After 9 months

The french are indeed very secretive about their businness in the hobby but every now and then you get a glimpse and it´s usually an impressive one. They seem to have much success with rare species and the trade must be big because they do have access to very weird stuff (all WC , though....).

It´s very weird that you have had so many cases of the shine with your animals. I expect there must be some particular factor causing the problems. A semi-aquatic life alone is certainly not enough to cause such damage. Many people raise their young of various genera that way without problems. Even species traditionally considered hydrophobic. Whatever method you decide to use i hope you succeed!

Monique, "the shine" is a condition that presents itself by a very smooth and shiny skin, usually acompanied of apparent malnutrition (bones showing even if the animal doesn´t look too thin). It´s a serious problem most commonly present in WC imports. You can find more information about it using the search function, i know there are at least a couple of good threads where the problem is discussed. Here are two pictures so that you can see what it looks like:
Caudata Culture Articles - Illness Part 3

The french are indeed very secretive about their businness in the hobby but every now and then you get a glimpse and it´s usually an impressive one. They seem to have much success with rare species and the trade must be big because they do have access to very weird stuff (all WC , though....).

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Wc is the only chance for those who seek completly new and never kept stuff!
Its doesnt surprise me if most of his are like that.

It´s very weird that you have had so many cases of the shine with your animals. I expect there must be some particular factor causing the problems. A semi-aquatic life alone is certainly not enough to cause such damage. Many people raise their young of various genera that way without problems. Even species traditionally considered hydrophobic.

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Indeed not normal events. I guess maybe some species arent prepared to water Rodrigo. Or maybe the strings i´ve been getting are less tolerant to humid/water conditions.

Whatever method you decide to use i hope you succeed!

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I dont know yet what going to do but thanks.


@ Monique: Check that page like azhael presented. It will be there pics of taricha and shanjing with shine if i'm not mistaken.

My adult P. guangxiensis are courting already but no signs of sperm
But I think they will do it again. I am so surprised as females are so "friendly" with one and other. They sleep both together in valisnearias near surface and male is like courtship the stones at the bottom. Anyway like they breed last year I´m confident they will do the same this year too.

Cheers,

eljorgo said:

Wc is the only chance for those who seek completly new and never kept stuff!
Its doesnt surprise me if most of his are like that.

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While it´s obviously true that any attempt to introduce a new species into the hoby must start with WC animals, i think it´s unjustified that those WC animals should come from the pet market. We all know how mass collections work and the conditions in which such animals are imported and treated even after arriving to their destination. My complaint is about the pet market being fed with WC animals, not about the WC animals themselves or the experienced people who work with them.
So yeah, it´s not surprising at all, but it is quite sad that the market is primarily and almost entirely about WC animals.

eljorgo said:

Indeed not normal events. I guess maybe some species arent prepared to water Rodrigo. Or maybe the strings i´ve been getting are less tolerant to humid/water conditions.

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I don´t know...While it´s true that some species have more strict terrestrial phases particularly after metamorphosis, many of the classic terrestrials have been succesfully raised semi-aquatically. I have personally raised H.orientalis this way (like many others), even though it´s typically considered a species with an strict terrestrial phase. Monique gives us another example with her Paramesotriton (another huge classic). I know of people who have succeeded with Lissotriton, too, and the examples of successful cases with Neurergus are very abundant.
I´m convinced there must be some other factor that is the problem and not just the semi-aquatic life, or that you have any particular strain. What are the characteristics of the set-ups that you used to raise those animals in the cases where it went all wrong?

More on the distribution and ID of P.deloustali group...

P.deloustali occurs in a number of provinces other than Tam Dao, including Lao Cai and Cao Bang. Lao Cai and Cao Bang both border on Guangxi, and true P.deloustali could easily occur in remote southern China.

Specimens from northeastern Cao Bang, however, were initially identified as P.deloustali and later genotyped closer to P.guanxiensis. They are catalogued as Paramesotriton sp., and could appear under either name, with or without a "cf." I would choose "cf. deloustali" in order to "compare with" deloustali. Thus, there are two species in Cao Bang, both could extend into Guangxi, and one of those may or may not be P.guanxiensis.

Guangxi is also home to P.fuzhongensis, which is closest kin to P.guanxiensis. P.yunwuensis occurs in southern Guangdong.

All members of this species group seem to occur south of the Pearl River and east of the Mekong. I haven't seen any records [yet] for west of the Red River either.