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What the heck is this?

V

Vince

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Well I ran into my buddy today, he is in the landscape bussiness and gave me a female box turtle he ran over with a mower.(she is doing great now) and I asked him if he has bumped into any turtles lately. he said no but check out what one of my guys found. some kids he had working cleaning trash out of drainage ditches found this, it was all dryed out and had dirt all over it, and was in the back of a pickup truck. they thought it was an eel. Im guessing more of a siren,It has tiny stubby limbs but im not 100% sure. I have lived in this area of florida for 15 years and never seen one before. well check it out and let me know what you think.
 

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Vince, if it has two limbs in the front and back then it's a Amphiuma, a type of amphibian. Keep it completely aquatic and feed it nightcrawlers, blood worms, fish etc... Watch out though they can bite when handled. Sometimes they can be found crossing roads between swamps when it's raining, otherwise they are totally aquatic.
 
It's an amphiuma. It is the longest salamander in North America.


Amphiumas (family Amphiumidae) are usually found in mud or slime. They are eel-like and have two pairs of legs but the legs are so tiny that they are basically useless. Adults have gill openings and larvae have external gills.

The Two-toed Amphiuma or Congo Eel, Amphiuma means, is found in slow-moving freshwater throughout the state. Its body is dark gray above, lighter gray below, and may grow to 39" long. It has two toes on each leg. It eats worms, small fish, tadpoles, and crustaceans.

In the winter, females lay 50-200 eggs, usually in wet mud, and guard them until they hatch about six months later. The larvae are black above and tan below and 1.5-2" long.

It has strong jaws and a vicious bite. It should be handled very carefully.

The One-toed Amphiuma, Amphiuma pholeter, is found in marshy sloughs around streams in the gulf hammock region. It is gray black to black and may grow to 12.5" long. It has one toe on each tiny leg. It feeds on earthworms.
 
sounds like thats what i have on my hands, I had a feeling it was something like that I thought siren becuse I never heard of amphiuma. How rare is this guy? I thinking of releasing him I know a perfect spot. But if this a rare animal I will go back to where it was first found so that it will have a chance of breeding with another one. Im guessing something like this is never breed in captivity? if someone could point me in the direction of a webpage maybe that would be great.

as soon as I got him I put him in a 5 gal bucket with a little water on the bottom , it perked right up, started moveing around. and when I got him home I hade a big container with old gravel on the bottom so I just put some water in that and he was been swiming around, it hasent feed yet. it is a very cool animal to look at, but I would rather set him free, all I really wanted to do it make sure it didnt die in the back on someones truck.
 
Probably a 2-Toed. The one- toed does not range that far down the coastline, according to the range maps I found.
 
That looks like a siren, and the area's right for them. Does it have two front legs that are decently developed, or just four tiny, underdeveloped legs?
 
Ah, hadn't seen the second page. Amphiumas are pretty common in some areas, but people generally don't see them. Amphiuma means (two toed) is pretty common, but Amphiuma pholeter (one toed amphiuma) is generally considered rare to uncommon. Amphiumas make nice pets, but generally require a decent sized tank (I personally wouldn't try less than a 30 gallon), or a very large one if more than one are to be kept together. They have a bite (like Karen's stated) that has been compared to that of a snapping turtle. A friend of mine keeps some amphiumas; his friend, who gave him the animals, stated that they had managed to strip a rat that had fallen into the tank bare in a short period of time.
 
Does it have a keratinized beak? If not, then it is not a Sirenidae. The distribution of the Sirenidae is the coastal plain and Mississippi valley of the southeastern U.S. and extreme northeastern New Mexico.
 
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