Description
Rough-skinned Newts are brown to orange in color and their skin is rough, almost as if it had goose bumps. They can grown up to be 8.5 inches in length and live 18-25 years.
Reproduction and Development
Breeding through larval development all happen underwater for the Rough-skinned Newt. Breeding occurs between April and June depending on conditions. Newts are persistent breeders taking several hours up to a couple days to breed.
The eggs are attached to a piece of vegetation and will hatch in 5 to 10 weeks. Larvae may metamorphose in as short as four months or complete the process the following early summer if not completed before winter.
Diet & Habitat
Rough-skinned Newts are found throughout Southeast Alaska as far north as Juneau. Newts exhibit a great migration (on a newt scale) headed up by the males which take them to their breeding grounds around the rainy season or shortly after.
Rough-skinned Newts spend most of their adult life on the ground but will return to the water when conditions get too dry or when ready to breed.
Concerns
They appear to have sustainable healthy populations but abnormalities have been found to occur in newts near road systems where de-icing salt is used.