What stage is my eastern newt in

[Cookiebowl]

Hi! I am new here, and new to amphibians in general. My daughter found this newt on a path in the woods. I thought it was an adult and it spent most of the first week in the water in the tank. This week it's almost always on the turtle dock or an Java fern above water. Sometimes it seems more orange and other times more olive. It can certainly stay submerged for long periods. It eats frozen bloodworms and Jurassic newt pellets. Can someone please confirm what stage it is in? Ty

 

[Roughskinned]

That’s an adult in its aquatic phase. The adults do frequently come out of the water to move to different water bodies or if the water is evaporating. I would say check your water parameters for excess ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and also make sure you aren’t keeping him too hot. If all that is fine, and it doesn’t have any other conditions that could alter its behavior (it looks very healthy to me) it’s probably just it’s individual preference to be more terrestrial than many eastern newts are. But like I said the adults do go onto land

 

[Cookiebowl]

Ty so much! I truly appreciate the information!

 

[Cookiebowl]

Hi, sorry to bother again. As I mentioned above , my newt seems to prefer sitting out of the water. Though last week it spent hours there. I'm enclosing another picture, as I mentioned, it's color sometimes seems more orange. Just double checking that it is in the adult stage and has what it needs. My water temp is 68 and everything else seems fine. Ty

 

[Deleted member 38204]

yeah, the lighter orange and slick smooth skin suggests it's in an aquatic phase, he is probably just being a lazy little lad haha!