Eastern Newts Breathe Air

Eastern Newts Breathe Air

Here you can see an Eastern Newt male.

Eastern Newts, also known as Red-spotted Newts, are native to Northern America.

Here comes a female named SheShy.

I have 2 males and 1 female in a 29-gallon paludarium.

Eastern Newts grow up to 5-6 inches long and are considered to be one of the smallest newts.

Interesting behavior and small size make them suitable for keeping in aquariums like this one.

My wild-caught Eastern Newts eat only live food.

And they could be quite picky about food.

For example, the female SheShy feeds only on scuds and small-sized snails.

Well, the males are less picky and will go after pretty much anything that they can swallow.

And yet for some reason, my newts do not eat fish.

Eastern Newts are very skillful wrestlers.

Here you can see a male newt making threatening moves, preparing to attack an imaginary opponent.

Funny pets to watch, they are :)

Eastern Newts fight mostly during mating season.

Eastern Newts breath atmospheric air.

I found it incredibly intriguing and fascinating.

Think about.

Eastern newts live through 4 stages of development.

First they born from eggs laid in water. 

Aquatic larvae hatch with external gills and live underwater for a couple of months. 

Then as a Terrestrial Juvenile (called Red Eft) goes through metamorphosis, it loses gills, develops lungs, and lives on land for the next 1-3 years.

In the final aquatic stage, the mature Eastern Newts live and breed in the water for the remaining 10+ years of their lifespan.

Every 20-30 minutes or so, aquatic adult Eastern Newts come to the water surface to take a gulp of fresh air.

Just like this.

You can observe how the air bubble inside the newt’s body helps newts to float in water.

Here is the top view.

Interestingly, Eastern Newts come to breathe fresh air less frequently at night when they are less active.

Newts often float right after they take a breath - perhaps to rebalance or to compress the air bubble in their bodies?

Originally, I set up this tank with a land platform for housing terrestrial juvenile Red Efts.

In nature, adult Eastern Newts in their aquatic stage are supposed to stay in the water unless the ponds dry out.

Well, apparently, the female newt SheShy reserves her opinion about it.

At least on one occasion, she climbed out of the water just to... look around.

Look at her neck or under her chin to see how fast she is breathing.

She certainly is not hungry - I fed her on this day.

SheShy just looking around. Why not? :)

She is not in any kind of distress, not in a rush to get underwater.

It’s a nice, warm, and humid environment in this paludarium I built specifically for housing Red Efts.

 The land platform populated with terrestrial isopods, springtails, snails and Grindal worms.

Here you can see her breathing.

She stops breathing the instant she puts her head in the water.

And back into the water she goes.

Interestingly, SheShy climbs out and back into the water without the use of a couple of ramps I built specifically for this purpose.

Well, whatever works for you SheShy.

From now on, I just have to keep the water level a bit higher to make it easier for newts to climb out if they want to.

Have fun and Happy newts :)