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Please help with Salamander problem!

Wolfman

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Hi all! This is the 2nd time I'm trying to do this because it all disappeared the first time. I'm new to this site and posting threads and all that. I don't know if this is the right place to ask about this but here goes. I live in Northeast Philadelphia, PA, USA in a mostly urban area in a rowhome with my wife and cat. We keep our home very clean but the homes are 50 years old and we are in the middle of the block and for those who don't know what a rowhome is, all the homes connect along the block. Anyway about a year after moving in I found the skeleton of what appears to be a small (about 2 inches) lizard. I thought that was weird but had since not really thought about it. That was 6 years ago. Over the past 5 months my cat has graciously helped to locate and trap 5 similar small fragile sometimes still living white or pink creatures. I took one to a local peat control business and was told it was a salamander but they don't exterminate for them. I am weirded out and have several questions. First of all, these things don't seem to have tails yet I thought that salamanders/newts did. Where are they coming from and how are they getting in my house since I don't live near any creeks or woods or even have a backyard! I have a small grass hill in the front that is surrounded by concrete. Finally, how do I drive them away? I last found one 3 weeks ago. This may not be related, but about a month before they started appearing we also had a fly invasion where overnight around 200 flies appeared flying around in the basement and up the steps into oour very clean kitchen. I don't know where they came from, or how they got there, but I killed them all and haven't seen any since then. Does anyone have any anwers to this mystery? I would appreciate any insight and expertise. Thanks!
 

Kaysie

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I HIGHLY doubt they're salamanders. Salamanders don't do well in most urban environments. Probably lizards. My guess would be fence lizards, which seem to thrive in in man-made environments.
 

Wolfman

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Thanks for your input. I'll have to look up more about fence lizards, but again, these things were whitish (like terrestrial newts) but also had no tails. I may need to call in Mulder and Scully on this.:happy:
 
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