Coloring question on a N.v.v eft

I purchased a N.v.v eft from my local (trusted) pet shop today. He was in with a few others and quite beautiful. When he's happy, he's a very light golden brown, and when he's pissed, he gets darker. This is my first experience with north american newts, and I was wondering about his spots. He has 3 on his right side, and 6 down his left. All are distinguishable with dark rings. He also has numerous black dots on his tail and belly. He's very cute and I was just wondering if it is normal for them to have different amounts of spots per side.

Yes, the spots are highly variable and they are not symmetrical.

you can often identify individuals by their pattern of spots, counting how many are on each side, because the numbers don't change as they grow.

another quick question. About how long should they be as efts? I know that they are supposed to be mostly terrestrial as efts, and mine was lounging happy as can be in the enclosure I had him in previously, before putting him in his moist terrestrial. I'm not sure how old he is now, and I was wondering how long they are when they are adults.

3-5 years, I think. But dont quote me on that. I think they'll start changing color as they go into aquatic-adulthood.

Nate mentioned in another thread that he looked really green for an eft. He's still only about and inch and a half long, but he's right, he does seem to be a bit greener than most efts i've seen. Another thing, when I went to move him into his new enclosure, he was in the water in the old one. My c.orientalis rarely goes into the water, and she's about 2 inches long now. I'm not sure of his age, but I'll try to find out from the store I got him at since they get theirs from breeders. He has a tendancy to change color from a dark golden color to that khaki green. I'm gonna get a really good picture of him tonight so I can get input on whether he is indeed an eft, or a very young adult. Thanks again!

He's probably not an eft any more. Efts tend to be very bright, while he's more drab. Switch the setup over to half-land half-water and see which one he prefers.

yea I think he's definitely no longer an eft. I spoke with the pet store's herp guy and he said that the efts were bright red when they came in, and Houdini's siblings are all the same goldish green now. I changed his set up to water and land now, and he seems to like sitting in the water. THanks again!

My N.v.v. Adult Changes from Gold To green...Its Normally gold WHen out of the water and Bright Green after being in the water for a while...Mine goes through phases of Being in the water for 3-4 days and then becoming terrestrial for a day or two...

I am lucky to live in eft country. During and just after rain the nearby woods are overrun with efts. My biggest count this year was 611 on one hike.
In my observations I have noted several colors: brown, light orange(creamsicle), mandarin, golden, light olive, dark olive...
The dark olives tend to be terrestrial adult males.You can tell the full adults by the speckling on the belly. The juveniles have almost no speckles on the underside. One of the fun things about eft watching is that you tend to find no two patterns of spots alike.
I keep four adults currently. My pair of females stay in the water almost all the time, while the males will enter the water to feed and then return to land to laze about. If I turn their filter off (I only turn it on periodically since they seem to like still water) one of the males invariably climbs to the top of the filter, snuggles inside against the cartridge, and peers out across the water. Weird. Do you think I should move the males to a more terrestrial enclosure outside of breeding season?