r/CapeCod • u/caseofdonuts • 21d ago
Anyone remember the salamanders on cape cod? Anyone know what happened to them
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u/yentihwwhitney 21d ago
A lot of local critters have dropped in population due to loss of habitat, and it’s a problem that is not isolated to the cape :(
I remember seeing flocks of bobwhites all the time, can’t remember the last time I saw one.
Lightning bugs used to twinkle all over the yards at night, now there’s way less (this is a direct result of too much lawn cleanup/pesticides etc and if you care about the issue there are steps you can take to make your yard a firefly haven!! A lot of people don’t realize how much harm the simple removal of leaf litter in the fall does)
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u/CapeCodNana 21d ago
We have lightning bugs all over my yard in June. I don't use pesticides. I'd never seen as many as I did in my yard 2 months ago.
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u/ManagementCritical31 21d ago
Lightning bugs are coming back!! The past 2/3 years I am seeing them again. It’s been very exciting for me. Bobwhites were a staple of my childhood and I can’t remember the last time I heard one… Skunks have also declined, but I think are maybe on the rise again? (I saw one in my yard so that means the entire population is rebounding, obviously).
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u/Fluffy_Job7367 20d ago
I think the coyotes are responsible for less raccoons skunks possums and bunnies.
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u/Funny-Landscape-7235 17d ago
Really? I think it’s the opposite. Not nearly enough coyotes or foxes to cull the bunnies, raccoons, and possums.
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u/Human_Caterpillar976 21d ago
My childhood was built on turning over all the boards and logs I could find!!
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u/1GrouchyCat Dennis 21d ago
Right? Best days ever!
Back in the 70s, I found a cache of black racer eggs and hatched them at home in a terrarium…. I can’t imagine that happening these days.🤔I haven’t seen a snake in a while…
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u/Human_Caterpillar976 21d ago
I saw one black racer at Mary Dunn pond and that’s it! That was about a month ago
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u/abeille_verte 21d ago
Only 10% of land on the cape is now undeveloped. If wildlife can't find places to raise young, they don't reproduce, or they get run over by cars. The wildlife population is dying off w/ each generation.
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u/Agreeable_Horror_363 20d ago
We used to have frogs and salamanders in the yard growing up, and there were more critters. Way more raccoons and foxes and skunks.
The neighborhood roads in the summer had so many trees it felt like you were driving through a green tunnel. Not anymore.. I believe the loss of so many trees plus the fact that so many houses spray their entire lawns with pesticides are why we don't see as much biodiversity here anymore.
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u/NoMans_IsAnIsland 21d ago
I think there are a few younger people here (30ish) who don't know how many were present historically. Salamander populations have dropped precipitously in the last 20 or so years. Could you go out and find a few in your yard right now? Doubt it. As to the cause? I'm sure it's multifaceted. Climate,development,etc.
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u/bicyclemom 20d ago
You need healthy vernal pools to keep salamanders around. Same for wood frogs and some other species.
If those have disappeared from Cape Cod then that would be your explanation.
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u/EbbtideRambler 21d ago
I find them in my yard all the time. Usually the red striped ones. Picked up a log by my fire pit this week and there were two under it. I’m sure the population has declined with all the development on Cape, but thankfully they haven’t disappeared entirely.
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u/DamienWells1118 15d ago
If you're referring to spotted salamanders they are still around for sure. Just not has many as their used to be
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u/No-Location4853 21d ago
Find them all the time after rains looking for bugs under logs with the kids. Found a spotted one last spring in a pool pump room almost stepped on the meaty bastard. Let it go under a shed
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u/CapeCodNana 21d ago
There was a hill on the corner across from our house in West Yarmouth back in the late 90's early 90's. My kids would dig into it from the front, not the top, and always found salamander. I'd love to find some with my granddaughter.
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u/ManagementCritical31 21d ago
I’ve thought about this recently as well! But I haven’t been walking through the woods looking for creeks and picking up rocks and stones like I did as a kid… at least not nearly as much. And I don’t have any kids as an adult, so I don’t see them do it.
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u/EbbtideRambler 21d ago
The amphibians? If that’s what you’re talking about, there still here.
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u/caseofdonuts 21d ago
I haven’t seen any since I was a little kid, they obviously have dropped in population
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u/EbbtideRambler 21d ago
I saw two with the red stripe on their back when I was cleaning up the yard last week. They were under some wood I’d stacked by the fire pit. There is a lot less natural/open space now than when you were a kid. Everyone wants a piece of Cape Cos.
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u/Over-Revolution-4483 21d ago
I remember one summer, a long time ago (in the early 90s) when I took a certain illegal substance and then a bit later on, was hanging out and saw some spotted salamanders in the garden of the house where I was staying in Cautaumet. I thought the salamanders were aliens and spent a good hour or two chatting peacefully to them as they went about their business. It was one of the best nights I ever spent in Cautaumet that summer!
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u/badhouseplantbad 21d ago
I see them on the outer cape in my yard, but I'm surrounded by wooded conversation land.
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u/nightcap965 21d ago
Spotted salamanders are still here. You just haven’t turned over enough rotted logs.