I love all those little guys. Sometimes they get into my garage and get tangled in cat hair. They recover well when washed clean and released. The orangey snake, Calistoga, could be the sharp-tailed snake (see link). I have those in my yard. I always worry about using Sluggo in my garden since I can't find absolute confirmation that it doesn't harm the herpes. I have found that the new Sluggo Plus is not safe, the company does not even claim it is safe for wildlife, like they claim for Sluggo. Here is a link that might be useful: Bay Area Snakes

This was interesting to me I live in Ontario an hour out of Toronto Have never seen a salamander here in any garden I have had over the years But In Florida I have some very nice gardens and the past maybe four years I do have what I think is a salamander family living in the garden down there. They are not colourfull like your tiger salamander. Just a grey colour. I seem to see them each year in the shady gardens not on the sunny side Never found much information about them. Interesting that we have them in Canada as well TO bad it is that people have an instinct to kill such things but most of all snakes I always feel badly to hear people talk about how terrific it was to kill a snake that they found on their property I know instinctively people are frightened of snakes but they do so much good. really enjoyed to see this article and what others had to say

The first time I see these guys in the pond...there must be more then a hundred! Didn't know that they have gills like this, apparently larvae stage. Seen various sizes, small and large...this one is about 2 or 3years old according to one site and loose gill in about age 4 when they go on land, [only go to the water when breeding], some say only several month in the larvae stage. I must agree on the latter because of seeing small and large. They get to be about 15 years old.

amck, I'm going to go a little out on a limb and say "yes, for what you need it's worth a try" with a couple of caveats below in 2nd paragraph. It looks particularly good for toasting a whole bunch of English muffins up at once. Another nice thing about it is that it doesn't really take up that much more space than a normal toaster oven and is only 11" deep. I had followed the previous post and was interested to learn that there are now probably better choices out there than my old Black and Decker (so I'm probably looking too). The key is whether this chef's unit really performs as it claims to. I'm a little bit concerned about it browning two levels evenly on both sides. I'm also a little uneasy about it being "open faced" and having no door (if I read the link correctly) - you sure wouldn't want to accidentally stick your hand in there. Perhaps it's something that would be better off being a little higher up and out of reach of younger guests if you have any. It sure would be helpful to see some reviews of it. I'm really interested how this turns out - keep us posted. Here's the link again (hopefully the correct one) for anyone else who's following: Here is a link that might be useful: Chef's Salamander Broiler link