(Slimy Salamander)

During our class's trip to th Ion swamp it wasn't long before people started finding various herps and my self included. We had only been there about 15 minutes and began spreading out in various directions looking for whatever we could find. About 20ft off the trail I was looking under logs and found a relatively small salamander hiding under a log about 5 inches in diameter. The salamander was determined to ecape trhough the leaf litter, but dispites it's efforts I was able catch it. Salamandar in hand I showed my catch to Dr. Welch my captive, although multiple people had also found other members of this species. We determined that all of the salamanders found were Slimy Salamanders (Plethodon glutinosus). In the picture above the smaller of the two individuals is the one that I caught and once I was able to get it into the container I noticed that it only had three legs. Appearantly at some point in its life it had lost it's right fore limb all the way down to the shoulder, but didn't seem to hinder it's mobility. After releasing the salamander back under the log from which I found it, I then set out to find another herp. It wasn't but mabe another 30ft were I turned over another log with Vanessa waiting to grab any herps lurking underneath. At which point she was able to grab another Slimy (larger than the one I found) scurrying through the leaf litter. After taking some photos we moved on. I then set out on my goal to find a snake, personaly catching a snake would have made my day. Some time later I heard Vanessa yell that she found something, after rushing to help, I was disapointed to hear her say that it was lizard. Searching through the leaves of a small palm tree I was able to catch a glimps of a green Anole (Anolis carolinensis), but unfortunatlye we were unable to get a hold of it and it dissapeared into the leaf litter. I spent the remainder of the time in solitude, trapsing through the secluded parts swamp looking for a cottonmouth (probably not a good idea to be alone). Although I came up empty on my own serpent quest others had more luck, but at least I did get to see several herps.

(P.D. Inabinett SC)