Ambystoma andersoni at Chester Dec 08

The Fish nursery area of the aquarium has now been given over to the breeding of these great little guys. Three are in the display tank.

They look quite nice.

5 arrived last autumn , and another 5 were imported recently.

Is there any information on the success of this breeding program and have any of the zoos stock morphed? I have two A.andersoni who are cb imports from Germany about eight months ago, one morphed recently and is now happily wandering around a terrestrial set up. I am also hoping to get some feedback on the rates of morphing and tips on how they are cared for. Thanks.
http://www.caudata.org/forum/members/xxianxx/albums/me-my-stuff/21659-190/
I dont know if i am allowed to link to another site but here is a picture of my morphed A.andersoni, if it is against the site rules i apologize and assume a mod will remove it.

Chester Zoohas bred a very good number which are starting to be passed on to other collections now,and I have not heard of any morphing at the Zoo.

Would the zoo consider swapping my A.andersoni morph for some eggs? I was hoping to breed mine, i have bred A.mexicanum for a number of years but consider the A.andersoni a more interesting species, far more responsive to their owners and incredibly beautiful looking as adults, unfortunately my plans have gone astray with my morp. It is healthy and i am teaching it to hunt roaches so it can feed itself but i would love to get my breeding plans back on track. If anyone from the herp department could give me a response it would be much appreciated.

I doubt the zoo would be interested in the morph as it has morphed,and cannot be used in the breeding program for the species!!

There is a lot of discussion about this, A.mexicanum are often quoted as a morph which are infertile, however this fact is disputed by a number of knowledgeable breeders. Obviously A.andersoni are a different though related species, how much information is actually known about them ? reputably they do not even morph in the wild, a fact which many other people dispute, if you consider the tiger salamander which generally morp, how many of those are seen outside breeding season? they are a mole salamander, they spend most of the time buried in the mud, unobserved by anyone, the fact that no scientists has seen a wild morph does not preclude their existence. A.andersoni have been known to science for about twenty years, their morph rates in captivity are often quoted at 15% in the specialist forums, a lot of this may be down to poor husbandry causing them to morp, as in A.mexicanum, of the fifteen (that i know of) imported from Germany from the same batch , three have morphed. If this was a survival strategy , infertility of morphs would be a dead end, how could this evolutionary adaption be passed on from generation to generation? I stated that my breeding plans have gone astray, mainly because i have a male in an aquatic tank and what is probably a female running around a terrestrial set up ten foot away.
I hope you do not think i am been confrontational, keeping and breeding amphibians is my passion and am always looking to further my understanding of them, i look forward to your response.

A.andersoni

Could anyone from the zoo confirm wether any of their A.andersoni have morphed ? If not could they share their husbandry methods ? as keepers in the UK, Germany and US all report high rates of morphing. If Chester zoo are getting zero morphs they may be doing something different to the rest of us and it would be interesting to know what and would lead to a better standard of pet care . Thanks.