Hello - Australian herper in Germany

[Nathan Litjens]

Hi everyone,

I am an Australian staying in Germany (Chemnitz) for a few weeks and would like to find as many of the herps (particularly amphibians) as possible.

Fire salamanders are high on my list and I have spent the last two nights in the wet broadleaf forests searching along streams for no result. I need to find better habitat with more fallen wood...

Also all of the newts and frogs I can find...

In Australia I herp all over the country from the tropical North and rainforested Northeast to the deserts, west coast and cool, wet southeast.

I also spent a year herping in Borneo and some time in Indonesia and New Guinea.

Some pictures:

Green Python, Iron Range, Australia:
Green Python (Morelia viridis) by Nathan Litjens, on Flickr

Canopy Monitor:

Canopy Monitor (Varanus keithhornei) by Nathan Litjens, on Flickr

Northern Death Adder:

Northern Death Adder (Acanthophis praelongus) by Nathan Litjens, on Flickr

Juvenile Green Python, Iron Range

Juvenile Green Python (Morelia viridis) by Nathan Litjens, on Flickr

Manning Gorge, Western Australia

Manning Gorge panoramic by Nathan Litjens, on Flickr

My pictures are on Flickr at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/126002448@N02/

[Alexandre Roux]

Welcome !
Stunning pictures thanks for sharing !
I was in Oz a year ago and I'm pretty sad I was not able to drive to Iron Range...

[Nathan Litjens]

Hi Alexandre

The Iron Range was far more accessible than I imagined it to be, I am just back from it. We drove the first time (in November) and it rained so we flew back in (December) and hired a car for a VERY reasonable price. That is how you should do it- fly in and contact Paul Piva (Lockhart River Car Hire) for a hire car. Easy. Paul is an amazingly friendly and accommodating man.

The only road access is fairly short, it would take less than 10 minutes to get through the rainforest habitat and the road is easy. In that small area you are almost certain to see green pythons and many other animals more commonly associated with PNG.

We did some crazy walks to look for endemic frogs such as the Kutini Boulder Frog and found a surprising amount of animals around the road itself. Great trip.

Thanks

Nathan

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

Ah... Morelia...!

Too from Belgium to meet, so good luck with the salamander hunt! There are online distribution maps of Germany, but I cannot seem to locate them anymore...

[Mario Schweiger]

salamandra slamandra in Saxony (in German) with maps:
http://www.lau.sachsen-anhalt.de/fileadmin/Bibliothek/Politik_und_Verwaltung/MLU/LAU/Naturschutz/Arten-_und_Biotopschutz/Dateien/lu-krie_095-106-Feuersalamander.pdf

and all the other herps:
http://www.lau.sachsen-anhalt.de/naturschutz/arten-und-biotopschutz/die-lurche-und-kriechtiere/

[Daniel Bohle]

better use this map
http://www.umwelt.sachsen.de/umwelt/natur/22989.htm

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

Interesting for sure, thanks, although I seem to remember there is/was a site with nation-wide maps. No one?

[Daniel Bohle]

http://www.feldherpetologie.de/atlas/maps.php

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

http://www.feldherpetologie.de/atlas/maps.php

Vielen Dank, D.!

[Nathan Litjens]

Thankyou!

This cold weather has made it difficult, (I wish it would snow! - cold without snowboarding is insulting!) so we are researching daily for the best places to try.

We have had success with Grasfrosch (Rana temporaria) around the place in ponds and streams:

European grassfrog, Grasfrosch (Rana temporaria) by Nathan Litjens, on Flickr

European grassfrog, Grasfrosch (Rana temporaria) by Nathan Litjens, on Flickr