Going to philadelphia in may

[francesco]

any newt places worth seeing in town like some zoo or petshop? I think I might pop to new york a couple of days as well so any advice is appreciated.
Cheers
Francesco

 

[michael]

Hi Francesco. If you are around May 5-7 you could go to IAD near Baltimore. I'll be giving a talk to the Bucks County Aquarium Society on May 4th. It will be geared more to fish keepers. It will be mostly about aquatic salamanders and newts.

I can't think of anyplace in the Philly area that has a larger variety of amphibians than my house. I'm about an hour west of Valley Forge.

 

[edward]

Hi Francesco,

A few years ago I would have told you to stop by the Philadelphia Zoo but the caudate collection has been severely reduced due to a different focus on the collection. They do have Cynops cyanurus (mislabeled as C. ensicauda), Pleurodeles waltl on exhibit and a couple of other species off exhibit (Salamandra salamandra, Tylototriton shanjing, Desmognathus quadromaculatus, and one of the Pachytriton sp). There are some other unusual amphibians off exhibit such as Schistometopum thomenses, Dermophis mexicana, Bufo baxteri and others. It depends on what you want to see. The Staten Island Zoo Reptile house is being renovated and the last time I was at the Bronx Zoo the exhibit collection was not caudate heavy.
I can vouch for Mike having a large number of species of caudates....

Ed

 

[francesco]

Mike
Then I'll be knocking on your door!!!

I think I'll be there at the beginning of may but I don't think I'll have time for the IAD cos I'm only staying for mor or less a week.
Ed
I might have a wonder round the zoo. Is it quite big?

(Message edited by franceschino on March 20, 2006)

 

[edward]

Hi Francesco,

The Zoo is 42 acres and has a good selection of animals some hard to see elsewhere like Giant River Otters, Giant Elephant Shrews to name a couple. The reptile house is one of the larger ones in the USA but the area available for amphibians is fairly restricted.

Ed

 

[justin]

Why yes Ed, your house does currently house some very nice Caudates... I would definitely recommend a trip to the Philly zoo if you are not familiar-- the off exhibit stuff is nice, though much smaller than a bit ago. I'm bummed I won't be there to meet up, but it's a bit more exciting here in Peru. Hopefully on this expedition the next few weeks we can turn up some Caudates on our dart frog mission.
j