Andrias japonicus photos from San Antonio Zoo

This post is WAY late in coming (these are over a year old), but I thought I'd share it. I have a friend at the zoo in San Antonio, TX who showed me around the herpetarium and amphibian exhibits. The zoo has 5 A. japonicus which are wholly impressive beasts. We fed them while I was there and they remind me of T-Rex eating....or similar to tiger salamanders, Dicamptodon, or Desmognathus in their enthusiasm for food. I hope you enjoy the photos.

The enclosure is pictured....it had swiftly moving water about 12" deep and hides both of rock and some improvised from trashcans. The Andrias were not fully grown by any means, but they were only a few years old and considering they were around 12" on arrival, I was shocked how quickly they had grown.

I want a tank where I can WADE in to feed my animals, LOL. Great pictures, Travis, thanks for posting!

Wow, very nice picures. I too wish I had a tank like that (and a place to put it). They are extremely amazong creatures.

I wonder who formulates their vitamins?
Chip

Jennewt said:

I want a tank where I can WADE in to feed my animals, LOL.

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Likewise. I'm working on winning the lottery so I can do so at the moment. Its not going so well.

As for the photo's - Wow. I'd give my hind teeth to see a giant sal in the flesh. I'd love a couple... dont know where I'd put them though.

freves said:

I wonder who formulates their vitamins?
Chip

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Chip,

I thought the same thing ;-) That's why I posted the photo....you don't find "Andrias Vitamins" on the shelf at the health food store. I wonder if they come in chewable versions or shaped as the sals favorite cartoon characters?

I will always be in awe of the giants. I've seen them a few times in person (even 'behind-the-scenes', not through glass), but they'll never cease to amaze me.

If these guys were only a foot long a year ago, I guess Flintstone chewables are working pretty well.

I wonder if that guy fell in, would they eat him?

wow what a great picture, the pool is crystal clear, I hope they don't use the shoes other than to entering the pool
amazing creatures

otterwoman said:

I wonder if that guy fell in, would they eat him?

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I love the 'hand feeding' pics. I'd certainley be careful where I was putting me fingers if I were him!

After taking a closer look at the pic I noticed that the vitamins are in a mazuri brand container, although it looks as if the container had originally packaged a bird related product. I checked their website just out of curiosity... http://www.mazuri.com/Home.asp?Products=2 No specific Andrias products but I am curious about that amphibian gel. I wonder if they have sample sizes available? I would hate to spend 27.00 on something that my salamanders would not eat.
Chip

Wow, surprised to see these pictures here. Can't believe you posted pictures of that guy though,really ruined the set! Are you going to post the newer pictures. The salamanders have grown quite a bit since then. Its weird seeing these pictures, the look so small!

Do you have a personal vendetta against 'that guy'? I hardly see how he 'ruined the set'. In fact, he gives a great perspective on how big these sals are.

Maybe he actually IS the guy in the set!!!!!
I dont know, just guessing.

Ben

benw said:

Maybe he actually IS the guy in the set!!!!!

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For some reason, that thought never crossed my mind. I've been pretty scatterbrained lately.

imagine having a salamander the size of youre leg........ now thats a conversation starter eh.

I'm wondering how long that set-up has existed because I think they're going to be VERY disapointed when those climb out.
I keep benders and they can & do try and climb out to excape. I found one on the floor once and about had a cow. When I put it back the other one climbed out righ in front of me. I hope they screen it when they're no doing Maintenance.
A very nice set-up though, I wish I had more room and a contact to buy some of those!

Sonic...you nailed it. I am "that guy". The salamanders have been in there for almost 2 years now. I was worried at first they may try to climb out but they have shown no desire to do anything close to coming out. They rarely come out of the water on the rocks, let alone try to climb out. The first few months after we put them all together there was a lot of moving around and what seemed to be setting up dominance in the group. After that was all established they set up thier own spots and left each other alone. About 6 months after being together, they all moved under a large rock shelf.

The vitamins are a standard vitamin for fish eating birds. The fish we feed are previously frozen so we add the vitamins to replace nutrients lost during the freezing.

Do you see combating with those like the benders do? What are the odds those will breed? Another question on food, the benders here eat crayfish, do these have any similar food items in Japan & have you ever feed them crayfish or are those frozen fish the one & only food item? I was lucky enought to meet a zookeeper that was keeping a bender, he claimed it was there for 7 or 9 years and had been feeding it frozen mice and rat pups the whole time. (the zoo will remain un-named) Have you guys ever attempteded fozen rodents? Any good or bad with that idea?
Sorry to bombard you with quewstions but there's not too many people caring for these let alone even getting to see them.
Chuck

Yes they fought. The first month or so they fought a lot. Usually face grabbing and rolling. After a while they seemed to establish a heirarchy and bites are infrequent and usually only occuring around feeding time.

We used to feed them fresh rat pups when they were very small (a foot or so). Don't feed them rodents anymore. I'm not sure how their digestion will handle the fur. We do occasionally feed them live crawfish (cut the pinchers off first) and they have munched on the live koi that share the exhibit with them.