Get some earthworms, they are the best staple.
Even though it looks quite healthy, it's still necessary to take into account the terrible conditions it has been through. Recently bought WC animals are always stressed and need excellent conditions to be able to adapt well to captivity. I would strongly recommend substituting the fake plants for real, live plants. They will be of huge help maintaining adequate water conditions until the tank has a chance to cycle completely.
It's most likely that the water conditions right now are not optimal, which added to the pre-existing stress of the animal is driving it to "perch" on land. You really want to correct that with copious amounts of live plants.
Newts are not that active....in fact, well stablished newts kept in excellent conditions are really quite inactive. They will spend most of their time near the surface with the head poking out or hiding between thick masses of vegetation (they LOVE that). Excessive activity is not a good sign, unless it's a male in breeding season. Typically it means the animal is stressed and the conditions are not very adequate. Keep an eye on it to see if it continues to get out of the water or seems restless.
By the way the gender is not quite clear. I would go with female based on the last couple of pictures.