Brumation and other tips for chinensis

Hello everyone,
i received from a friend a big P.chinensis female about a year ago. Till october 2011 she remained in the water but now it's 2 months that she's living on the ground.
The tank is very big (1m x 1.50m x 0.5m) so she can decide without problems where to go to live.
Is it normal for this specie standing out of water for so long time?
Because i known that it's very acquatic type of newt!
The reason could be the temperature? now in winter it is about T = 3-13°C (night-day)
It is too cold for a tropical newt?
(I dont need to breed because i don't have any males but i preferred to keep the specimen in this conditions during winter anyway)
Now she is very slowly and eats rarely. She stay about 10cm underground in a tunnel for all the day and night but despite of this she seems healty.
in your experience should I keep this animal more warm during winter?
this type of newt likely to die at low temperatures?
I read somewhere that 12°C is the mininum for Parameso but in my opinion it's not a realistic limit...
these are the old pictures about the specimen
Caudata.org Newt and Salamander Forum - Andrina's Album: Paramesotriton chinensis

thank you and sorry for the bad english!

Your temperature range seems about right, although I can't at the moment be more exact. I would not consider this a "tropical" species, in that it occurs at the northern limit of the tropics, but in mountains, on the Pacific coast, in a region subject to snow, freezing, and generally winter weather. Even the most tropical member of this group, Laotriton, occurs in areas which at this time of year reach overnight temperatures around freezing. These are mainly mountain stream salamanders, which means you can expect them to experience temperatures cooler than surrounding air, and cooler than than nearby lowlands which provide weather data. As this species occurs right outside Shanghai, along with H.orientalis, P.feii, and P.granulosus, and is likely exported from that area via the aquarium fish trade, you could use Shanghai as your weather comparison. According to the weather reports, between tomorrow and Tuesday, Shanghai will have highs of 3 to 9 C and lows of 2 to -2C. In the surrounding mountains, it will likely be colder and snowy, and I'd bet on th water temperatures being 4-5C [below 4, water tends to freeze and drop to 0].

This is comparable to, but slightly colder than, Brussels Belgium. Vancouver Canada is almost identical to Shanghai right now, despite being nearly 20 degrees further north [but palms and bananas grow there too].

Shanghai Weather: Climate with Weather Forecast, Best Visit Time
Weather Forecast Shanghai Hongqiao, Shanghai | Shanghai Hongqiao Weather | Wunderground

Weather Forecast: Brussels, Belgium - The Weather Network
Weather Forecast Vancouver, British Columbia | Vancouver Weather | Wunderground

None of the Laos forecasts really gives a good appreciation of the habitat temperatures of Laotriton habitat, which is much higher altitude then the daytime-steamy cities.

There are also accounts from other Paramesotriton (P. hongkongensis, at least) which say that the adults are terrestrial for much of the year. I think that in captivity they will stay aquatic, particularly with warmer temperatures, despite the fact that they don't in the wild, much like crested newts.

If she is eating and appears healthy, I suspect that she is fine. If Paramesotriton leave the water due to illness/acute "stress" they usually don't feed and are obviously unwell (often showing hyperactivity and escape behaviour).

She will probably return to the water when the temperatures warm up in the Spring.

C

Great newt and great pics!!

I think It's normal she don't eat, and she move slowly with cold temperatures...If she don't look skinny....my pleurodels waltl tub is out and covered by ice (temperature is about -5°c during the night), and they don't eat till the spring...

Thank you,
the newt's eating by itself from this summer to date because i preferred to create a pseudoautonomous terrarium with living invertebrates like earthworms and snails. So i don't know exactly how much she eats; despite this she has a nice swollen belly then i think there's no problem!
I was worried more than anything else for the inactivity of the animal and the lack of responsiveness. I know that is normal in winter, but thinking that it was an almost tropical specie, I wanted to be sure he was not hurt because of too much cold!