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Life with a Salamander


Life with a Salamander
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   5.01

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    mealworms, Semi-aquatic, superglue, terrestrial, environment, scaly, crickets, entire, species, salamander, versatile, toxic, aquarium, interesting, rarely, beetles


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Life with a Salamander
By Colleen Messina
  

1     Scaly, fire breathing dragons might be an interesting idea for a pet, but good luck in finding one. And all that smoke and fire might cause a problem. However, if you would like a pet that looks a little like a dragon, you might like a salamander.
 
2     You can choose from about 350 species of newts and salamanders. Sometimes, people mistake them for lizards. However, unlike lizards, salamanders have moist skin and no scales. They are called "sallies" by people who keep them as pets. And they don't breathe fire, either. Salamanders are versatile and live on many continents from America to Europe, Asia, and Africa.
 
3     All sallies are amphibians, but some of them like water better than others. Aquatic salamanders like to swim. They live their entire life in the water. Semi-aquatic sallies live mostly on land. They go into water during breeding season. Sallies that live completely on land are called terrestrial. They live close to the water but rarely go into it.

Paragraphs 4 to 9:
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