Stenopelmatus gets thrown out

 

Not literally thrown, though. Its abdomen is very gelatinous and that would kill it.

Anyways, I took this pic and then released it in my front yard because it seemed stressed in captivity (it spent a worryingly large portion of its time in my cage aboveground, where it ran in panicked circles day and night). I assume the dirt in its cage was unsuitable for some reason. Fortunately it seems healthy now so it should likely survive in the urban wilds.

I was also wryly amused to find its missing sixth leg floating in the swimming pool today. For some reason insects occasionally lose limbs when drowning; perhaps surface tension twists the legs into unnatural postures and thus sprains enough muscles to amputate them.

I fed the leg to a captive hen. The hen was pleased.

EDIT: US Stenopelmatus are now all Ammopelmatus! Taxonomy sure changes fast!