What is it?

I found this critter near the ditch in front of my house. He didn't seem very active. The green spots was more pronounced when I first picked him up.

Gary

It looks like a salamander or sometimes called a newt my husband says. They are great for the garden hope he's still kicking. Hubby says maybe a komoto dragon baby he he. I noticed some frogs and snakes slowly moving under the dirt and plants. ( I could do without the snakes) but most are still pretty groggy.
Kim

Skink??

Mudpuppy ??

http://www.interone.jp/~endless/Photo/Other/Mudpuppy.jpg

How big is it? It's some sort of salamander. Mudpuppies are really big, about 8 inches or more if I remember correctly. Most salamanders are little, about 3-4 inches. I've seen mudpuppies at Hubbard Lake, and two or three different kinds of smaller salamanders in the Alpena area.

Here's a link to Michigan salamanders:
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10370_12145_12201-61141--,00.html#Species

its gross looking thats for sure

There is another photo. That is a teaspoon next to it.

Gary

I thought most salamanders had smoother kind of rubbery feeling skin? That little guy in the picture looks pretty nubbly (if that's even a word :-) ) and drier. Though I truly am no reptile expert.

I have only seen one of these in my lifetime and it looked like a frog with legs and a tail. It was green and spotted.

Oh I hope you put him back! I can't remember if he specific to MI or not but they are not common reptiles. I just read a whole description of the reptiles in northern Ohio on some wildlife website and I saw a picture of him. Unfortunately I can't recall either what he is. How lucky - he will be a bug eater for sure.

I think it's a spotted salamander. The description on the link I gave above most closely matches that one. It's an amphibian, not a reptile. My father-in-law saw a small lizard (reptile) in my garden a couple summers ago, but I've never seen one here. The lizard we have in michigan is the five-lined skink. The DNR site says that it's in most of the lower peninsula, but not seen very often. I remember seeing a lot of lizards on Sugarloaf Mountain near Marquette as a kid, but I don't know what they were. Chances are they were skinks!

Here's some lizard info:
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10370_12145_12201-32981--,00.html

it is a spotted salamander.

I had one in my greenhouse got a picture of it too.

now that one is kinda cute!

Either way- mudpuppy, salamander, etc.. They all are becoming rare, and they all NEED MOISTURE! Please, i implore you, please put him back.

Ness;-)

(sorry, i dont mean to sound pushy, I just am very concerned for the life of these VERY delicate creatures! All of which are becoming very rare.)

Mudpuppy

G. Barrett

The Mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus) is a large salamander, about 30 cm long, that lives its entire life in water. It is widespread in lakes and rivers of North America. Adult Mudpuppies are mottled brown with long, feathery, maroon-coloured gills. These amphibians also possess lungs which aid in respiration when oxygen levels are low. Mudpuppies retain their gills for their entire lives, never transforming into air-breathing, gill-less adults as do most salamanders. Like all salamanders, they hide under rocks and logs during the daytime, and search for food at night. Their prey includes insects, snails, fish, other amphibians and especially crayfish. Mudpuppies live more than twenty-five years if they can avoid being eaten by turtles, water snakes, large fish such as bass, pike and pickerel, or occasionally, by mink or raccoon. Unlike most amphibians, Mudpuppies are active during the cold months. Adults are frequently caught by people who are ice fishing, particularly in the late winter.

Courtship and mating occur in the fall, but eggs are not laid until the following spring. Before the female Mudpuppy lays her eggs, she creates a hollowed-out depression under a log or flat rock. She attaches 18 to 180 eggs on the underside of the log by remaining upside down for several hours while the eggs are slowly extruded from her body. She will guard the eggs for four to eight weeks until they hatch. Larvae are about as long as a thumb nail, and will not mature until they are about five years old and 20 cm long.