Fire-belly sub-species??

[Kurt]

B. bombina (very hard to obtain over here in the UK but i'm fortunate to have a few - they're a European protected species and are a typically tricky species to breed).

They're are even harder to get here in the US.

[Alex M]

They're are even harder to get here in the US.

Doesn't surprise me Kurt! I'm not sure if this happens so much in the US but certainly over here it's amazing how many people get orientalis and bombina mixed up, they tend to base their identification on them being bombina purely because they're brown when obviously this is also a very common colour form for orientalis!. My bombina are just following the variegata out of hibernation in their outdoor enclosures at the moment. Cheers Al

[Kurt]

Over here confussion is rare as all we get for the most part is orientalis. I did see some albino B. bombina offered a few weeks back on kingsnake.com, but that was a rare occassion. At your average show or in your average pet store all you will find here is B. orientalis. I can't tell you the last time I saw variegata and I have never seen maxima (except for the Nissan kind )