Question: Need info on many specific newts!

[Gregh]

I've been thinking about getting or making a large tank for newts, and I've been looking around at the kinds of newts there are and have found quite a few that have caught my interest, but being a relative noob I have no idea what to do with my list. I was just wondering if I can post them up so people who know more than me can alert me if the species are aggressive towards others, rare to find from breeders etc. If you comment on one specific one I'll just throw it beside the name and update off and on (if anybody can help, I really don't know how hard the question is that i'm asking).
willing to take a lot of time to collect a few

Abystoma Annulatum
Amphiuma
Cynops Ensicauda
Ensatuna Eschscholtzii
Euproctus Montanus
Eurycea- two-lined and junaluska
Hynobius arisanensis
Hynobius leechi
Hynobius nigrescens
Hynobius stejnegeri
Hynobius Tsuensis
Mesotriton (triturus) alpestris
Neurergus Kaiseri
Neurergus strauchii
Notophthalamus meridionalis
Notophthalamus viridescens
Paramesotriton caudopunctatus
Paramesotriton laoensis
Plethodon glutinosis complex
Pleurodeles poireti
Proteus Anguineus
Ranodon sibiricus
Salamandra salamandra
Salamandrina terdigitata
Taricha granulosa
Taricha torosa
Triturus marmoratus
Triturus vittatus
Tylototriton hainanensis
Tylototriton shanjing
Tylototriton taliangensis

For obvious I'm not looking for even close to all of these, I'm thinking about buying a few, I'm trying to get a sense of which can be had and would be a good/safe choice.

 

[ferret_corner]

Ok for one thing - here we caution against mixing species. One reason is for aggression towards other, another reason is species toxicity, and another is possible hybridization.

But knowing that a species is aggressive in general is helpful in planning a tank.

P. Labiatus is aggressive towards its own species and will kill or maim weaker group members.

But that kind of information is in a link above http://www.caudata.org/cc you can find most species you're interesed in there. I didn't look up all your species so maybe all are there!

Good luck.

 

[Gregh]

yup they are, I was just more looking for an idea how hard it would be to track some down, or if some people have experience with one or another in some way, thanks for the link though, I'll take another look.

 

[ferret_corner]

Heehee I read your intro. Hi & welcome!

Off hand I've seen at least 3 of your wanted species offered in our for sale section. 2 of them relatively recently. Both I've considered purchasing & am still mulling it over in my head.

LOL I may need to bounce some ideas off their breeders to come to conclusion.

Well I'll just throw my two concerns out here in your post....

.. how rare are T. Shanjing and T. Marms? Should they be owned by a hobbyist owner, non breeder?

If no one answers here I'll corner them in the chat room or PMs!!

Sharon

 

[Otterwoman]

If you're patient you can find them...M. Shrom has sold both in the past; in fact, I just got some baby T. shanjing from him last month. I'm not sure if he has any more though, but they are available sometimes.

 

[Nathan050793]

Amphiuma
Cynops Ensicauda
Mesotriton (triturus) alpestris
Notophthalamus viridescens
Salamandra salamandra
Taricha granulosa
Triturus marmoratus
Tylototriton shanjing

Out of your list, these are the species you will probably be able to find for sale easily. Several of them such as C. ensicauda, make pretty good beginner newt species.

Some of the ones you were interested in, such as N.meridionalis and Proteus anguineus, you will never be able to find (legally) as they are endangered/protected.

Good luck!

 

[Gregh]

Thanks!
Excited to see Mesotriton alpestris, Notophthalamus viridescens and tylototriton shanjing on that list.

Are there many Ommatotriton ophryticus kicking around?

 

[Nathan050793]

Are there many Ommatotriton ophryticus kicking around?

I'm not sure- I haven't ever seen any for sale ads for Ommatotriton, but I know of people who keep them.

I also forgot to mention before, the species I listed are those I have seen available in the U.S.- I'm not entirely sure if all of those are available in Canada or not.

Still, Good Luck!

 

[Jennewt]

Thanks!
Excited to see Mesotriton alpestris, Notophthalamus viridescens and tylototriton shanjing on that list.

Are there many Ommatotriton ophryticus kicking around?

This species just doesn't kick very well. Even some of the most expert keepers/breeders have been unable to keep them alive in captivity. There've been a few successes, and occasional animals are traded (or sold for very high prices). It would be rare to obtain them, and then also rare to actually keep them alive.

In considering what species to keep, I would suggest also trying out the reverse of the approach here. Start by making contact with as many other good keepers and breeders in Canada as possible. From this, you'll get a handle on what species are likely to be bred. In the short term, there may be little available, and that may guide your choice.

 

[Gregh]

The costs you spoke of before in your Strauchii thread (nice btw!), are they expensive to get newts and sals from US to canada as well? and on that note, how safe is shipping newts hundreds of kilometers anyway? I'm looking at something in Ontario, but are the odds good it could get to nova scotia healthy?

 

[Kaysie]

Importing species has a whole host of costs associated with it, including permitting, brokers fees, transportation, vet inspections, etc. Most people do not find it economically feasible to import/export species. As far as shipping, overnight shipping, or even 2 day shipping in most cases works just fine.

 

[natureneil]

I think perhaps you need to step back slightly. As you have quite a few different habitat requirments with all these newts and salamanders. So you need to decide do you want an aquatic set up? An terrarium with small pool of water of a half and half aqua terrarium? As once you decide this you can reduce your list. To help as a very broad rule of thumb aquatic species are more active and easier to observe during the day. Ask yourself do you want to breed them? Will it require a winter dormancy period in which you won't see you new newts for 4 months. Once you have considered these questions we can help with individual species selection. Good luck

 

[Gregh]

Preferably no winter dormancy, and since I already have aquatic, I suppose primarily a terrarium. A terrarium with an area set for water.

As to breeding I'm going to want to own a few of these guys for quite a few years before I would ever assume to know enough to breed one and give it to someone else. At this point I just want a few that pique my interest, we'll see I suppose.:happy: Something very different from the paddletail I have now to round it out a bit.

 

[i_love_necturus]

I knowticed that you have Amphiuma on there. The two larger species (they both can get longer than 3ft) would almost certainly eat everyting on that list from what I hear about them. I second everyone who is against species mixing. There is a smaller amphiuma, but of course its rarely offered and uncommon in wild.

 

[Gregh]

mmm... I'm start to lean towards just using this list as a guideline for which species I will choose, and then possibly get a few of that species for a larger tank. Safer Idea?

AAAAAND just as a shot in the dark, anybody know of two land based newts that almost always that go well with another land based newt on this list? IF not I think I will heed the warnings and simply choose one.

Thanks guys this is really helpful!

 

[Repguy27]

Well I'm relatively new to keeping caudates too but if you have dogs or cats or anything like that, you may want to consider how toxic they are. Some newts toxins may kill your other pets if they are eaten or anything like that. Tarichas, especially are toxic.