Before I moved to South Carolina I lived in San Marcos, TX which is in the hill country of central Texas. San Marcos has a wide array of unique herps because of the aquifer that feeds the San Marcos river and the many surrounding caves; including the San Marcos Salamander (Eurycea nana) which lives only in this river. I worked in a veterinary office while attending school there. One day I saw a little worm crawling across the floor and just left it alone. A moment later the doctor picked up the "worm" and showed it to me. He explained to me that it was actually a Texas Blind Snake (Leptotyphlops dulcis). That snake was found indoors after a recent heavy rain. A few weeks later, after another heavy rain, I found this Texas Blind Snake in the entryway of my house on May 7, 2008. I picked it up and showed my mom, who was visiting at the time. She thought I had just picked up a worm, like I thought originally. I pointed out the blunt tail, evenly sized scales on it's entire body and lack of eyes. The first picture is of me holding the snake I found in my home. The second picture is one I found on the internet (uspesttexas.com) since the picture I have is not very clear. These snakes live underground which is why they are so wormlike with smooth, even scales and lack functional eyes. After a heavy rain, the soil is too wet and many of them can be found on drier ground (like floors of buildings).

(Vanessa Skinner, Charleston, SC)

On Tuesday March 22, 2011 our herp class went to Francis Marion National Park in South Carolina. We started down the Ion Swamp trail but didn't stay on the dirt trail long. We picked up our nets, hoes and buckets and went tromping off into the swamp. P.D over turned logs while I scoured the trees for lizards. I found a little Anole ( Anolis carolinensis) but it thwarted my attempts at catching it. I'm not nearly as fast or agile as a tiny tree lizard. My friend caught a great little Spring Peeper ( Pseudacris crucifer) and we had fun taking pictures of that. I was getting frustrated with my lack of finds but in the world of herpetology you just have to be patient and consistent. After turning over numerous logs, this little Slimy Salamander (Plethodon variolatus) caught my eye. I may not be as swift as an anole but apparently I am as speedy as this short limbed slimy guy. After over turning the old, decaying log, the salamander attempted escape under the numerous decaying leaves. I dug through the leaves and found him again. I knew I had succeeded in the capture when my hand clamped down on a cold, slimy, squiggling thing. I know it sounds wrong to explain the feeling as slimy-sticky but that is exactly what he was like. He slip and slided through my grip but left a very sticky, glue-like substance behind. He was hard to hold onto but I was still picking the gluey, slime off my hands hours later. As you can see, this is a fully metamorphosed adult and has no gill slits which is the case with all Subfamily Plethodon salamanders. Because of this, he must live in moist habitats, like under a log, to keep his skin moist for cutaneous respiration. I returned him to his old log and continued on my search for South Carolina herps. (Vanessa Skinner, Charleston, SC)

Whitewater Falls, NC

Over spring break I had the chance to do some hiking around my ole' stomping ground in upstate South Carolina. I stayed on Lake Hartwell, which can be a beautiful lake when the water level is adequate, and traveled mainly around the Clemson, Seneca, and Wahalla areas that weekend. On a beautiful Friday I decided to return to Whitewater Falls to do some hiking, one of the largest free flowing water falls east of the Mississippi.

Whitewater Falls is located on the Whitewater River, and is immediately beyond the South Carolina line into North Carolina. The views are awesome, and the hiking is even better, especially when you go in the off season when no body is around.

The trail at Whitwater Falls ties into the Foothills trail and eventually turns into the Palmetto trail, which runs from the upstate to the coast. The trail can be somewhat treacherous, especially after rains, but if you take your time you can utilize the trail for herping, as I did this day.

The area around Whitewater Falls is a typical foothills/mountain ecosystem, composed of many small mountains and hills, with waterfalls, seepages, and creeks. As I mentioned, the water was definitely flowing, so I knew where to look to try to find some salamanders. My target was really any salamander, but I was looking for a species from the family Plethodontidae. This family has many species that inhabit these mountainous areas, and they can be found in seepages with flowing water, hidden under rocks and substrate.

To my surprise it took me about a minute to find a salamander! They are awful hard to catch, but when you do catch one it makes it worth the effort. I immediately knew this individual was in the genus Desmognathus by noticing its large, robust back legs in comparison to its fore legs. After closer inspection I narrowed it down to either a seal salamander (Desmognathus monticola) or a mountain dusky salamander (Desmognathus ochrophaeus). The mountain dusky salamander can have a huge variation on color, so it appeared almost impossible to be able to correctly ID one from this species. However, the seal salamander is greenish grey to brown, with wavy worm-like marks on its back, with a pale belly. Also, the posterior half of its tail is keeled, and laterally compressed. This description matches my catch very well, and I found it in a habitat known to have seal salamanders, so I was SOLD, it's a seal salamander (Desmognathus monticola).

Unlike other species in the family Plethodontidae that are direct developers, this species actually has an aquatic larvae stage. Another interesting fact, the mother will guard the eggs until they hatch. This poor guy seems to have lost his front left foot in a battle, but I'm sure it won't slow him down.

(Ryan M. Wenzel, Charleston, SC)

Spring Peeper

This past Tuesday March 22, 2011 our herpetology lab class went on a field adventure into Francis Marion National Forest. Once we arrived at Francis Marion, we explored the Ion Swamp Trail. Everyone split into different areas/paths in trying to find the many diverse reptiles and amphibians the forest is home to. I searched the forest grounds by turning logs over and when I did spot a salamander or small frog they all escaped fairly quickly before I got a chance to grab it or even get a good look at them. Even though I was unable to catch any reptiles or amphibians of my own, I was fortunate to see some from my fellow classmates who had a better talent at catching these quick herps. A fairly cute and light brown Spring Peeper, Pseudacris crucifer was found in the area. You can tell its a Spring Peeper by its dark cross that squiggles to form roughly an X on its top back. They are small chorus frogs and their calls are fairly high-pitched, resembling the sound of holiday bells. Their body length can be less then 1 inch up to 1.5 inches. They are widely spread all along the east coast of the United States vary in body colorations from tan, brown, gray, and even olive green. They tend to live in forest areas (such as the forest where we found it) and tend to be near areas containing swamps or ponds due to needing water to support its aquatic lifestyle for its eggs and tadpoles. You can see that these frogs do not have webbing on their feet, but instead large toe pads, indicating their ability to be well climbers, however, they can be largely found along the forest floors (such as this one was). Due to its beautiful body pattern, coloration, its small and delicate body size, the Spring Peeper is one of my favorite frogs that I find to be so pretty and cute. Glad to see one in its own natural habitat.

(Michelle Hou, SC)

Carolina anole

Our class recently explored the Ion Swamp trail located in the Francis Marion Forest. As we made our way into the forest everyone began to split into many different directions in pursuit of herps. Many people had made it their goal to find a snake. I on the other hand, was perfectly fine finding any sort of reptile or amphibian. After searching high and low, I was unfortunately unable to find any herps. Even though I was unable to find any on my own, I luckily got to see all of the herps found by others. A Carolina anole, Anolis carolinesis, was caught about 6 feet off the trail near a log. These lizards have granular scales, long tails and are mostly arboreal. Carolina anoles are very common throughout the Southeast and are often spotted around our area, but I found this specimen to be extremely interesting. I was able to watch it change color from dark brown to light green. (The color change can be seen in the pictures. It is especially visible on the head and limbs.) This was something that I had never seen a Carolina anole do. These lizards change color for many reasons, mostly due to temperature and stress level. After examining the lizard futher, it was determined that it was an adult female due to its relatively small size, about 4 to 5 inches, and its lack of a dewlap. Other observed features included the gray and white splotches on the lizard. These markings indicated that it was molting, or shedding. After everyone viewed the lizard, it was released near its capture spot. Overall, it was a successful day in the forest. I was vary happy to have witnessed something that I never had before.

(Lauren Jindracek, SC)

(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)

Dwarf Salamander

On our recent trip to I'on Swamp, we found a variety of reptiles and amphibians amidst the thick grass or foraging on the bottom of small pools. This Dwarf Salamander (Eurycea quadridigitata) was found nestled in the moist leaf litter under a decomposing log. The 2.5-3" member of the family Plethodontidae attempted to scurry further beneath the leaves upon the disturbance of his humble home. We initially thought the specimen to be a Four-toed Salamander, (Hemidactylium scutatum) but we noticed the long, black horizontal stripe along its side which is absent in the latter.

(Phillip Carson SC)