Book Review: Keeping Amphibians by Andrew R. Gray

Book Review: Keeping Amphibians: A Practical Guide to Caring for Frogs, Toads, Newts, and Salamanders (Barron's Educational Series, 2000, 64 pages.)

This is a strange little book whose niche I can't quite figure out.
Maybe it's the I-can't-decide-between-a-frog-or-a-salamander niche, though I think the choice is really a visceral one--you either want that newt, or you want that frog (at least in the beginning, until you realize that you want them all).

I find the nine species of frogs and four species of salamanders that this book covers to be a bit of a bizarre mix. The four species of salamanders he chose are: Paddletail newt, Tiger salamander, Axolotl, and Red Spotted Newt. Who would choose those four species as an introduction to newts? I mean, who, besides Andrew R. Gray? I think that, for ex., Cynops orientalis is so common in the pet trade, that one at least should have been included instead of one of the others.

The feeding section is four pages long, which can't begin to adequately cover the variety of food needed by all these species. Blackworms are not even mentioned, though bloodworms and tubifex are at least named in passing, though they are not pictured. "Flies" doesn't distinguish between fruit flies or other fly species.
At least he mentions that you should dust crickets. And in the caging section under "heating," it doesn't specify that heating may, if at all, only be necessary for a frog, and that newts won't require heat pads OR aquarium water heaters. I think I'm developing a "pet peeve" about this heating issue.

Why did I buy this book? because in the beginning I was so thirsty for information I bought anything that had a newt in it.

And it is a pretty book, but like Paris Hilton, kind of useless. There's not enough information to be fair to any of the species without further references, so the word "practical" in its title is misleading. This book's unfocused generality would not qualify the reader to keep any of the species it covers.

For ex., in the Paddletail entry, it says only not to put two males together. In my experience (and in the experience of many of us) a female can be lethally aggressive as well.

At least the book uses its own pictures and doesn't have that ubiquitous and rather gross picture of the Tiger Salamander chomping on a pinky. And it does have the cutest picture of a frog ever, on page 7, which turns out to be a "Couch's Spadefoot".

Available to Paris Hilton fans on Amazon starting at $1.99.

otterwoman said:

And it is a pretty book, but like Paris Hilton, kind of useless.

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The Paris Hilton bit made me laugh!
Yes, it is a nicely-produced little book, but I remember being disappointed when I opened my package from Amazon about two years ago and read the contents.
It has the hallmark of something dashed off to satisfy a bum publishing deal, which is a pity as its author is by all accounts an experienced keeper and field herpetologist.
I've bought a lot of poor books on-line to feed my need for knowledge on sallies and newts. Had I been able to see them in a bookshop I wouldn't have bothered.
One I'm looking forward to is the Chimaira book by Marc Staniszewski on European and Middle East newts and salamanders which had its publication delayed late last year.