Spotted Salamanders are NOT garden varmints.
They belong to the “mole salamander” family and spend 99.9% of their time underground and out of sight.
They eat slugs, larvae and other slimy fauna that damage crops and trees.
Their tunneling aerates the soil, much as earthworms do.
They [and others like them] are vital to the natural order of things.
In fact, -no- salamander is considered pest; quite to the contrary.
Got slugs and other nasty bugs eating up your garden?
Encourage salamanders to move in by providing them with mulch, dead leaves and logs.
They have a voracious appetite for pests.
Maybe we don’t even have salamanders in my part of Tx. I’m probably thinking gopher. Gophers probably aeriate the soil as well, but thier burrows can be hazardous, and I think they eat the plants roots.