Pachyhynobius shangchengensis

[jesper]

Hi could anyone tell my about the status of this salamander?
One of the pet shop owners I usually talk to, his supplier always has this salamander on his supply list - the pet shop owner has never bought any since he believes that bigger salamanders have a smaller market, primarily due to the price...
I've never seen this newt...

 

[benjamin]

I looked it up in one of my books. All it has to say is it's from the family Hynobiidae, it lives in china, and that it's the only species from it's genus. I found it in a part of the book that lists all known salamander species from 2000.

 

[mark]

While I am unsure of the status of this species, I will say that I was lucky enough to acquire a few of these animals through the pet trade a few years back. Pachyhynobius are quite large salamanders and for this reason do require a substantial bit of space. I personally would liken them to miniature Cryptobranchus. They prefer cool, clean, running water. Unfortunately I lost mine to what I have concluded was some sort of pathogen. I was devastated at the loss. They were seemingly hardy salamanders, however, upon becoming sick they died very quickly - within 24 hours. It seems interesting to me how easily available they are to you. I'd have to say these were one of my favourite species to keep, very majestic. If you have the facilities - clean, cool, well oxygenated, flowing water and a large tank I would easily recommend this species. Hopefully you would have better luck than I and not have to face the grief I did.

 

[jesper]

Actually I don't have the space and I'm not really interested in having them. What caught my attention was that the list contained sals like pleuredeles waltl, cynops orientalis, cynops ensicauda etc and then.....pachyhynobius shangchengensis...It seemed rather odd to me.

 

[mark]

That is quite interesting. Suppliers are always pretty quirky like that though. Hopefully if someone does acquire the Pachyhynobius they will be ready for the commitment.

 

[patrick]

Hi Jesper,

which supplier does offer Pachyhynobius? I'm keeping a pair of this species since 2000... and I know people in Germany who have more animals..

best regards,

Patrick