T. Granulosa availability?

[jpmtotoro]

Hi everyone,

when I was younger, taricha granulosa seemed to be plentiful in pet stores and I had 2 for a while. loved 'em. great little guys. When they eventually passed, I migrated my hobby to freshwater plants and then got into freshwater shrimp. Anyway, I was interested in setting up a paludarium or vivarium and get some of my childhood favorites again, but it seems t. grans are very difficult to find now. The places by me (in S.E. Michigan outside Detroit) usually only carry "firebelly" newts and occasionally paddletail newts. I haven't seen anything online either. Are they usually only seasonally available? Have they dried up in the pet trade from difficult collection/export laws? Are there captive breeders out there? What happened to my favorite newts??

thanks in advance for any light people could shine on the subject!

JP

 

[Jennewt]

As you noticed, they have disappeared from pet shops. Maybe this is a good thing, since pet shop newts are wild caught, and a lot of them die along the way.

There have been occasional breedings, but they aren't the easiest newt to breed and raise. You might eventually find some captive bred, but it will take a while, and it's not high probability.

If this is truly the only species you are interested in, you may be out of luck. Or you might want to consider a trip to the west coast. There are states where it's legal to collect a few, and populations are abundant enough that taking a few wouldn't have a serious impact. Collecting your own is preferable in many ways to buying them from a pet shop.

You might also consider other species that are abundantly captive bred, such as ribbed newts or axolotls.

 

[jpmtotoro]

I have also had the Chinese firebelly newts and also eastern newts since they were available from time to time, but they were not nearly as charismatic as T Grans. They were active and interactive and intelligent (for a newt, of course). I also really liked the coloration (not sure why).

So it sounds like I need to either:
1) be really patient and see if any magically appear for sale or trade on the forum
2) make a trip out west
3) make a west-coast friend do some hunting for me

Do you happen to know which states allow small amounts of collection? Cali, Oregon, or Washington? (I think those are the only 3 states they exist normally). I wouldn't bother trying to hunt them down in Idaho since I guess it's only a small population that lives there.

 

[Jennewt]

I don't know the specific rules in those states. I wouldn't want to give information that is wrong now, or might become wrong if someone reads this thread years from now. This forum has a Rules & Regs section, and most states give info online.