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Community Corner

With the Spring Thaw, Out Come the Tiger Salamanders

And these critters need a little help.

It has been said that April showers bring May flowers, but what do March showers bring?

You can’t help but notice that there are simply far too many days in March when it does not seem the least bit like spring. So it might come as a surprise to many that March is the month when the amphibians begin to wake up, particularly those amphibians known as the salamanders. With rising temperatures comes melting snow and thawing ground. Add some warm nocturnal rain and you have the perfect situation for the salamanders to emerge from their winter sleep.

The Tiger Salamander is the largest and generally the most common Salamander in Racine County. In the winter months the Tiger Salamander is deep underground in holes and burrows created by other animals. When the conditions are right the Tiger Salamanders will emerge from their wintering quarters and head for the shallow fishless ponds where they breed. It is at that time when the salamanders are most vulnerable.

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Totally focused on getting to their breeding pond, the salamanders advance under the cover of rain and darkness. If a road is in their path, the salamanders march across it. Many never get to the other side. Should a building stand in the way, the salamanders do their best to get around it, and many fall into window wells in the process. If a lawn with toxic chemicals stands in the way, the salamanders continue to advance unaware of the consequences.

When the breeding pond is reached, the salamanders enter. Often the majority of the pond will still be iced over but the salamanders enter along the edges where the ice has retreated.

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Once mating is completed, the females attach clusters of eggs to underwater vegetation. If everything goes well, the eggs hatch into tadpoles that will transform into miniature versions of the adults and leave the ponds under the cover of rain in late summer.

 

Tiger Salamander numbers are but a fraction of historic levels. Factors that have contributed to their reduced numbers include loss of wetlands, introduction of fish to the breeding ponds, toxic chemicals and the toll taken during annual migrations, whether it be by automobiles, predators or trapped to die in a window well.

 

Preserving remaining wetlands and minimizing the use of fertilizers in spring are two ways to assure that Tiger Salamanders are here to stay. But one of the more enjoyable things we can do for the salamanders is to check our window wells anytime there is a night rain between March and October. The number of amphibians I rescue each year out of mine easily numbers in the dozens. It is a great mini-adventure to go on with your children or grandchildren and at the same time teach them the importance of caring for our environment.

 

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