Posted by Cassandra Hine-Line on November 6, 2008

Q: I found this really tiny salamander outside on my patio & it is black with tiny yellowish / goldish spots all over its body. I was woundering what breed this salamander was,what does it eat and what kind of habitat does he/she have to be in in order to survive? we also have 9 acres of land to.

State: Pennsylvania

Habitat: field/meadow

A: Sounds like you found a young Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum). The animal you found probably moved from a water environment where it hatched and grew to land this year and is still quite small. These salamanders spend most of their time underground where they feed on earthworms and other small invertebrates (creepy crawlies). Since they do spend most of their time underground and are active at night, in most cases, they really don't make very good pets - you'd hardly ever get to see it.

Spotted Salamanders are usually found in moist wooded areas and may live quite some distance from standing water. They lay their eggs in springtime pools that may dry up in some summers. If you have some low, wet areas in your 9 acres, this may be where your little one came from. My best advice is for you to enjoy your animal for a few days and then return it to a wooded area so it can prepare for winter (do this before it gets very cold). Keeping and feeding your salamander over the winter would be difficult and probably end up with a dead animal. Read up on these interesting animals on the internet and next spring, you might even be able to go out into a wooded area near you and see these animals lay their eggs! Most people seeing these for the first time believe they're poisonous lizards but you know differently. Thanks for asking.

John Wiessinger ( November 7, 2008)