Creature Feature Encyclopedia: Amphibia

Spotted Salamander Ambystoma maculatum Size: 6-9.75" (15.2-24.8 cm) Habitat: Eastern hardwood forests and hillsides around pools and flooded swampy depressions in North America

A Salamander's Life Cycle
by Gretchen Askers, Planet Scout Gazette Staff

Spotted Salamanders live in the forest during most of the year. They hide in vacant mammal burrows and under leaf litter on the forest floor. Because adult Spotted Salamander spend most of their time underground, they are rarely seen in the forest. "In the early spring, they are motivated by heavy rains and warming temperatures to migrate to vernal pools," explains Phyllis Slitherton, a volunteer at the Twin Oaks Nature Center. "Once they reach the water, each female lays about 100 eggs, which stick to submerged branches." Slitherton said that "one or two months later, the larvae begin to hatch. They are only half an inch (13 mm) long!" When they are about 5 months old, the babies metamorphose into tiny 2.5 inch (64 mm) adults, crawl out of the pond, and then back into the forest.

~Salamander Rain: A Lake and Pond Journal © 2001