Picture of a little brown and orange salamander on a pebbled sidewalk.
Definitely a salamander, one of my glorious cousins! Thanks for sharing!
this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2024
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Nature and Gardening
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It's toad your cousin or brother?
Hmmmm, interesting question. I guess toads are half-brothers, since all other frogs would be my brothers.
I don't think this is a lizard, but probably an amphibian? Looks like the salamanders we used to catch as kids.
I don’t think this is a lizard, but probably an amphibian? Looks like the salamanders we used to catch as kids.
One of my friends pointed this out after I posted this. I don't know the difference. 😭
Salamanders are awesome. Growing up with a pond in the garden we used to go out fishing for frogspawn and salamanders all the time.
We'd hatch the frogspawn in a large aquarium out in the yard and we would watch the little frogs grow. Great way to learn about these little critters as a kid.
Salamanders were released in the pondside vegetation and eventually claimed the pond as their own. Little guys are still hanging around, even after all these years.
Gemini figures this is a rough-skinned newt, taricha granulosa. The Wikipedia images look about right!
It might also be a red-bellied newt or a Sierra newt. Habitat ranges can be found here: https://critterhideout.com/newts-in-north-america/
More pics and distinguishing features of each (note that these pages only give their range for just the state of California, but the rough-skinned ranges far beyond):
Gemini mentioned the possibility of those as well, but the habitation ranges I saw made me second-guess whether either could be correct. Either way, definitely a little dude. :D
I didn't read the title and thought someone spilled chocolate pudding
Very cute, little guy is on the move!
Better push it back into the ocean before it evolves. Already made that mistake one too many times.
Too late, it already grew hair and started a nation-state.