Barred Tiger Salamander- Ambystoma tigrinum

Size- Barred Tiger Salamanders are the largest terrestrial salamander, measuring in at a length of up to 14 inches.

Life Span- 15-20 years.

Diet- Insects and earthworms with the occasional small frog or baby mouse.

Geographic Range- Central Nebraska to Southern Texas and West to Central Colorado and New Mexico.

Habitat- They inhabit  forested and prairie areas with sandy soil near their breeding sites which consist of ditches, slow moving streams, cattle tanks, quarry ponds and sub-alpine lakes. Adults spend a substantial portion of their life underground in self-dug burrows or burrows of other animals.

Reproduction- Like all amphibians, females lay their eggs in water and depending on the sub-species of salamander and the conditions of the breeding site, the eggs will hatch within 19-50 days. The eggs hatch into a larva that look similar to the adults, except for six feathery external gills that extend from both sides of it’s neck. They will transform into air breathing adults in late summer of their first year. However, if the conditions are not adequate, it may take up to three years for them to metamorphoses into an adult.

Special Adaptations- Larval stages of tiger salamanders may become cannibalistic if their pond starts to dry up. These individuals will grow faster and be morphologically different (larger body and jaws) than their non-cannibalistic counterparts.

Behavior- Tiger salamanders court and breed communally in pools and/or other slow-moving bodies of water.  The males typically arrive before the females at these sites. Salamander spawning migration is poorly understood.