Red-backed Salamander

This salamander was found in the library after a powerful storm! I don’t know how it got in (this old place does have more holes than I’d like to think…) but unfortunately by the time I found it, the poor guy was covered in dust and hair! I don’t have a “before” picture, but Nova and I spent a long time gingerly removing the hair and dust and dabbing at this little guy with some damp towels before finally releasing him back outside! I hope he recovered okay, he was definitely moving around more once we got him damp and the debris was off of him, but he was still a little lethargic.

I’ve since learned that these salamanders breathe through their skin and need to be moist, so I imagine he was in dire straits before we found him and got all that stuff off. It was still plenty misty and damp outside, so I’m hoping that after an hour or two of resting he was able to get moving! And don’t worry, we hid him under a damp leaf after taking that photo, that way he had some cover to hide under.
Wikipedia