I have a large group of hellbenders that I legally purchased in 1990-91 which was around the last time one could legally sell hellbenders.I bought from a wholesaler in Florida and intellegently kept all reciepts incase there is ever a problem in the future.

With that said, I feel that hellbenders should not be collected and kept as pets except for serious zooilogical institutions that will use collected specimens for breeding projects that include release of head-started offspring.

Kept outdoors year round, they are going through the exact same seasonal changes they would in thier native waters. I have tried to breed the animals with no success. I have spent thousands on thier enclosures which included:

1)Large Polytanks

2)Complicated filtration systems

3)Chillers

4)Trips to the mountains to collect unspoiled river gravel for substrates

5)Large amounts of Electricity to run all this stuff.

6)Food.

Hellbenders are territorial, so most need to be kept separated. Since I am financially sound, it isn't an issue for me to spend this type of money to make sure that that I can provide a perfect enviroment for these animals. Unfortunately most can't, and is one of the reasons I feel that zoos or aquariums should be the only institutions to keep hellbenders. It would be a shame to pluck one from the wild and stick it in an aquarium as a pet. That collected individual would be biologically dead and could never contribute it genes to the wild population again. I know there are some in Europe that have claimed to have bred hellbenders. I have yet to see photos of captive animals brooding eggs, so I feel these claims are nonsense. If I'm wrong, please prove it. Andrias have been captive bred, which puzzles me as to why hellbenders havn't.

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