Mummified salamanders and piglets, enhanced with crystals, are now available for purchase at DeviantArt as curiosities or fashion accessories.
When I was a child growing up in Minnesota, tiger salamanders by the dozens would accumulate at the base of our outside basement stairwell. It was my not unpleasant chore to gather them up before they desiccated, and transfer them back to the nearby woods. Little did I know that I was dealing with potential art.
When I was a teenager in Spokane, a frog (toad?) fell into one of our basement window wells. It ate the bugs that came down there, and every winter it would burrow under the gravel and hibernate. By the time my parents sold the house, it was a little smaller than an adult fist.
ReplyDeleteIt takes a lot of insects to support an amphibian that big. Perhaps your house had lights in the basement at night that drew more insects to the window well. Cool story.
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