I found him at work...what is he?

I work at PetSmart in NC and while I was cleaning out the plant tank yesterday I found this little guy. I think he is some kind of newt. Right now he is in a 10 gal tank with about 4 1/2 inches of water, some real driftwood, live plants and a heater keeping it at 75 degrees. Does anyone know what he might be?

Turn off the heater. Room temperature is more than enough for this guy. It is an eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens?).

Yup, looks like an eastern newt to me too. Check this out:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Notophthalmus/N_viridescens.shtml

Be sure that you turn the heater off as Kurt suggested. These guys prefer temps between 60-74°F, and even colder in the winter months.

oh wow! thank you. I've turned the heater off. Wow...it looks like he's already an adult? We clean that tank once a week and no one has ever noticed him before. Either he is an excellent hider or someone dumped him there.

You should see if you can take him/her home, pet stores tend to be a bad place for newts to stay in especially if you are not around to make sure it is being cared for properly. You can check out http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Notophthalmus/N_viridescens.shtml for more info on the species.

hey megan what petsmart do work at because i visit the mooresville one very often.

UPDATE. The eastern newt megan had found at work is now in my care and i have a few questions about him. I have him in a 10gal with live plants(elodea and mondo grass) w/o a heater so the temp stays below 70. I have tried to feed him frozen blood worms, HBH newt pellets, and shrimp pellets... he wont eat any of it.
I was trying to figure out what he was living off of in the plant tank he was found in at work (petsmart)... the tank is infested with malaysian livebearing snails... so i brought a few home and sure enough he loves them! so that is what he has been eating and quite a bit too (which is nice since they are free). but I would like to add some variety to his diet and also i think he might be sick because he is bloated, but only in the lower portion of his body. could he be compacted from the snails? i read they ate small mollusks but dont know how well they can digest them. any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!! -Alyssa

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods.shtml

No, Alyssa, snails wont do, and may even be harmful. Check out the link above for all your caudate feeding questions. Your best bet with an easter newt is black worms, they are cheap but require a fridge to keep them.

If only the lower part of the body is bloated, he may be a she, and is carrying eggs.

Have you tried earthworms? Or any live food (other than snails, of course)?

Looks like a female to me. My notos would only eat frozen brine shrimp for the longest time. I tried numerous foods but they were fixated.

You can tell, as i have those newts. These little guys, the boys have webbed back feet.
Try feeding her live daphinear of something with a strong smell.