FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Dozens of dead salamanders graced a Flagstaff family's garage. But not even the experts can figure out how they died, or what they were doing there in the first place.
TikTok user Haylie Burg returned to her parents' home from a family trip away, something seemed off.
"The garage wasn't opening, which it usually does. So the power had been out from a storm," Burg told 12News. "So I kind of went inside and went towards the garage, and all the lights were out. I noticed a smell. Like, a really, really bad smell."
When she finally entered the garage, the dead salamanders were everywhere.
"It was like a horror movie. It was like, one after the other after the other."
Her video shows them scattered on the floor, piled up in the corners, and all over the welcome mat. While the video calls them lizards, Burg later confirmed that they were salamanders.
Some commenters speculated that they were killed by a gas leak, or flooding in the area trapped them in the garage where they starved. Whatever the case, it's gross, and viewer discretion is advised.
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We spoke with the experts at the Phoenix Herpetological Sanctuary to get an idea of what's going on in the garage. But what they told us about salamanders just makes the situation even stranger.
Salamanders are typically solitary, non-migratory amphibians that prefer to stay hidden in moist, shady environments. Seeing this many together is almost unheard of.
"In that quantity? I haven't seen that," Animal Care Husbandry Specialist Casey Brose said.
He suggested that if the home is near a pond where salamanders breed, they may have sought shelter there. And Burg was able to confirm that the house, while on a hill away from flooding, was near several small bodies of water.
But the storms in Flagstaff were severe enough to damage sealant on Burg's garage, and could have forced the animals to take shelter.
"We also had noticed that the steel wool that was on the corners of our garage that should like, keep it kind of locked in was removed or it was missing," Burg said. "So that's probably where they got in."
Brose speculated that the salamanders may have been bait animals kept in a tackle box seen in the video, but Burg clarified that there was no live bait in the box.
Brose recommended sealing off homes, including garage doors and drainage pipes, to prevent wildlife from getting in if you leave the property vacated
The good news? Burg's dad found a few of the salamanders still alive, and they were released back into the wild.
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