The wild or captivity?

I've always wondered about this...are newts happier in captivity or in the wild?

I will interpret "happier" to mean "better chance to survive and reproduce". I don't think there is any other meaning of "happy" for newts that we humans can really understand.

If you are an egg or larva, your chances of survival are probably a bit better in captivity. If you are an adult newt, your chances are probably better in the wild (assuming that your wild habitat continues to exist). For the adult, your chances of reproducing and contributing to subsequent generations of offspring are certainly better in the wild. Since the chance to reproduce is the ultimate goal of any animal (humans excepted), I would say that being in the wild is "happier".

Jennewt said:

I would say that being in the wild is "happier".

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Unless you are an axolotl.

I would say as an individual, in a well designed natural vivarium, they would be happier in captivity. I only say this because I am predicting that most animals relax to a certain extent with a lack of predatory pressure.
However, serious drawbacks to the mental health of your newts might be a lack of a mate or reproductive means when breeding season arrives. As a person that prefers solitude, I can assure you I'd still be rather frustrated if I could never get laid!
On a similiar note, just being confined is a stresser. A well designed vivarium means it is large enough, and with containing barriers hidden enough, that the captive does not feel confined.

Ask me where the animals belong, and I'll tell you in the wild nearly every time. Without all this cerebral thought getting in the way, there isn't much more to life than reproducing and continuation of the species and your genetic traits.
So if this turns into a WC versus CB discussion, I vote for Captive Bred all the way. In my opinion only in rare circumstances should seasoned keepers collect animals for breeding purposes to sustain the pet trade. While I'm not exclusively innocent on this page, taking animals from the wild should not be done on a whim.

This is an interesting topic. I have always felt newts look fairly "happy" when in a proper, well maintained setup. I do not feel the same about snakes and lizards.
But that is just a personal observation from someone who has never kept snakes or lizards as pets......and an admitted salamander snob.

If being happy means having a sure supply of food and not having to struggle, then that's a vote for captivity. And if mating is due to unavoidable sexual drives caused by the weather and time of year, and maybe you don't feel those drives because of the artifical environment created by being kept indoors, I think that's another vote for captivity. Plus when you live indoors, there's cable.

I have snakes and I think they're happy too, even though they mate. I take them out of their enclosures regularly so they can get some exercise.

The question can't really be answered unless we define a newt's take on happiness

But if the underthought is whether we can justify keeping these animals in captivity, I'd say: yes - if we provide conditions that enable them to live well and at least in theory, reproduce.

Obviously we can't do as superb a job as Nature. What we need to do is save habitat first. I'm sure any creature would rather have its own native eco-system to dwell in. I think we need to do what is best for the animal. If a creature is in peril we should try and assist in the breeding process with the lion's share of the offspring to be re-integrated into the wild after careful quarantining for alien pathogens. A small portion of the truly rare can be set aside for breeding for captivity in zoos and other breeding projects to bring awareness to the general populace. With all of the newt species that are more common I am sure that we can provide suitable situations to benefit any caudate we set our minds to to make happy. These are the creatures that we should promote for the hobby and the keeping of individual specimens or breeding groups, and leave the threatened species to the breeding pros. With that being said I would love to see programs set up in the private sector to assist the professional institutions in preserving the most susceptible candidates. I could definitely see, under strict supervision, grants and permits being given to those folks who can prove themselves reliable in the breeding arena. I believe the trick is to getting the animals to fulfill their purpose with the least amount of stress possible. I think that is essentially the formula to keeping any living thing happy.