Spirit Camping - Camping, Hiking, Travel and More

During one of our summer camping outings to the New Hampshire White Mountains this year, my daughters made a very cool discovery resulting in one of them asking me, what do salamanders eat? Do you know the answer? I’m not ashamed to admit that I didn’t know the answer right off the top of my head, but after we did a little research about the little critter that my daughters found, we knew everything we could ever want to know about the little guy.

As you might have noticed from the recent post on Maine animal shelters, we’re animal lovers in this family, so looking into what do salamanders eat with my daughters was a great adventure.

The Investigation Into What Do Salamanders Eat

The way it happened was like this. We arrived at the campsite close to suppertime. So after setting up the tent and getting things squared away, my wife and I started cooking supper as the girls went into exploring mode around the campsite. Usually, exploring involves hunting around the campsite for interesting rocks, sticks or sometimes interesting insects. Just as supper was almost ready, I heard both girls exclaim, “Oooh! Daddy, look what we found!” The two of them were staring at the ground, which I thought was very odd.

So, cautiously I walked over to where they were standing and saw this little guy crawling along on the ground.

Now, we’ve spent enough time in the woods of Maine and New Hampshire to recognize this little crawly as a salamander, but I honestly didn’t know what kind it was. There are many different varieties and both states. We were camping near a body of water, so I was pretty sure it was a species that lived near a water supply.

The girls watched it for a while, and when it didn’t move they occasionally nudged it along with a small twig. When supper was ready, they left our new little friend alone and came over to feast on hot dogs, cucumbers and Pringles - our traditional “first meal” at camp. Twenty minutes later, the girls went to check out where the salamander was earlier, and sure enough the little guy had barely moved an inch.

We took these photos so that later we could do some research and find out the exact species. A few days later, once we were home from our camping trip, we started to do a little bit of sleuthing. It didn’t take very long for us to learn from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department that our visiting friend was actually actually an Eastern Red-Spotted Newt.

Credit: New Hampshire Fish & Wildlife

Sure enough, the NH Fish & Wildlife website reported that the newt is an aquatic species, and it had just rained the night before we saw it, which would explain why it was basking nearby our campsite. The bright skin color warns predators that eating the little newt would be toxic - and the scent of the skin secretions warn them as well. But still, the question remained - what do they eat? The answer came from the University of Michigan’s Animal Diversity website.

“The aquatic larvae eat small invertebrates including water fleas, snails, and beetle larvae; the terrestrial efts eat small invertebrates, mainly those found in humus and leaf litter, including snails, spring tails, and soil mites; the adult newts eat mainly midge larva and other aquatic immature stages of insects. Adults don’t have a specialized diet, eating any small invertebrate that they can find. (Behler, King, and 1979, 1998; Petranka, 1998)”

So, finally I could answer my daughter’s question - salamanders eat itsy bitsy little invertebrate bugs!

If your kids are anything like mine, they’ll love the huge wall mural shown here titled “A World of Animals” produced by National Geographic. Exploring the world of animals with your kids is a lot of fun, and you get to learn new things yourself, which is always fun. I’m looking forward to what sort of creatures we discover on our camping trips next year!

Tags: animals, camping stories, Camping With Kids, wildlife

As the camping season gets good and fired up this year, I wanted to take a moment and reflect upon one of those things that makes going on a camping trip with a large group of people so fun - easy camping pranks.  And there’s nothing that’s quite as good for the spirit as a good, hearty laugh.

The following pranks are some of the best I’ve found throughout the Internet, as well as a few that I’ve played along with friends on various camping trips through my life. When you grow up in the Northern Maine woods, camping becomes a way of life and one of the easiest ways to have some fun with friends on the weekend (away from parents).  So pack up the fake bugs and whipped cream, and let’s go!

The Top 10 Easy Camping Pranks

I started out this list with a series of about five of my own favorite camping pranks that you can pull off with very little preparation (in most cases). However, if you spot one or two that may require a little bit of prep work, don’t let that discourage you because those are often the pranks that work best. A few of these only require a straight face!  So, without further ado - here is this years list of the top 10 easy camping pranks.

#1 - Attack of the Birds (and Possibly Critters)

If you’ve ever sprinkled breadcrumbs or small bits of food near a campsite and observed that location over the next few hours, you know that it doesn’t take very much to attract nature’s smallest animals to that spot. Both birds and squirrels seem to have an uncanny ability to zone in on the smallest morsel of food that hits the forest floor. Taking advantage of this knowledge can be a very powerful think for the prankster camper.  All you have to do is wait until an hour or so before dawn, creep out of your tent and sprinkle breadcrumbs all over the top of the tent of your victim(s). Go back to bed and wait. Within an hour or so, depending on the time of year (and the population of birds and chipmunks or squirrels in your area), you’ll start hearing fluttering wings and scampering feet all around the target tent!  The poor campers inside won’t know what all the ruckus is about.

#2 - The Ranger Just Told Me…

There are a few variations to this prank, and each one is a riot. Every campground is maintained by a great crew of rangers or campground workers. Most of the time these workers are friendly and will answer questions or offer advice. One of the funniest “setup” gags is to walk off to go to the bathroom or get some water. Wait a while, and when you return to camp, tell everyone that the Ranger just told you that he’s alerting everyone that the local news just reported an escaped convict from a local prison (it helps if there’s a local prison, or if the campers are clueless about the local area).  It’s best if you tell everyone this just before bed. As people crawl into their tents, they’ll be wondering about the news…possible fretting about spending a long night in an area where there could be an escaped madman. Wait about twenty minutes after everyone is settled in, and then all of a sudden start screaming, “Oh my god! It’s him! He’s here! Oh my god he’s coming!”  Watch everyone scramble out of the tents with a frantic look on their faces.

#3 - The Bear Variation - another version of the Ranger prank is that the ranger told you there’s a bear that’s been ransacking tents and going after camper’s food, and in one case attacking a boy scout troop by tearing up a tent and pulling a camper into the woods. After about twenty minutes, creep out of your tent and then start grunting outside the target victim’s tent. After a little while, as you do one last grunt, slap the side of the tent as hard as you can.  Just make sure the victims don’t have any weapons, because there’s a strong possibility of panic setting in!  It’s hilarious - especially when they all scream.

#4 - The Critter Variation - This version of the Ranger prank involves telling everyone that the ranger reported that snakes have been creeping into sleeping bags (or small animals, spiders, etc…) When your victims aren’t paying attention to their tents, creep in and sneak pine cones or some other rough object into the foot of their sleeping bags. When everyone goes to crawl into bed, wait for the screams!

#5 - The Case of the Annoying Cricket

If you’ve ever had a cricket trapped inside your house, you know how annoying it can be at night. Catch a cricket by setting a light down on the ground at night and wait for them to come to it (they’re attracted to light). Capture one or two in a jar.  Go into your victim’s tent (either that night or the next day) and release the crickets into the victim’s tent. Once night falls and those crickets start singing, the campers in that tent will never get any sleep.  This has to be one of the funniest camping pranks I’ve ever witnessed, as the victims will start cursing the cricket and complaining, while you and your friends are rolling around in your tent in fits of laughter.

More Easy Camping Pranks

Can’t get enough camping pranks? The following will keep you occupied all throughout this camping season:

• Padlock the two zippers of the front tent flaps together so the campers can’t get out.
• Prepare breakfast for everyone, and slip a bit of hot sauce in the orange juice (mix well).
• Set up camping chairs for everyone, but carefully remove the nuts and bolts - watch as everyone collapses to the ground.
• Squirt toothpaste inside everyone’s shoes at night, and watch the fun in the morning as people slip their feet into their sneakers.
• Fill up water balloons, and have your friends help you stake out the victim’s tent in the morning. As your fellow campers arise from their slumber and exit, let them have it!

Tags: camping, camping pranks, easy camping pranks