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Ensatina

Ensatina eschscholtzii · Salamanders and newts · Amphibians

Ensatina (Ensatina eschscholtzii): Slender, small salamander: total length up to about 120 mm (BC). Uniform pinkish brown, often with a yellow tinge at the base of the legs and digits; yellow or brown flecks sometimes on the sides (BC). This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Scientific name
Ensatina eschscholtzii
Family
Plethodontidae
In North America
Native
Range
Southwestern British Columbia south along the Coast Ranges to northwestern Baja California, and on the western slopes of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada; absent from the Sacramento-San Joaquin valley; sea level to about 8,000 ft (NatureServe). North of the Sunshine Coast it is known from only a few isolated sites in British Columbia (BC).
Biology

How to identify it

Slender, small salamander: total length up to about 120 mm (BC). [1][2]

Uniform pinkish brown, often with a yellow tinge at the base of the legs and digits; yellow or brown flecks sometimes on the sides (BC). [1][2]

Large head and eyes, relatively long limbs, and a narrow constriction at the tail base that can be hard to see in small animals (BC). [1][2]

Hatchlings are black or dark gray mottled with lighter flecks, with bright yellow leg bases (BC). [1][2]

Field knowledge

Where it lives

Douglas-fir and maple forest and clearings in the north; redwood forest, chaparral, oak woodland and canyons on the coast; pine-oak-incense cedar forest in the Sierra Nevada (NatureServe). [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Lives entirely on the forest floor from egg to adult; no aquatic larval stage, young hatch as miniature adults (BC; NatureServe). [1][2]

Sheltering under or inside rotting logs, stumps, bark piles, rodent burrows or moist crevices (BC). [1][2]

Eats insects, spiders and millipedes; inactive in cold or hot dry weather, emerging with fall rains and active until about May or June in the north and at high elevations (NatureServe). [1][2]

Female broods a cluster of 7-25 eggs, which hatch in fall or early winter (NatureServe). [1][2]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Southwestern British Columbia south along the Coast Ranges to northwestern Baja California, and on the western slopes of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada; absent from the Sacramento-San Joaquin valley; sea level to about 8,000 ft (NatureServe). North of the Sunshine Coast it is known from only a few isolated sites in British Columbia (BC).

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. Government of British Columbia · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Government of British Columbia