I saw what appeared to be a 12-14" salamander today in my brood pond. It only had 2 front legs, and escaped before I could catch it. Bad picture, but he wouldn't sit still long enough to get a better one.

Maybe a Sirenidae (Siren)?

Freak.

Hey that's a rainbow trout. LOL

If this is what I think it is, these can grow to 36". That'll be a freak for sure.

WOW

Maybe it's there to escape the LMB in the big pond?

If so, that was a wise decision. My first thought was that it did look like a trout as Cecil said, and I had considered turning it into a scooby snack for my LMB. Since I don't know if it's poisonous, I decided against it.

Whatever it is, it's the first time I've seen anything like it here.

I don't think they are all that common. If it was my ponds, I'd leave it there.

Oh I am, because now I'm curious to see if there are any more of them.

Oh wow, they are rare and require very specific conditions to survive. Clean water, low predators, ample food... I have never actually seen one though. Not too many people have...

We get Hellbenders around here, which are very large salamanders. I have only seen one in my life, and it surprised me when I flipped over a rock looking for little salamanders. Freaky looking critters! Rare to the point that zoos have breeding programs.

A real man would have just grabbed the thing......

True, but a real man wouldn't have screamed like a 6 yo girl like I did when I almost stepped on it. Unfortunately, there were no real men around.

We went and shot Sporting Clays Saturday morning. Myself and 3 "city" boys. A chipmunk ran by in front of us about 6' away. Two of the guys jumped about a foot in the air and ran about 10'.

These same two guys, when we were in Wisconsin in June, going into a restraunt/bar to eat dinner, screamed like little girls and ran about 50' when they came face to face with a porcupine that was on the walkway going to the front door of the place. I really think they ran faster than the porcupine did. I was laughing so hard I was crying.

LOL!!!!!!!!

Those are often called the best big LMB bait around !!!!

Very cool!