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Chinese Giant Salamander Andrias davidianus breeding farm

yanger

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Andrias davidianus Chinese Giant Salamanders
These are captive bred individuals. Most of the pictures that I have decided to share with you are pictures of mutant giants. I used the word "farm" because thousands of babies are produced during every spring breeding season and some of them are either albinos or leucistic. They also display amazing black and white blotchings.
The wild population is still rare but are also making a comeback. The captive bred population is so huge in China right now that the total number of the Chinese Giant Salamander are well out of the danger zone. Occasionally healthy wild-type adults are released into wild populations "effects are unknown"
 

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Chinadog

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Interesting pics, thanks for posting!
I have read somewhere that most of the animals raised for food are davidianus/japonicus hybrids, is there any truth in that?
 

yanger

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Interesting pics, thanks for posting!
I have read somewhere that most of the animals raised for food are davidianus/japonicus hybrids, is there any truth in that?
I don't think that is true because the origins of these captive animals are wild caught Davidianus pregnant females (the farm started about 6 years ago.) However, there are so many farms in China that I can not really say for sure what species the other farms are working with.
 

yanger

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Here are more pictures of mutant adults and juves
 

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yanger

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And the numbers of mutant babies are surprisingly high! With the ratio of about 1 in 50 babies being a mutant, you guys can get a hint of how many Giant Salamanders are bred and hatched each season.
Some animals are sold as pets (all the mutants and some regular giants) but most are sold for the food market. I personally would never eat these creatures but at least this mass breeding project has saved the species from extinction. These should be pure Davidianus by the way.
 

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yanger

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Is ownership of CB. Giants illegal in other countries?
 

yanger

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Do you own a riiver ?
I personally don't see any rational reason to keep at home this.
My friend runs this farm and he does own a river, hahaha
The primary reason for breeding these is for the food market and the pet trade.
 

yanger

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It takes about 2 years for a juvenile to become an adult.

Do you own a riiver ?
I personally don't see any rational reason to keep at home this.

My friend runs this farm and he does own this section of the river. The Giant Salamanders he raises will be shipped off all over China.
 
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yanger

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This is one of the most stunning morphs I have ever seen and owned. This type of translucent leucistic mutation is quite rare amongst Giants.
 

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Niels D

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Do you own a riiver ?
I personally don't see any rational reason to keep at home this.

There are a lot of large setups suitable to succesfully keep these guys and I've got the space. There are other newts which inhabit rivers, which are sucesfully kept without the necessity of owning a river. By the way, A. davidianus is also found in very narrow streams with a depth of less then half a meter, as well as A. japonicus.

Then again, there are no rational reasons to keep any newt or salamander species. In the end we're doing it for our own pleasure. Any benefits (other then for ourselves) as a result of keeping them, like gathering information, are a bonus.
 

Chinadog

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There are a lot of large setups suitable to succesfully keep these guys and I've got the space. There are other newts which inhabit rivers, which are sucesfully kept without the necessity of owning a river. By the way, A. davidianus is also found in very narrow streams with a depth of less then half a meter, as well as A. japonicus.

I bet Giant salamanders would do very well in a Koi pond (without any Koi, obviously). High oxygen content and very low nitrates would be like home from home for them.
 

yanger

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This is an adult 1.2m golden leucistic male. One of the most beautiful adults on the farm.

The "panda" morph.
 

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newtron

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Are these f1 or f2? The little i know about the giant salamanders suggests that they are all wild caught or the the first generation of wild caught.
 

yanger

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Are these f1 or f2? The little i know about the giant salamanders suggests that they are all wild caught or the the first generation of wild caught.
Reports over 4 years ago suggest that the farm bred population was all wild caught F1s. In order to create more mutants, breeders started to have a section of their salamanders breed into F3s and F4s. The more mutants you see, the more domesticated the selected population is.
There are NO farms in China that sell F1s anymore because the purchase of F1s and wild caught adults have long become illegal.
To know more about Giant Sals you actually need to talk to several farm breeders. Looking up reports and articles on Google or Baidu isn't enough because all the reports you will find are seriously outdated, over 2 years ago.
 

yanger

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There are F3s for the mutants. I made a mistake, F4s don't exist yet.
 
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