Red Spotted Newt Questions

[tywiggle]

Greetings,
Please share an answer/opinion to the following questions. I have a spring fed pond in central Virginia that is literally brimming at the seams with red spotted newts.

1) Are these good pets?
2) Is there an interest strong enough to market these?
3) How can I mail the newts safely to anyone who is interested?
4) I have an aquaculture permit for VA. Is there anything else legally required to be able to send these as pets either domestically or internationally?
5) Is there any moral implications to harvesting these abundant creatures as pets? There seems to be no threat of species endangerment.

Any input is greatly appreciated.
Ty

 

[Azhael]

Sorry if i don´t answer your other questions.
Personally i will tell you that collection of wild animals is rather hard to justify...specially if it´s in large numbers. An increasing number of hobbyists is becoming very concerned about these amazing animals and their status in the wild...therefore avoiding wild caught animals and concentrating in captive bred offspring.
Even if they may seem abundant, they can be just locally abundant...Plus we don´t know for how long they will be abundant. Amphibians are suffering a huge and extremely fast decrease, so massive collection is not going to help at all.
Do what you want...what your morals allow you...but bear in mind you would be spoiling nature. If you really want to use the species as an income resource....breed them in bast numbers...but leave nature alone...
Just my opinion though...

 

[tywiggle]

Thank you for the reply

The previous reply is one reason why I posed the questions here. I could argue that being strictly protectionist of nature is perhaps not the same as good stewardship. As an all natural farmer, I consider all things carefully including treading lightly on the earth and its creatures. Man and nature can have a symbiotic coexistence when man uses his dominion properly. Breeding was previously mentioned. Would not the genetic diversity of my natural stock help the species as a whole? Would not the protection of my privately owned pond from development justify some type of financial payoff if it is accomplished in a manner respectful of the species as a whole both locally and globally? There are wild harvesters that have no scruples. I certainly do not count my self as one of them. Even from a strictly business sense, the long term success of my pond depends on the health and survival of the creatures in it. With the term "good stewardship" on the table, does anyone have information to share?

 

[onetwentysix]

Before you do anything, check with your state regulations regarding amphibians; many states have laws limiting the number of animals of native species that you may possess, and others have regulations against selling any native amphibian commercially. And even if it is legal to sell these newts in Virginia, since N. viridescens is so widespread, your prospects of selling any in the eastern United States may be limited as well, depending on the individual rules regulating native species from state to state.

International sales require an export permit, which is expensive and time consuming to get.


Regulations aside, I have to state that I'm against the commercial sale of wild caught amphibians. Essentially, you're coming into a community that has maintained itself for hundreds of years or more, collecting a large number of them, and then profiting without investing any resources of your own, at the expense of a wild population.

These kinds of behaviors can have severe ecological effects locally. While these newts aren't in any danger of complete extinction right now, your collection can have a huge impact on the newts locally. It can take years to reach the adult stage; with the red spotted newts there is generally a period lasting 2-7 years where the newt is an eft before reaching adulthood, and isn't producing any offspring during this time.

Many species of salamander work on a population model that relies on adult survivorship rather than juvenile recruitment. This means an adult is worth far more than an egg, larva, or juvenile, because the adults are the ones that need to survive and produce the next generation. Since it takes so long to become an adult in your newt species, by removing the adults you may be bringing the species to a point where not enough juveniles are produced by the population to replace those lost by predation or human interference (cars, human-made population sinks, etc). As a result, the removal of a large number of adults from your population may mean that the entire population could slowly die out in a few years.


If you really want to profit off of these animals, I would strongly recommend captive breeding, or alternatively, raising eggs/larvae up with your own resources and selling these.

 

[freves]

Hello Ty,
As a resident of SW VA I can answer the legality questions. Va state law makes it illegal (1) to own more than five individuals of any native, non-protected herp species and (2) to sell any native herp species. So to answer some of your other questions if you wanted to collect a few and properly house and feed them and enjoy them in your home then there is absolutely nothing wrong (IMO) with doing this. If you wanted to collect a few to send to a friend (for free) who was serious about this species then (again IMO) this is OK as well because it is a better option than buying them from a commercial source. I will certainly agree with the others regarding mass collection for profit however this is a mute point since it is illegal anyway. If you do decide to take some into captivity however, be aware that you should be prepared to most likely never release them again. There is currently a major threat to both wild and captive amphibian populations from the chytrid fungus and it is very possible to inadvertantly spread this and other organisms as well.
Chip

 

[tywiggle]

Peter,
Thank you for the well informed input. Your information is very helpful.

Chip,
Thank you as well for more good information. If you are interested, I will be glad to share a few newts if you are ever up in central VA.

I would say that mass collection would not have been the case even if it was legal. I do wonder if it is possible to have an overpopulation of newts in a pond. I use traps to get feeder minnows from the pond and end up getting sometimes a dozen newts even with the traps set just a couple of hours. Perhaps these newts could be legally used to restock areas that need the species to be reintroduced. The safe haven here seems to be very favorable for newts. There really is a bunch of them and they seem to be very healthy. I do not intend to keep them as pets. I just look at them and let them go. I guess the bass don't eat them because they are poison. Life seems to be good if you are red spotted newt and living in my pond.
Ty

 

[grunsven]

As it is illegal apparently it is a bit of a non issue but I think it should be brought into perspective.

Many people, also on this forum have WC animals (tigers, pachytritons, CO's etc. etc.) quite a few have wild caught endangered species (such as N. kaiseri). The problem is that in most cases these are colelcted in very large numbers and we do not have a clue how this is done. In some cases it is pretty obvious that it is detrimental to the local populations (N. kaiseri, S. algira).

If you maintain a pond and harvest a small proportion of animals annually this is unlikely to have a serious effect on the population size. The effects are way smaller than for instance introducing goldfish of pumpkinseeds, Let alone redoing your garden and turning it into a rosebed. So I'm not as strict in this perspective. Let's focus on the real problems, habitat degradation, introduction of fish etc.

 

[freves]

I appreciate the offer however red spotteds are very common in my neck of the woods as well.
Chip