanders in the North America.
- What does the Long-Toed Salamander eat? The Long-Toad Salamander eats insects, small amphibians and other meats.
- Where does the Long-Toed Salamander live? The Long-Toed Salamander lives in areas that are close to forests, meadows, rainforests, coniferous forests and more. They like areas that have high grasses and are close to water.
- Is the Long-Toed Salamander poisonous? The Long-Toed Salamander will excrete a poison out of its tail if it is threatened.
- What else does the Long-Toed Salamander do to distract its predators? The Long-Toed Salamander will lose part of its tail to get away from predators. The tail will grow back.