[s]Cougar[/s] bobcat calling.

[buckhorn2]

They had a show on animal planet about how poisones they are. People have died when they got in there coffee pot and and people drank it. Nothing bothers them herons;racoons they all avoid them.

[Kain]

Holy Cow.  It is a Rough-skin newt and they are poisonous.  To think I was just playing with and moving them out of the road thinking I was saving them from birds.      Thanks for the heads up.

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/toxin2.shtml

The rough-skin newt (Taricha granulosa) is one of the most toxic animals known to science. One case involved a 29-year-old man who had been drinking heavily and swallowed a newt on a dare in Coos Bay, Oregon. Within 10 minutes, he complained of tingling in the lips. During the next two hours he complained of numbness and weakness and then experienced cardiopulmonary arrest. He died later during the day (despite hospital treatment). In another case, toxin from a Taricha entered a puncture wound on a scientist's index finger, and he suffered 30 minutes of numbness up the arm into the shoulder, and some accompanying nausea and light-headedness.
When describing the effect on more natural predators, one reporter wrote: "Scientists have tested 30 potential predators of newts, from belted kingfishers to great blue herons to bullfrogs and fish, finding in every case that the newt killed them." Of related gastronomic note: folklore held that pigs in England could eat newts with impunity, while their French porcine cousins would die a horrible death from the same ingestion. On a social-historical note, it is said that some Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest used Taricha newts to poison their enemies.

The toxins range in severity of effect. Using de Lisle's scale, and comparing a variety of sources either using the same experiment ... or doing a rough comparative assessment, the following "ranking" of toxicity occurred (based on the amount of toxin within the species):

Roughskin Newt (Taricha granulosa) (USA) - 25,000 mice killed
California Newt- Male (Taricha torosa); Crocodile or Emperor Newt (Tylototriton verrucosuss); Redbelly Newt (Taricha rivularis) -  7,500
Roughskin Newt - Canada (Taricha granulosa) (Canada); California Newt - female (Taricha torosa) - 2,500
Japanese Firebelly Newt (Cynops pyrrhogaster); Hong Kong Warty Newt (Paramesotriton hongkongensis); Eastern or Red-spotted Eft (Notophthalmus viridescens) <2,500
Eastern or Red-spotted Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) 250
Anderson's Newt (Echinotriton andersoni); Chinese Warty Newt (Paramesotriton chinensis); Guizhou Warty Newt (Paramesotriton caudopunctatus); Tsitou Newt (Pachytriton brevipes); and Spanish Ribbed Newt (Pleurodeles waltl) have secretions, but of unknown (to me) composition and strength.
Least Toxic - Smooth Newt (Triturus vulgaris); Crested Newt (T. cristatus); Alpine Newt (T. alpestris); and Marbled Newt (T. marmoratus).

[Axle]

Are those salamanders poisonous just to eat or to touch?

From what I have read - they are only poisonous while on land. This would be their only defense while on land. After they return to water, it is said that they are not poisonous but I wouldn't want to eat one and find out.

[rasbo]

caution,licking one will make you hug trees,and agree with rosie odonnel,and the govener of our state will become beautiful and never lie...Its obvious that a lot of people in this state are newt lickers....Danger Will Robinson back away from the newt.....

[Kain]

  Nice "Lost in Space" reference also.

[Axle]

and the govener of our state will become beautiful

Oh great!....there went my lunch!

[washelkhntr]

and the govener of our state will become beautiful

Oh great!....there went my lunch!

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little....

[Kain]

Had another track picture on my camera.

[Cylvertip]

Just to eat.  Wash your hands real good after handling them.  Though, I'm still around and I messed with hundreds of them as a kid

[Kain]

Yeah so did I.  I read up a lot on this after this thread.  You can also get sick from rubbing your eyes and nose or from an open wounds or scratch.  Just be careful and you should be fine.