According to the calendar, it’s still only March. And while I may be in a hurry for more signs of spring to arrive, it is a little early. So I was a bit surprised to see people posting about seeing salamanders over the weekend.
We have a few different types of salamanders around. Many people might not even realize it, since they don’t go out on public very often. But we have the small red backed salamanders, yellow spotted salamanders and I believe we may even have a few blue spotted salamanders around the province.
They spend most of the lives underground, or close to it. If they’re not actually underground, they are under a rock or in some other cool, dark, damp place. But during the winter, they tend to move back into the woods and find places to stay underground. Then, when the temperature starts to rise a bit, they crawl out of their hidey holes and head for swamps and ponds to make more salamanders.
While some people might not really like the idea of little lizards crawling all over the place, please keep this in mind. They are actually amphibians, even though they look like lizards. And they eat bugs. Lots of bugs. So we should encourage them. Anything that eats bugs is a friend of mine.
In some places you have to be a little careful because they crawl all over the roads. They aren’t really well versed in traffic safety. And they only do this once a year.
But people were saying they were spotting spotted salamanders. Which is a good sign. Hopefully spring is here. At least the salamanders think so.
