Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Yep. That's the question of the day.

Hey,

Some herps do good in the mail, others don't. I don't think a newt would be a good choice for even overnight shipping. A small delicate amphibian like that should be looked at firsthand. Ask your local pet store to order one for you. If it is a large hardy species, like a Mandarin, you can probably order it without a problem, but a dainty fire-belly might do better off looked at up close before you make your purchase. Just be careful where you order from. I'll keep my eyes open. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

DAVE

D'oh! I live in Arkansas; I seldom see newts. Where do you get yours? I do have a pair of Taricha Torosa and I love those lil guys. Know anything about their breeding habbits?
Thanks
Vanessa

I must say I disagree with Dave. Newts and salamanders, when healthy, ship really well. A good place to find people who have breed some that you can usually buy or trade for is www.caudata.org.

>>D'oh! I live in Arkansas; I seldom see newts. Where do you get yours? I do have a pair of Taricha Torosa and I love those lil guys. Know anything about their breeding habbits?
>>Thanks
>>Vanessa
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Hope my opinions help,
Rob

>>D'oh! I live in Arkansas; I seldom see newts. Where do you get yours? I do have a pair of Taricha Torosa and I love those lil guys. Know anything about their breeding habbits?
>>Thanks
>>Vanessa

Newts of all species can be shipped without problem, as long as they are healthy and stay cool. But finding places selling is a bigger problem. Caecilianman is right that it's better to be able to look at them before buying, as many in the pet trade are in poor condition.

Taricha torosa info: http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Taricha/T_torosa.shtml

You might try looking at your local Petsmart or Petco. A lot of times they will have them. Good Luck!

Icy

if you are going to buy them on line their supply is often sporatic. most places that sell them supply wild caught adults, so on that note you may or may not get a healthy specimen.

sals and newts are time consuming to raise and dont fetch high prices, so many places dont bother to sell cb specimens. since they take long to grow, can be delicate/hard to feed and morph small they are not common on sales lists. they are also slow sellers (according to some suppliers i write) and hard to care for in bulk- so the smaller cb juveniles are not financially sound investments unless they are very rare.

cb ones on the net are axolotls and spanish ribbed newts.

there is a hobbysts website www.caudata.org , if you go into their forum section, there is a thread for sale/trade or for wanted. you could post your wanted request there or look at what is offered for sale. these are often offered by hobbyst like myself that raise up our personal stock and care about them. also those that offer up adults are usually offering their own personal pets and since they are hobbysts they know better about the helth of the animals-so they are good sources for care data and will not usually offer up an animal of questionable health.

cb offspring and adults from hobbysts are not always available-especially if you are looking for something 'right now', but i feel this is a better route than some store that offers 'herps' in general and just happens to get a shipment of cheap wild caught newts in to exploit a niche.petco claims they only sell cb specimens, but their suppliers often claim they have cb and offer up things like paddletail newts and mandarins-both of which i have no knowledge of them being 'farmed' especially since those for sale are adults and paddletails are extremly hard to breed.

the only real drawback to buying cb offspring is their size and non aquatic state which will make feeding more difficult than adults.

this is a good place to buy newts www.gherp.com they arent sponsors of the board so didnt want to advertise for them so emailed you.
They carry neat amphibians but shipping is pricey.The kingsnake.com amphibian classifieds are great to.

Bianca

Hey,
Thanks for all of the replies. I really apprectiate it. I've been to www.caudata.org maaaaany times, but never thought of checking the forum for guys to buy. *smacks head*
As for buying them at Petsmart or Pet Co, that's totally out because the Pet Co here never sells anything of quality and Petsmart...the Petsmart here just sucks. Like I said, in Arkansas.
Thanks again for all the info.
Vanessa

I've order several Triturus species online, including very small alpine newts, and they were sent priority mail: did just fine. The animals traveled over 300 miles to reach me over a two day period.

The key is weather. On average, the truck they are in is likely to be 10 degrees F higher than outside. I received my newts in mid-November in Virginia: temp was 55-60 F outside. You should not ship newts in very warm or extremely cold weather. Most temperate species, however, do fine if the weather is moderate and the shipping containers are full of moist sphagnum.