BLOG 8: Here Comes The Plethodons!

It’s so pathetic to watch the Rufous hummingbirds zip over to get a drink and not find anything because last night the feeder was ransacked by raccoons. Any and every night we forget to bring it in I come out in the morning to find an empty container hanging adorned with chewed up plastic flowers,  globes of sticky nectar all over the ground, and ants everywhere! What a mess! 

How is Mr. Rufous to know that when I finish typing this blog I’ll mix up some more of the good stuff and everything in is hyperkinetic little world will be A-OK again!? He’s in a panic! 

I’m sure glad we stick to the dollar store $3 feeders! (Hey, since when did things at the dollar store become more expensive than $1?)  It would be so much worse if those marauders had ravaged one of the deluxe $20 ones they sell at Home Depot or Petco.

But, that’s enough of my little ornithological oration let us forge ahead to the featured critter of this blog, the . . .huh? What?

Oh, all the bird huggers out there want me to stop typing and immediately restore Mr. Rufous’s nectar supply! Well sorry, he’s going to have to just hover out for a few minutes while I finish this.

So where was I? Oh, right! Today I’m going to write a bit today about this gentleman,

I think everyone is familiar with him right? These are probably the most commonly encountered amphibian in the Northeast.  I read a study once that in New Hampshire there were an estimated   1,000 of these per acre!  That was back in the mid-90s though. There may be even more of them now…but I suspect their numbers have dwindled like most other reptiles and amphibians. 

As a small boy living in Morris County, NJ I can remember heading out as soon as the weather began to warm up and filling up glass mayonnaise jars with dozens of these tiny animals. They were under almost every scrap of wood or stone or litter I overturned and are probably many herpetoculturist’s initial experience with collecting and caring for exotics. And, to be clear, I do not recommend removing any wild animal from its native habitat…times were different though and I was only about 6 or 7 years old! What did I know!? Here’s a snap shot I dug out of the archives of me critter hunting in my tender years!  I snagged many a plump tadpole in that net at Calamity Jane pond…but that’s some reminiscing for another time.

Hey, did you catch that back there? We had a  ten-dollar word alert! “Herpetoculturist.”  

“An herpetoculturist is one who keeps reptiles and/or amphibians in captivity, sometimes (but not exclusively) for the purpose of breeding.” 

Thank you Wikipedia for that!  Not sure about saying “an” herpetoculturist though. To my ears “a” herpetoculturist sounds more correct, but I digress as a man in linguistic vexation often will.

By the way, does anyone know what a Plethodon cinereus is?  Well you should but you don’t because as of this point in the blog I still haven’t told you that it’s the scientific name for your friend and mine the red back or redback or red-backed or sometimes even the “lead-backed” salamander!  

Mature Redback’s are supposedly 2 ½ to 5 inches long. I say “supposedly” because I have never found one over about 3 inches and I’d consider that a huge redback.  If you find one that’s 5 inches long please tell me because I really want to see it!

They range from Minnesota east through Quebec and New Hampshire and south to North Carolina and South Indiana. Hey, did you write all that down? Make your travel plans accordingly!

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I just took about a half hour break from this to puzzle over this size issue. Here is a comparison picture I took in the spring of a full grown redback (or so I thought) next to a 5 inch long Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum). You can see the dramatic discrepancy in scale we’re discussing here!

My favorite naturalist John Serrao is more conservative in his size information than some other sources but even his claim of adults being 4 ½ inches suggests that my whole life I have only encountered juveniles!  I am so confused right now. How’s that for educational!?  Here I am writing a nature blog and I’m totally confused by the nature I’m reporting to you about . . . so now we’re both confused!  Super!

Anyway there are 3 main color variations to redbacks. 

Red-Backed

Lead-Backed

Interestingly enough it was because of the darker phase of this salamander that it was misnamed “cinereus,” meaning ash-colored by naturalist Jacob Green in 1818. See?  I’m just overflowing with useless information that I’m always willing to share!

another Lead-Backed

And lastly there is an extremely rare erythristic phase which is all red except for the belly.

It’s so rare, in fact, that I have never photographed it, sorry!  If you find one invite me over! Seriously!  And for those of you about to Google “erythristic” don’t bother. It’s just another “impress your friends” word meaning, to have a reddish complexion. Biologist James W. Petranka notes that, 

“The erythristic morph occurs in populations sporadically throughout much of New England westward to Ohio.”

If you live around there I’ll bet your running outside right now to find one! 

(Please note the sarcasm)

Reporting in Reptile Magazine in 1995 Allen H. Benton, Ph.D. also claims that certain individuals may have a yellowish stripe running down their back but that is also a variation I have never come across.

John Serrao gives a nice concise summery of their breeding habits, in his book, “The Reptiles And Amphibians of the Poconos and Northeastern Pennsylvania,"

"[The] female lays 6 to 12 eggs in summer inside rotting log or suspended from bottom of rock in a depression, and guards them until they hatch into fully terrestrial salamanders (no aquatic stage).”

Here are some more  tidbits I discovered about redbacks that I thought you might find interesting!

1). Redbacks are tough!  They are territorial and show antagonism to intruders on their turf!

2). Not recommended finger food! Redbacks secrete an “anti-predator” chemical that has been proven to repel short-tailed shrews and probably doesn’t make ‘em tasty to  you or me or many other hungry enemies.

3). Talk to the tail! It is assumed that redbacks, like anoles, can drop a portion of their tail to distract predators while they make their getaway! (I've tried it myself with limited success)  

4). Redbacks can smoke all they want! They don’t have lungs! In fact they are part of the family Plethodontidae (as you know by now!)  or lungless salamanders! They breathe through their skin and their mouths! (just like I try to do every allergy season!)

So do you want to know something else about redbacks?  Well allow me to introduce you to the Internet! Go ahead, just ask her anything! She knows! 

But seriously if you have any redback questions or comments or corrections (I’m not a zoologist folks) please feel free to post them here and thanks again for reading! 

It’s been another ridiculous, strange and hopefully informative excursion into the world of Kieran’s Critters!

Until next time, find some critters before they find you!

Yowks!  have to come up with a better sign off than that!

Oh, and don’t worry, I didn’t forget about Mr. (Nectar addict) Rufous!