Salamanders

[Kris]

Does anyone have any experience keeping Salamanders or Newts in their pond?  Any leads on where to get some.  My husband has wanted a few since we put in the pond, but I want to get some large enough so the koi won't really bother them - maybe 10-14" long.  Any ideas on where I could get some.  I know that William Tricker carries 1 type American Salamander, but my husband would like the black one with yellow spots that he used to catch around here when he was a kid.  We're outside of Chicago. 

[CT]

You can get salamanders at shops that sell reptiles.
Newts can be found at aquarium shops sometimes.
Kay

[Julles]

You're gonna have to have a mud bottom pond, like the salamander would have out in nature, plus lots of hiding places at the edges of the pond.  Salamanders don't live in water, after they're done being newts, so they need a space that's on land.  Plus source of food, shelter from animals of prey, etc.

Personally, I don't think it's a good idea to mix fish with animals you hope to keep alive - salamanders, frogs, lizards, baby birds - all those things a fish would eat if it could get at it.  Even a large salamander is going to be small when it's young, and the babies have to be in the pond with the fish until they metamorphisize into adults.

Also, the critter is going to be hiding most of the time, so you and your husband are not likely to see him and enjoy him much, anyway.

I'm thinking you might be better off keeping him in an aquarium set up in the house - with proper heat, lighting, food, and all of that, of course.  If you want to keep him outdoors, I'd build a seperate, totally enclosed and secure, cage, just for him, and include all the features of his natural habitat.

[Joyce]

There are terrestrial salamanders and newts...... and there are aquatic salamanders and newts.

You need to make sure you are buying the aquatic type, otherwise, if they are terrestrial, they'll either drown, or crawl out and go back to a more natural terrestrial habitat.
Also, if you have large fish, they'll eat the salamanders and newts.

Around here, the terrestrials are constantly getting drowned in swimming pools and also by getting sucked into skimmers and pumps.
We have lots of terrestrial salamanders and newst around here, from plain old brown, to gold, to striped, to spotted.
We find them all the time under rotting logs and mossy damp stepping stones.

There are the mud puppies and hell benders...which get big and mean, predators, will eat your fish...or at least try to...
http://www.hellbenders.org/

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/amphibians/mudpuppy.html

[LeeAnne151]

I had an Oregon native Western Roughskin Newt in an aquarium for six years, built the pond and put him out in it and never saw him again.

You can buy Japanese fire belly newts at petstores and they are aquatic but putting a non native species that has potential to walk away and die or affect native habitat into your pond isn't a good idea. Our fish can't just leave.

Fire belly newts can be kept in aquariums but they do require a lot of filtration like turtles as they produce a lot of waste and it reeks severely when you clean the filter/tank.

I personally take a dim view of most people keeping reptiles and amphibians and pet stores that carry them and mail order suppliers as well. Reptiles and amphibians die by the thousands as pets because they just aren't that easy to care for. They die being caught in the wild and they die in pet stores and then they die in our homes. Pets that require live foods and strict habitat parameters can get old really quick though of course, many do keep them successfully. 

Many reptiles and amphibians and fish other than koi and goldfish are caught from the wild for the pet trade, rather than bred in captivity and that bothers me.

Tiger Salamanders are listed as endangered in some states (New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware) and keeping them may be illegal and that would include their larvae often confused with mudpuppies.

I found several websites on keeping mudpupies in aquariums but none for ponds. I tried to past the links here but for some odd reason it would not work. I googled mudpuppies as pets. I was surprised to learn they can live 30 years!

[Julles]

When I was a kid, I had a mudpuppy, which I had caught in the "crick" on my uncle's farm.  Kept him on the family room table.  He would croak and bark just like a dog - and almost as loud.  Crawled out one day and disappeared.

Should never have tried to keep an amphibian in a house on a table top.  They belong outdoors, or in a properly set up environment.