Saturday, May 21, 2016

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Well, maybe I'll just talk about Tigers. I saw one the other day. In my garden. I'm not kidding!! There I was, turning the raised garden beds. A painstaking chore. I had to step on the shovel, yank the handle down, pull out a wad of dirt, turn it, sift through it and pull out the weeds (roots and all) and start over again. I shoveled load after shovel load.

Boring! 

Back breaking! 

Bothersome! 

 I was on my second garden bed for the day. I estimated I had 5 more rows to dig up, when suddenly..... (cue "Jaws" music)

I dug up a Tiger! 

A Tiger Salamander, that is. Oh, and yes, this little lady gave out a little girly sort of squeal (and then ran to get the camera!)


This wasn't my first encounter with the species. I caught one in a trap when we lived in Black Forest. I was amazed that a critter I associate with moist, dank places actually lives in the arid area of Colorado. Both of the salamanders I encountered were in burrows. It seems that they move in when rodents move out. Hooray! This is great news! My voles may have already decided to move on!!!

And, I guess there are worse things than digging up a Tiger Salamander......

I placed the salamander near a hole in another part of the garden.
He happily slithered and slipped into the hole.
See his tail?

.... digging up half of a Tiger Salamander! 

5 comments:

  1. Blessed are the bug eaters.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, and they also eat small voles! He can stay in my garden as long as he wants!

      Delete
  2. Blessed are the bug eaters.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh how cool!! I am jealous! I have never seen a salamander in the wild :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is the biggest I've ever seen, and they can grow to 12" - 14". That's huge! In SC we had small ones near a wet area in our yard.

      Delete

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