Salamander's Eyes Experiment

I have 5 Tiger Salamanders at my home (as some of you already know) and I had been noticing a pigment constantly changing in their eyes. During the day when I feed them, there eyes are a beautiful gold. But at night their eye color changes to a deep black. I started to test if anything other than color changed. Everything that I could think of, reaction to light, reflexes, and even recognizably of objects or...me. They showed the same results even though they were in the dark rather than in the light, in fact, if anything they were performing better in pitch black darkness. I have come to the conclusion that the eye color is much like a stop light is to a car in that the darkness causes lack of pigment which allows them to activate their night vision surprisingly fast.

Let me know if you think differently.
Alex Cox

Thank you for your Support!

When I first started out with the blog I didn't have a lot of viewers, I barely ever wanted to post anything and I only had 2 members. Thanks to all the support I have recieved I have grown to up to 100 members and I now have over 10,000 page views from my blog. Thank you for showing your support and I am sure to post more over the next summer. Continue to show your support and I hope you sincerely love viewing both blogs.

Remember if you havn't already you can join my member blog for free and receive helpful updates on the important study of Reptiles and Amphibians.

I really hope that I can one day use most of you amazing people as a reference to our success in the Herpetology Society.

P.S
if you need help with a project in school or out I can give you some tips and you can use me as a good primary source in the Herpetology Field.

P.P.S
You can comment on what I should name different amphibians and Reptiles that I observe down at my study area. I would greatly appreciate.

THANK YOU,

editor, writer, and owner of the blog

Alex C

For the Reptiles!

Did you know that thing you may think are good for you and your reptile don't really add up the same. Tomato's, peppers, and other fruits and vegetables are good for you but a few may not be good for your reptile. Some foods are actually to be avoided due to low nutritional content. Lettuces is actually more of a junk food for your reptile and you should treat it like a treat. To us it is a good source it of nutritious and to them it is like potato chips.

You can find more foods to avoid for your reptile at:

http://www.hartz.com/Reptiles/Health_and_Nutrition/Nutrition/foods_reptiles_should_avoid.aspx

Coming Soon!

In the next few months I will be receiving new gear to film with. One of these will hopefully be a Microscope Camera in which I will use to video tape the growth of pond algae and the skin of amphibians. With this coming I will not be producing the video that I had filmed on tadpoles a few months ago and would rather wait in till I get a new camera which will increase the lighting and clearness of the video and will enhance it's performance on the web.

New Pictures and Videos Coming Soon!

Earlier this year my family had purchased a lake lot up at Lake Thompson of South Dakota. Now living next to frog invested swamps and slews I will be getting more videos and pictures of amphibians in their natural habitat. In about a month a tadpole searching adventure will be released. Hope you enjoy it when it arrives. Videotaping in a slew on a kayak is a tricky business especially when the camera is not water proof. Mosquitoes and leaches are also a hazard. With sandy beaches and cool lake water I will give you a few pictures.

5 Lined Skink!

A friend of mine lives in Iowa and has started to notice a large amount of as he described,"A creepy snake looking thing with legs!" Immediately I knew he had saw a Skink or just a common lizard. He later told me that they have smooth scales, which led me to think it was a 5 Lined Skink. So I have put in a request to have him catch one for me. I am shaking in anticipation and excitement. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Become A Member!

You can become a member of this Blog and gain advantages, updates and many other benefits. You can even get emails or first to know about competitions or even herpetology news. I notify you about things every so often and will provide you an amazing way to interact with this Blog. The sign up is free and the Member Blog is amazing! With live website feeds and great information from reliable sites.Sign up now for free!!

Member Blog!



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It's Almost Spring! Yay!

Finally the weather is clearing up and I am finally able to go outside with shorts on! With all this warm weather I have already seen many amphibians out. I can't wait to go "herping"(catching herps or amphibians and reptiles.) I like you to remember that if you go out herping then I STRONGLY recommend that you catch and release. With all the pollution in out water the amphibian population has been declining and one frog is technically a billion, with all the offspring it could produce in its lifetime. Be safe and have FUN!!!

Yeeeeeeha, summer here we come.

Challenge to those of you that have amphibians in your region:
Try and count and keep note of all your amphibian findings with the information and you can enter in the comment box for a chance to win a prize!!
Good Luck

Trouble

 I woke up this morning to a bright surprise! My biggest Tiger Salamander tried to fit into one of the small tubes in a log. He is still currently stuck :( . With any suggestions please leave it in the comments. I'm still trying to get him out.

Bad News

Recently on National Geographic's website I happened to look upon a horrible study that has linked salamander size to Global warming! This is really bad because the study stated that global warming in the Appalachians mountains has shrunk the salamander species there! It says that each generation is shrinking by one percent from 1980 specimens. I hope this is cleared up or the salamander species could shrink to abnormal size! Get educated on this topic further at National Geographic's website. Hope you share my concern.

 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/03/140327-climate-change-shrinks-salamanders-global-warming-science/

Look at this amazing documentary!!

Video

Amphibian Database

I thought for all you people out there that enjoy reading about a variety of amphibians would like a place where you could access lots of helpful websites. So I have started to make a database of resource sites. THEY ARE STILL IN THE EDITING PROCESS AND MAY HAVE FAULTY INFORMATION, GRAMMAR ISSUES, AND MANY OTHER PROBLEMS. So to help me in this editing process you should edit my pages. THANK YOU, I would really appreciate it if you would contribute to this blog.

Located at the top of the right side bar.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Herpetology Societies

In the City I live in there is a Herpetology Society and I never knew it until 2 years ago. And I had no idea there was such a thing. After going there I really enjoyed it and have gone numerous times since then. I've also invited people there to join in on the fun. With such low knowledge of this herpetologists paradise I'm afraid that some will never get to experience this. So I have decided to publicly announce that there is a good chance of your town having such a place. So if you are interested I have found a website that lists a bunch of societies for each state.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpetological_society

Find out times and other things and participate!

Caecilians?

Caecilians are a very small group of worm-like amphibians that do not get much recognition or popularity. Which you can probably tell with your lack of knowledge of them. Most schools don't even mention them to students! All they know is that there are 4 out of the actual 5 types of amphibians. Toads, Frogs, Salamanders, Newts.... Where is the Caecilians in all that? They're still alive and digging in their main range of South America. Acknowledge them!

I know they look a little gross by they are actually
really cool.

Good Books about herp's are so hard to come by!

In all my years of free reading books about amphibians I had yet to find a very good book. In till last year that is because I had checked a book at my local library and very much enjoyed it. Just thought you people would like to read this amazing book. The only downside is pretty obvious in the Title: South Dakotas amphibians. But it is still a good book.

https://www.google.com/urlsa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Ficwdm.org%2FPublications%2Fpdf%2FAmphibians%2FSouthDakotaamphibianfieldguide.pdf&ei=RrIbUDZMqKGyAGC5oDIBg&usg=AFQjCNGrebuKkW2sudSto4oTT1RrKySa4Q&sig2=1DcHv8zR6ok_Y8tbEf6wAQ&bvm=bv.62578216,d.aWc

FYI: Its totally free, no worries at all for all you weary people out there.

Experiment

In third grade I did an Experiment to see if salamanders can sense water. And due to my study it seems that they can! Though I did it with to many different variables I still got first place in the science fair at my school.

About Me

       I am a boy in accelerated science studying to be a herpetologist. With many pets including Tiger Salamanders, a Bearded Dragon, and 3 turtles I hope to be a reliable source you can depend on we you need it. I have also created a database of Amphibian sites to visit. If you have any personal qestions you can contact me at (alexcox01@yahoo.com)

Hope you enjoy this Blog!!!!