Deformity or Infection?

[minorhero]

Hey folks,

Someone local to me got out of the hobby and gave me some alpine newts. Most are in pretty good shape but 2 of them I had questions about. 1 of them is an adult morphed alpine newt that just constantly hangs out with their mouth open. They can eat and the former owner tells me they have always been this way, but it's odd. Is this an infection, a deformity, or something else?

 

[NKmememachine]

Hey sorry this is coming a little late but I have an alpine newt that does the same thing. He eats okay and is active and it seems to be fairly common among alpine newts so I wouldn't worry about it too much unless you've noticed it acting strange.
My theory is that it's related to retaining larval features. Neotony (never metamorphosing like an axolotl) happens a lot with alpine Newts and when you look at images of neotonous individuals they often have an open mouth like the one you have pictured. Mine still has small stubs where his gills once were. So my thinking is that he's just partially neotonous. Maybe check to see if yours is the same. Bare in mind that I'm not as experienced of a keeper as many people are here so they could probably answer this better.
Best of luck with your alpine newts though. They are fascinating pets!