Lone Hellbender

I may have access to a lone male captive hellbender for a breeding project. A friend of mine runs a local nature center in OH and has I think a male. I hate to see it just sitting alone in a tank. I'm sure he would like to see it used in some breeding project but I would like to have some kind of plan before I ask him. Any ideas or help would be great. Thanks Chad

Just be aware that a hellbender in OH will require a permit.

This one already has a permit, we would only work with legal, permitted animals. If there are any single females (hellbenders) in OH looking for a good time Let me know.

Hi,

I do not think, that breeding Hellbenders "just for fun" is a thing that will help nature nor will be scientifically relevant. If you want to breed Hellbenders for some other purpose than selling them as pets or observation objects to zoos you will need a female of the same population this animal is from. Else it will lose any importance for scientific research. Thats why many keepers of any kind of Urodela try to get animals with a concrete location...

If your doing that for fun: good luck! I love that species and would appreciate pictures a lot

Best Greetings,

Kamil

This would not be just for fun. I feel any breeding of hellbenders would be scientifically relevant though. Any babies would be given away to zoos or institutions that could use them for education. I know that I am getting ahead of myself and planing to get rid of babies that don't and probably won't exist. It just seems like a waste to have lone animals in captivity just for display. I would love to have an animal from the same population, but I would be happy to find an animal from the same geographic region. Ours is from OH and thats about as specific as I care to get. I'm not asking people to loan me their animals, but to consider pairing them up at a location that could best assure breeding. I know the Cleavland zoo has at least one in a very nice outdoor enclosure. If you are ever in the area check it out, next best thing to seeing one in the wild. Please don't think I am getting defensive, I just want to make my intentions clear. It would be great to get a breeder registry like woodturtle.com has. Just some thoughts. Thanks Chad

Not sure if this situation was ever resolved...but just in case it wasn't...

If you know where and when the animal was captured in Ohio, that would be VERY useful information to some people I know. I work primarily with amphibians at the Toledo Zoo, and a friend of mine has been doing statewide surveys for hellbenders the past two years for ODOW. They are doing very poorly and any information about where they might still occur would be great.

Also hellbenders have never successfully reproduced in captivity, so your chances are very low. The Wilds has constructed an outdoor facility to house some ohio hellbenders in an attempt to reproduce, but currently has none. If you have locality information they would probably very much want it and probably the animal as well.

-Tim