Where are the newts?

[warrior]

In the past few years I haven't seen any newts in pet stores for sale.I used to live in CA about 10 years ago and seen just about everything except local newts for sale.Alot of places sold Eastern newts and they had alot!Even sometimes Euro newts,and JFB newts wer'e easily found.When I moved to the east coast in 2002 I found a place that sold Tarichas not sure if they wer'e cali newts or rough skinned newts but in the past 5 years I have only rarely seen CFB newts and now only Paddletail newts since a new petstore opened.The only newts they can get in or order are CFB newts,paddletail newts and Crocodile newts.Did they stop importing JFB newts and Taricha to the U.S.?Any others here have the same problem?.

 

[FrogEyes]

Pet stores [on average] don't care what kind of newt they sell, so long as they're cheap. Three species are commonly mass exported from Shanghai for the fish trade, which makes those three the cheapest [Hypselotriton orientalis, Pachytriton granulosus/feii, Paramesotriton chinensis]. Newts from elsewhere in China are sold by the reptile trade and thus cost more. Those from Japan and the USA are from first world countries, and cost more.

All of these are available, but less often and generally through specialized dealers willing to stock animals which aren't "disposable" in price.

This is even more the case with CB animals or European species. Only European species from outside the EU will be wild-caught legally, which greatly limits the selection. CB animals often don't make it to the retail trade at all, and are usually sold at expos. Mass produced species like axolotls and ribbed newts are exceptions.

 

[Red Eft14]

Hey,I live in NY and work in a petstore.The only newts we sell is paddle tailed newts,and sometimes chinese fire belly and japanese fire belly.I also seen a emperor newt but not at the store that I work at.