Alligator lizard in the Willamette Valley

Pyramid · 07-07-2003, 07:44 PM

I was out at a field compacting gravel around a driveway culvert, and this lizard over a foot long came out of the culvert and turned around and looked at me. It looked like a small alligator with a broad head (light tan with some red and green tones). I told this to my boss and he said that it was probably an alligator lizard.

I have lived here (McMinnville) all my life and never seen one. He also said that when you grab one by the tail, it will come off as a defense mechanism.

While I'm at it, when I was steelhead fishing on the Salmon river once, there was a big black salomander on the bank (ugly as hell) with wierd gills. I think someone fishing with me called it some kind of ----monster. What is up.

Kruechief · 07-07-2003, 07:53 PM

One time while I was up on Snow Peak (east of Lebanon) me and two my friends saw a lizard come out of a culvert and his body was at least 18" :shocked: . It was brownish as I remember...

Krue

Waterfish · 07-07-2003, 08:05 PM

In the Cascades we have "Northern alligator" lizards, but they are only about 7" long. The big dark salamander you saw is a Pacific Giant Salamander. These are the biggest land salamanders in the world. In China, there are Chineese water salamanders that get to 30 lbs, but they never leave water. In streams that are deficient in iodine, Pacific Giants never leave the larval stage; they are even bigger in the larval stage, and have feathery gills. I've actually caught them on a hook and worms while trout fishing in Blowout Creek several miles before it enters Detroit Reservior. In streams that have natural iodine, they change from the larval stage, get smaller, lose the feathery gills, and live on land. Even then, they are still around one foot long.

Point-of-Sale Clerk · 07-07-2003, 08:09 PM

happybrew · 07-07-2003, 09:23 PM

Hey! I used to catch alligator lizards when I was a kid in California. They bite if you're not careful! I'm surprised you found one. We found them mostly where it was hot.

happybrew

Riverkeeper · 07-08-2003, 06:39 AM

Alligator lizard sounds right. Northern alligator lizards are smaller and have brown eyes. Southern alligator lizards are quite large and have yellow eyes. Otherwise, they look pretty similar and both occur in the willamette valley.

skrimmy · 07-08-2003, 06:59 AM

I'm familiar with them, having also caught them as a kid in California. I came across one about 10 years ago in Hillsboro. Yes, they'll bite readily, but it's not much of a bite. They'll also deficate all over you if you pick them up! Nasty little critters.

Gus Orviston · 07-08-2003, 07:54 AM

I bumped into a monster a couple years ago and my investigations lead me to the Giant Pacific that waterfish mentioned.

My descriptions was a gray 10" body, fat with pasley spot (not black dots). Here is the response I got from North American Reporting Center for Amphibian Malformations

The only salamanders in the coastal range of Oregon reach that size are the
Northwestern Salamander, Ambystoma gracile (a relative of the Tiger
Salamander which is not found int he coast range) and the Coastal (Pacific)
Giant Salamander, Dicamptodon tenebrosus, and maybe the Rough-skinned Newt,
Taricha granulosa.

However, if the spots are paisley shaped then it probably is the Coastal
(Pacific) Giant Salamander. The Northwestern Salamander is unspotted and
has a large conspicuous gland behind each eye (so called parotid glands,
toads have a pair of glands like these as well). The newt tends to be
smaller, is also without spots and has a light yellow to reddish colored
belly (contrasts clearly with back.

Gus, and dog eating Hugmongous Salamander that made him jump.