Question: Why is one of my japanese firebellied newts turning brown?

[evut]

I have 4 juvenile Cynops pyrrhogaster (about 5 - 6cm long). One of them sometimes looks more brown than black. He is the same size although he has an enormous appetite compared to the others. They all live in the same vivarium and eat the same things. I'm not sure if they all have the same parents (two have different colouring on the belly - see one of the photo where they are climbing, also one is slightly bigger and doesn't have the orange stripe along the back anymore but this is a different one). They were all the same colour when we got them 2 months ago so we're wondering why one of them sometimes turns brown. 2 days ago he was light brown and today he's black like the other again.

 

[Azhael]

Same here. One of my 6 pyrrhogaster has a brownish coloration instead of the jet black the others have. It varies greatly from almost black to quite pale brown. Since it´s become aquatic it´s coloration has darkened though. It too is the biggest in size and in appetite.

 

[evut]

half an hour after posting this question:

I've just cleaned their vivarium which involves moving the newts...and this newt has something stuck on his head which actually turned out to be his skin peeling! We watched him shed the whole skin and eat it!
I made a little video of the skin shedding so I'll see if I can post it here.

 

[vistajpdf]

Color changes are normal - no need to worry! I don't think anyone's quite sure why or when it happens, but it happens frequently without much rhyme or reason.

Dana