Anyone else into these large beasts???

[travis]

I think that the larger beasts are neat and I just built an 800-900 gal approx. outdoor cement pond with verticle wall so that no salamander could escape from it.It is a tempting thought to try breeding hellbenders or nectrus in it.I would not even know where to start with these guys(hellbenders anyways),everything about them is way over my head.Maybe EK will help me if I decided to try my hand at them, but for now I think I will stick to smaller terrestrial salamanders.
-Travis

 

[erik]

Well, I don't think hellbenders would do good in that sort of situation without some major modifications.Is the pond in full sun or in the shade? Also in your part of the country you would need a chiller for that pond in the warmer months as well as some expensive filtration for a pond that size. Necturus would be more reasonable since they do sometimes inhabit lakes and other non-flowing bodies of water (unlike hellbenders). If the pond was deep and in a shaded location Necturus might work well. You would need some type of filtration.

I think Sirens may be a better choice though (or maybe even axolotls?) and you would have a good shot at breeding them.

I'm sure others can offer more comments...

 

[travis]

The pond is in the shade except for some morning sun for maybe 30 min. in the morning and it shines on only half of it.It is pretty protected from any strong sunlight and I have a pretty hefty filter in there.One side of the pond has current because of the big filter/pump but the other side is calm water.
I live on the Coast in N. California and on the hottest days it gets around 73F.Temps are good since the pond would not actually get that warm.
I would rather keep some nectrus in it for now.They seem like a better choice.
-Travis

 

[steve]

Anybody selling or know where to get terrestrial caecilians or three toed amphiumas? I can receive U.S shipments in the U.S, even though I'm in Canada.

Thanks,
Steve