The Juvenile Stage is known as the red eft stage. Adults are slender, smooth, yellowish brown to olive above and yellowish below, with a sprinkling all over of dark spots. A number of dark bordered red spots are present on each side of the body. Red Efts are dark, reddish brown to orange, with spots of lighter red along the flanks; their skin texture is very rough.
The red-spotted newt's natural range is the Southern part of Eastern Canada and the Eastern half of the U.S.A.
Adults are mainly aquatic, living in shallow, heavily vegetated waters. They consume a variety of aquatic invertabrates and fish eggs, actively seeking out the spawning sites. Upon metamorphosis, the juvenile becomes terrestrial, living in leaf litter and underfrowth in damp, wooded areas and feeding upon small terrestrial invertabrates.
In order to keep red-spotted newts in captivity the terraria should reflect the lifestyle of the species. A large aqua-terrarium will support both aquatic and land dwelling forms and provides a breeding area for the red efts when they reach maturity. Unheated terraria or aquaria are required with the temperature not exceeding 72 degrees F in the summer. The temperature should be reduced to around 41 degrees F for the winter rest period.
Courtship occurs in the water in much the manner of the European newts. The 200-400 eggs are laid singly on aquatic vegetation. These hatch in three to eight weeks into aquatic gilled larvae that metamorphose in the fall to spend the early part of their lives on land. The life history shows a great deal of variation with locality, some populations lacking the eft stage entirely. Efts may live on land for several years before returning to the water.
