MMM big oogly cave crickets

[Kyle Barker]

i was out lookign for red leg frogs today see if they are out at my usual spot (they dont seem to be). got bored of finding nothing so i thoght i may as well check out a nearby cave. heres some pics of teh scenery :)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/bchiking/Picture-004.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/bchiking/Picture-013.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/bchiking/Picture-021.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/bchiking/Picture-033.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/bchiking/Picture-051.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/bchiking/Picture-126.jpg
here i am at teh end...huge headache and i found a few crickets in my shrots, and a slug on my shoulder.

this outing resulted in NO reptiles or amphibians :( i did however see some cougar tracks on my way back and bazillions of fish peices. little paranoid walking back lol. and the usual fish, birds, deer etc.

[coldblooded]

DAMN YOU and your beautiful scenery!!!

If only my car would make it....

Mike

[Kyle Barker]

its only a few thousand k...no biggy :D

or head up north....norhtern ontario is where its at i hear.

[morph]

Ahhhhhhhh I love the island

And what a day it was today!

Scott

[Kyle Barker]

wasnt it a beaut! i was walkign up the river in shorts and pack. fealt liek summer! was great. now back to work :(

[tupinambis]

Kyle, the anurans don't seem to be out much this week, but I've been finding tons of Ambystoma macrodactylum and A. gracile egg masses here in the Fraser lowlands. In fact, it seems to be a very good year for A.macrodactylum compared to previous years (at least since I've been out here on the coast).

[Kyle Barker]

aww man. i have THE WORST lcuk with salamanders. i have only ever found red backs and rough skins :(

got any pics?

[Jeff_Favelle]

Ewwwwwwwwwwwww.....

Wait for the rains man. Its warm enough, but we need some precipitation for frog-action.

[tupinambis]

I do have pics, just that I happen to be computer illiterate and have no clue how to post them here.

[Kyle Barker]

at the top beside the word forum there is the word gallery. clicky. then tehre is a small lsit close to the top of the new page. on the right there is an option "upload". clicky. then upload it, adn press process file(s). once your pic comes up. right click, hit properties. that big long wedsite url is what you want.

in your post hit the IMG button (adds picture) and add that there url you jsut copied.


certainyl is nice weather. we were SUPPOSE to get a few days rain, go figure they were WRONG, again :(

oh well ill get my red legs soon enough! i guess i can wait, its not even spring yet :D

i have found all our reptile friends except turtles so far.

[Don Patterson]

cool cave man, any ensatina around your place?
they should be out any night

[Kyle Barker]

havnt seen one :( i am still lookign though. at elast every week, but im not out everyday. next weekend we are getting rain ill try the highlands again. i ahd no luck last time (lots of treefrogs calling though). i talked to teh nature hut folks at goldstream. he had a couple people mention tehm but he said tehy werent to promising. one by comox, and one somewhere in vic.

[tupinambis]

Not sure what I did wrong, but I can't get the photos in here. If you look in the gallery, though, I put three photos of egg masses.

[Kyle Barker]

Awsome stuff! Fraser lowlands eh? im bad with areas in "vancouver"....is that around abotsford and such?

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/7825AGM.JPG

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/7825AM.JPG

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/7825AG.JPG

[tupinambis]

Nope, that's right here in Vancouver. Pacific Spirit Park to be exact. Although the Fraser Lowlands refer to basically the whole Fraser valley beneath Chilliwack.

[jaracas]

any nice spiders predating on those there cave crickets kyle?

[Kyle Barker]

as a matter of fact there were. i only noticed these spiders, them crickets adn some flies at the entrance. tis rather dark to be spotting creepy crawly's...that may be a good thing though :p

sorry for the lack of quality. i find it rather hard to get a macro shot in complete darkness and crappy flashlights.

these measured with legs up to 3" accross, although im sure there are bigger ones. tehre were a couple "cubbies" in teh cave where they were CRAWLING!!!!! hundreds. i even saw tehm mating, or rather doing their little dances. i got a video of it but it did not turn out...too dark. their bodies are tiny. i dont know how they can possibly take down a cricket. in fact i got my doubts about crickets being their food...but what do i know.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/bchiking/Picture-015.jpg

failed attempt at showing how flat they are. they HUG that rock liek nothing else. in fact i didnt even notice they were there till i saw tehm dancing away about 50 feet in.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/bchiking/Picture-016.jpg

here is for size refernce. its actually the closest i can come to giving a visual picture of how big some of the monster crickets are. i swear a couple would easily reach the 5"+ mark with legs! not many that size but they were there.

cricket on ceiling of one of the tunnels.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/bchiking/Picture-018.jpg

me crawling through that tunnel. pic was taken from other side.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/bchiking/Picture-038.jpg

[Jeff_Favelle]

You're CRAZY!

LOL! ;)

[jaracas]

they actually look like Harvestman

http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/harvestman.htm

wait until late summer THEN you'll see some nice spids :D

i've been after some Cave Crickets for years :D

[Kyle Barker]

that would make sense....if they eat feces, fungus, and pretty much anything i could totally see that. look very similar as well! i havnt really seen any that much bigger in teh summer...except maybe by the mouth of caves. further in these are the only 2 bugs i have yet to find. sometimes a trippy looking centipede lieks to scare me though...