I did the same as Jen, I never really offered my C. cyanurus a terrestrial phase. All six of them morphed very large and stay aquatic. With the C. e. popei and C. pyrrhogaster though, they were already terrestrial, so I had to switch them back to aquatic. This has taken quite some time in some of them, but very little in the others. I just only feed them in the water, and have a floating cork piece in about 2 inches of water. From that, I figure out which are feeding well or at least when they're hungry in the water-- those stay. If they get a bit thin, then I take them out for a month or two terrestrially and then try them again.
I would try them right away in a setup with an inch or so of water and plenty of plants for them to climb out on. I'm no pro at newts though, but that's what has worked for me with several species now.
justin