Amphibian Steward Network

The Amphibian Steward Network (ASN) was developed to address three important goals:

• Maintain stable (and captive-bred) populations of amphibians in order to reduce pressure on wild populations.
• Reduce the risk of disease transmission between captive and wild populations of amphibians.
• Provide research on basic biology, husbandry and propagation to support better management of wild populations and captive breeding efforts by other institutions.

ASN harnesses the passion, skills, and resources of private amphibian enthusiasts to help conserve wild amphibians. 

Benefits of Becoming a Steward

There are many reasons to become an ASN steward. Among these are:

• Ensuring the long-term maintenance of captive populations
• Access to centralized database of captive holdings and studbooks
• Participation in organized network breeding stock exchanges
• Access to steward-developed knowledgebase of husbandry and conservation practices
• Potential to participate in other amphibian captive breeding programs

HOW TO BECOME AN ASN STEWARD

ASN is available to amphibian enthusiasts of all experience and skill levels. Becoming a steward is simple:

Step 1: Join TWI

Only TWI members are eligible to become ASN Stewards. If you haven't yet done so, you can become a TWI member by visiting our membership page. 

Step 2: Register as a Steward

Complete and submit the online Amphibian Steward Registration.

Step 3: Register your animals

After you receive your Steward ID number, fill out accession forms for the animals you wish to enroll in ASN. Click "Next" to learn how.

Why register animals?

Registering animals is the most important part of being a steward. By registering animals, stewards help create a collective  database that is used to track captive population trends and relatedness of animals in steward collections. These data are vital for helping stewards maintain the genetic integrity of their holdings, and to determine which captive populations need active management to maintain them.

What animals should be registered?

Stewards can elect to register some, or all, of the animals in their collection. However, a database is only as useful as the data it contains. More data are always better than less. All amphibian species, regardless of rarity in captivity, conservation status in the wild, or difficulty in propagation, should be registered in the accession database. Even hybrids should be registered to prevent unintentional contamination of managed populations. Because the database is the primary source of information for tracking population trends and genetic integrity, it is important that database records accurately reflect the true status of populations in the program so the steward community can make sound recommendations for their management.

Where does the data go?

Animal accession records are entered into the same software used by ISIS to track holdings of zoos and other institutions. By default, accession records are shared with other ASN stewards and submitted to ISIS. Only a steward’s ID number appears on the accession record which provides a level of privacy. Stewards may elect not to share a particular record but this should only be used for special circumstances. Click here to view a sample accession report.

How do I register animals?

Animals are registered by submitting an accession form. It only takes a few minutes to complete a form but stewards should read Tips for Filling out Accession Forms before completing their first form. In addition, the TWI membership forums contain useful discussions about the accession process and is the best place to provide user feedback. Click “Next” to proceed to the documents section to download an Accession Form.