Slithering Salamander

On my way bringing the kids to Grandma B.'s house on Monday I saw something crawling across the road. I decided to stop, turn around and check it out. It was a spotted salamander! I didn't have anything to put him in and I knew the kids would like to look at him so I a put him on the floor on the passenger side. I know this sounds so stupid! Well my plan of him staying nicely in one spot was going great for about 75% of the trip. Then he crawled under the seat to the back. I stopped at a stop sign to relocate him and couldn't find him, of course. So we went the rest of the way to Grandma's and Mark, Cassia, Rachel, John & Amelia all helped me try to find him. But we couldn't find him. I assumed he crawled in this little vent under my seat to die and eventually stink, a lot! I decided that my stupidity served me right, and envisioned him crawling on me unexpectedly while driving down the road. I had to look one more time before leaving. Sure enough I saw him crawl under the seat! I quickly grabbed him and put him in a Rubbermaid for the kids to watch. I was so happy! The kids thought he was cool and enjoyed giving him water and a piece of wood. At the end of the day we took him back to the edge of the road so he could go find his mommy and daddy, according to Amelia. The moral of the story, don't let salamander's run free in your car, they may not be as slow as you think! :)

The spotted salamander I found.

John, Rachel and Amelia checking out the salamander.