Fire salamanders around Chemnitz

[Nathan Litjens]

Hi again,

In a previous post I mentioned I am looking for Fire Salamanders near Chemnitz. The hardest thing is finding the best habitat - there is always something missing (notably salamanders!)

However I did see on a site a few days ago that there is a decent population near here that is marked on the start of a walking trail in an article though I cannot get a location.

Would anybody know any areas worth a try?

Many thanks

-Nathan

[Jeroen Speybroeck]

See what I wrote already, although not very helpful.

In that part of Europe, the season may be against you (in contrast to more western sites).

[Alexandre Roux]

According to what I see on the weather websites, nothing good before, at least, 2 weeks... With 0 to -2°c every night...

[Gabriel Martínez]

Hope that you didn´t see salamanders due to the weather and not to the salamander-killer fungus
https://chytridcrisis.wordpress.com/201 ... in-the-uk/

[Nathan Litjens]

I hope they are there, but there was no sign of them. There was quite alot of cover in the form of some logs and lots of rocky crevices though. Linda has been helping me with researching them as a native German and has found information that says the water pH has been affected by past mining activities...

Where we went:

Habitat along a small stream:

We have lost several species of frog in Australia from Chytrid.

- Both species of stomach brooding frog (Rheobatrachus)
- Northern Tinker Frog (Taudactylus rheophilus)
- Sharp Snouted Frog (Taudactylus acutirostris)
- Day Frog (Taudactylus diurnus)
- Nyakala frog (Litoria nyakalensis)
- Northern yellow spotted tree frog (Litoria sp)

Others are on the brink:

- Corroborree Frog (Pseudophryne corroborree)
- Booroolong Frog (Litoria booroolongensis)
All populations above 300m ASL of lacelids (Litoria dayi), Common mistfrogs (Litoria rheocola), Waterfall frogs (Litoria nannotis)

Some were thought lost but have been rediscovered:

- Armoured frog (Litoria lorica)
- Peppered Frog (Litoria piperata)
- Southern yellow spotted swamp frog (Litora raniformis castanea)

So we do know all about Chytrid in Australia unfortunately.

[Niklas Ban]

You got a mail by me. Maybe check your spam.

[Nathan Litjens]

Thankyou for that

Linda and I have already been planning to go there as her parents rent a house and hike all over the place. Chytrid is a huge concern in Australia and when we go herping in remote areas at home we practice disinfecting gear.

[Nathan Litjens]

And another place Linda found near here that is mentioned on several websites as a place hikers find them (the information is easily found- so no secrets with this one). Near Aue there is a hillside patch of broadleaf forest with an aqueduct (full of trout) running through it. All along the aqueduct there are reports of salamanders. We had a look yesterday and cornered surprised locals out walking and they confirmed they do see salamanders by day fairly regularly on the path later in the year. Searching found a series of springs coming out of the hillside about 500m past the aqueduct with plenty of large fallen trees and mossy rocks. It is a rocky area in places with deep crevices under rocks and boulders all over the hillside. But with the only water in the area that the locals see salamanders being the fish filled aqueduct, one wonders where they deposit larvae, though it is full of leaf litter. Anyway, if they are regularly seen by day I imagine they would be fairly plentiful after dark.

We will be going there after dark when it warms past 7 degrees again.

Also, I see pictures of orange and black salamanders. Is that a form of the local subspecies? They look even more spectacular than the standard black and yellow.

By the way, I am only showing locations that are freely available online, any secret spots will remain secret.