Pet Salamanders In Southern California

[Vizezeul]

Hello!

My wife and I found out about this forum on Reddit. We've been looking for a pet salamander here in Southern California. We're mainly interested in Fire Salamanders, although we're open to anything that isn't in the genus Ambystoma (they're illegal in California, so we can't have them).

We tried looking online for someone who ships, but it looks like they've been sold out in the main avenues.

I don't know what's changed, but I remember seeing pet salamanders for sale in pet stores about a decade ago, but now it seems like they're damn near impossible come by.

 

[Nick V]

I am unsure if the state laws for CA, but some states have banned fire salamanders since they *can* carry a deadly fungal pathogen that legislators are fear-mongering with to end our hobby. Salamandra were commonly imported to the US for a while, but not quite as cheap or abundant as fire belly newts. They would be occasionally be seen in mom and pop pet shops in NJ where I grew up. They would be like 15 or 20 dollars back in the early 2000's but most of these places had no idea of their proper care and they would be kept far too warm. I tried purchasing a few over the years and they died within just a few weeks despite meeting all their care requirements at home. They would simply perish from exposure to improper care at these shops and mistreatment during shipping, so people had difficulty establishing any breeding groups from the stressed and emaciated animals that were available to them. In 2016, it became illegal to import/export newts and salamanders so they became even harder to find. Most of the last imports were Salamandra coming from Ukraine and you can still find some people working with them today. Now, very few people have breeding groups of fires because they are highly sought after and supply doesn't come close to meeting the demand. For a genus as diverse as this one, the US trade in them is a fraction of what is available to the European hobbyists who had much better luck establishing groups of all the different species and subspecies by meeting their husbandry demands long before this ban went into effect. Currently, John Clare produces fires that are occasionally available under the US classifieds on this forum. He is the source for most of the American market for Salamandra. I got some Salamandra salamandra "beschkovi" (Bulgarian fires) from him in November of 2020. Keep in mind that these salamanders need cool temps year-round and will not survive should your power go out in SoCal.

 

[forneims1963]

Hey! My daughter had a salamander, if I’m not mistaken, she was brought from Panama (there was a nursery there 10 years ago), unfortunately, I can’t find the business card of the person who brought it to us, but I think Google will help you in your search. I also once wrote an article "exotic pets in couch conditions" and interviewed a man who raised salamanders in Colombia. Unfortunately, I can’t find his contacts either, but the article is on essaypay.com, maybe it will be useful to you or you want to order an essay, I will be happy to help you.

 

[Jaydaddy1018]

Hey! My daughter had a salamander, if I’m not mistaken, she was brought from Panama (there was a nursery there 10 years ago), unfortunately, I can’t find the business card of the person who brought it to us, but I think Google will help you in your search. I also once wrote an article "exotic pets in couch conditions" and interviewed a man who raised salamanders in Colombia. Unfortunately, I can’t find his contacts either, but the article is on essaypay.com, maybe it will be useful to you or you want to order an essay, I will be happy to help you.

Do you still have this salamander?