Salamanders...wild caught vs captive bread

[roguemako]

Can any users let me know if the majority of the salamanders that are found in the pet trade in North America are wild caught or captive bread. Also can people mention any species aside from axolotol that are widely bread in captivity in North America. Links to any papers or studies that provide this information is also appreciated.

 

[otolith]

Pretty much any Ambystoma species available (except for Axolotls) are going to be wild caught. This isn't to say they aren't bred in captivity here but it is not the norm in North America. European keepers seem to have spent a great deal more time and effort breeding tigers and we see a few successes each year. I can't recall seeing any North American keepers posting about captive breeding success with A. tigrinum or A. mavortium.
Most Salamandra adults you see for sale are going to be wild caught and there seems to be one or two big imports a year, I believe most are from Eastern Europe. There are quite a few Salamandra breeders in the US though, CB animals are usually sold as juveniles and often have more specific species and locality info.

 

[Azhael]

If we are discounting breeders, both large and small scale, then most animals are WC. Pet-shops almost exclusively carry WC newts and salamanders, with the exception of axolotls and likely, Pleurodeles waltl.
Illegal imports of european and asiatic species are still common, particularly the latter. Anything that is adult or sub-adult is almost certainly going to be WC.

The most broadly bred species besides axolotls are P.waltl, i think. Some Triturus species are also fairly widespread as are some Salamandra salamandra. Native newts like Taricha granulosa or Notophthalmus viridescens are not commonly bred, but it happens.

 

[michael]

All salamanders offered for sale on caudata.org are captive bred. Most salamanders offered for sale other places are wild caught. Most pet stores in North America offer only wild caught salamanders for sale. Pet stores usually sell inexpensive w.c. animals. The expensive w.c. ones are most often sold over the internet. The salamander market is very small when compared to the frog market.