Backyard Critters

I knew that having a yard would mean having bugs in the yard. I'm not a fan of bugs, but I can put up with them when the alternative is staring at a large slab of concrete and never getting to feel the grass between my toes. I can stand the spiders as long as they don't climb on me or come into my house, and the occasional albino praying mantis is kind of cool. However, I do not like the idea of mice, so when I found holes leading under my fence that were just the right size for little rodents, I took appropriate measures and put out some poison. It's a good thing I did. One morning I saw a mouse eating it, and I got really excited and proclaimed, "Die, mice, die!" with an evil laugh thrown in for fun. Within a week, the poison was gone, so I put out some more, but it's still there. Woohoo! The mice are dead—or at least they're not coming back to my yard. Victory!

Now I have a new backyard pet. The other night when I was watering my lawn, I went out to move my sprinkler and found a very tiny salamander just hanging out, enjoying the spray. At first I thought it was a lizard, but it had very smooth skin and was enjoying the water too much to be a reptile. I researched salamanders, and they eat spiders and don't usually bug people much, so he gets to stay if he wants to. (All that really means is that I haven't been to the store to find salamander poison, and I kind of kept an eye out for him when I was mowing my lawn.) I haven't seen him since that night, but if he comes back, I think I need to name him. Any suggestions?