Legal to keep in Washington...

To my great annoyance, many (way to many) species of salamander are illegal to keep in Washington. Every single salamander that I was thinking about getting was on the list. So, I wanted to see what WASN"T on the list, and figured I'd start with Washington native species. Even a few natives are on the list, to my extreme annoyance. But I was able to get down a few species:

Ambystoma gracile

Ambystoma macrodactylum

Dicamptodon tenebrosus

Batrachoseps wrighti

Ensatina eschscholtzii

Ensatina eschscholtzii oregonensis

Taricha granulosa



These are all I found. Now my questions are, which of these are kept in the pet trade, and of those, which are semi-aquatic? Also, is there any other species not on the list that I may have missed? (See the link in the top of my post)

Don't get me wrong, I love the death out of Washington, but sometimes it really annoys me...

Dragonbeards

Washington Protects all it's native species... I believe collecting is illegal? but I may be mistaken.

You won't find any of those animals you have listed in pet stores for sure but....
If you can (legally) keep Dicamptodon, I would suggest trying to keep them... they make interesting and hardy captives and could be considered semi-aquatic. The larva are more active than the adults and are very fun to watch. Mine begs for food when I come in the room by hopping out of the water at me.

Taricha and Ambystoma Gracile would also be interesting "semi-aquatic" species if they are indeed legal to keep in WA, and unlike Dicamptodon, they would probably be easier to find in the field.
On another note, Unlike my home state of CA, I believe it is legal to keep tiger salamanders in WA. I have a friend who says that he see's axies for sale in petshops up there.

I don't plan on collecting them, but rather buying them. Easier to ensure good health that way. Yes, axies are often found for sale (just saw a few at a captive breeders expo), and if semi-aquatic doesn't span out, I may consider them. I have been concidering Taricha (along with a few others, before I found out they were prohibited), but I'll also check out Ambystoma Gracile. Thanks.

I think you'll have to go out in the field and find most of those species. I have yet to here of pet stores having those. Most often than not the pet stores have some fire-bellied newts and fire-bellied toads. It's hard to find stores that will accept anything else because of the lack of knowledge of caudates.


On a side note....I bought an Axolotl about six years ago in California....and a Tiger salamander in Nevada about 5 years ago. You can find them if you look. There is always an odd pet store that carries strange things.

Moved to the appropriate section. Next time please choose the right section before posting. In this case, talking about laws goes in the legal section.

John said:

Moved to the appropriate section. Next time please choose the right section before posting. In this case, talking about laws goes in the legal section.

Click to expand...

Sorry about that. I was confused as to where to post this.

To the rest of you, thanks for the information. I'll just have to keep looking.

Taricha make AWESOME semi-aquatic captives. They're usually hardy eaters, they've got a big 'personality', very outgoing. And they're fairly colorful, making them more 'attractive' to look at. I currently only have one, but I formerly had a large colony, and loved peering over their tank and seeing them all looking up at me.

Cynops is not listed....looks like all Cynops are game. Probably to make Petsmart happy.

Seems like they omitted to put Pleurodeles on the list also.

BTW, talk about whacko wildlife laws. I sure hope no one in Washington manages to get their grimy hands on some Onchodactylus or Neuregerus crocatus! LOL