Photos and Questions I'd like to share

Hi all. This is my first post in this forum. I am a salamanders enthusiast and have three species of salamanders. My problem is that I love them and take care of them more than what I know about them. I'm still ignorant about what's the names of the species of the salamanders I have. I checked the species photos you have here, but I got confused since some looked like mine but not exactly. Maybe you could help me a little bit here?

Info, comments, praises and ideas about my critters here are welcome.

So let me introduce you to them.

This is the main species I have. I have six of them in a very large tank where there's plenty of room for them. This one here is Zhaggrath Heard this species is Japanese... is that right?


This is Grishnak. He was the huge guy every salamander liked to ride. He died recently I'd love to have another one since the other 6 salamanders of the previous species were very fond of him. But first I have to know the species to search for another one. I got this one as a gift and he lived more than a year with me.


This is Ketz. I have him since he was an axolotl (ajolote here in Mexico) He lived around 7 months as an axolotl and in the run of a whole week he transformed! He looks like this now (and I have the feeling he is a she). Any idea on what species he/she is?


Thank you very much to all

Aaron

just a thing: your Grishnak was a Paramesotriton hongkongensis (?), but in the pic it was already badly bloated (see the enlarged cloaca)...this means it was not well...
an advice: don't mix different species together in the future...;-)

leo

Ketz does appear to be a transformed axolotl (A. mexicanum). He looks just like naturally transformed mexico city specimens I've seen. Mexican Tiger Salamanders (A. Velasci) live in the same area as the axolotl, but their adults have larger tan spots.

your firebellys look like chinese fire bellys (Cynops orientalis), not japanese firebellys (Cynops pyroghaster).

Thank you all, very much for your help and advice. Just another little question. Why shouldn't different species be mixed? Is there a thread here about this topic I can dive into?

Thank you all

Their is an article on Caudata Culture that explains this. If you haven't looked already at that site.

The belly pattern on your first C. o slightly resembles one that I keep

Hi Aaron,
here is the link to the article on Caudata Culture which Joseph mentioned.

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/Mixing_disasters.shtml

Ralf>> Thank you very much! It's very interesting!

Joseph>> Great! Is it the one in your display picture? It looks a lot like mine

Aaron: Yep. Thats her. Neat looking belly pattern. Hard to tell in yours but in mine it is more a less a single stripe of color with irregular edges running down the belly. Some of her offspring are also coming out looking like this. Speaking of which...thats something to look forward to also.

(Message edited by fishkeeper on June 22, 2005)