#QuarantinedThoughts — Newts

My latest spring obsession is going for a dog walk right after it rains. That’s when these cute little guys come out en masse.

At first I thought they were salamanders, but a quick bit of Google research determined them to be, in fact, rough-skinned newts. Once I had been thrilled to spot a solitary one of them scuttling its plump little bottom across our path, but since Spring has properly sprung, I have to walk quite slowly and carefully, watchful for the tell-tale movements that break the near-perfect camouflage of these mini dragons so as to avoid crushing them underfoot. That would be incredibly upsetting as they are quite adorable.

The sheer quantity of them is amazing, I counted over 60 in a single one-mile loop and I’m not even looking very hard for them these days. I was briefly alarmed to find out that they are quite poisonous, but apparently only if ingested, which neither my dogs nor I have the remotest interest in doing. Apparently the orange chemical on their belly skin can also cause skin irritation, but I try to refrain from touching them too much, respecting the wildlife and all that, but I did lift a few out of immediate harm’s way and got away with a bit of petting with no adverse…