At a glance the quick version
Wild animals can reach about 30 cm; AmphibiaWeb records males up to 31.2 cm and females up to 28.6 cm total length. Captive animals usually reach 15-20 cm.
AmphibiaWeb: 8-12 years in captivity, with some sources suggesting 20 years or more.
Looks how to spot one
Smooth-to-granular moist skin with a row of wart-like tubercles along each flank
A sturdy, broad-headed newt with a flattened body and a tail a little shorter than its head and body. Along each side runs a line of about 7-10 small orange or rust-coloured warts, which sit right where the tips of its ribs lie under the skin. Breeding males develop rough pads on their front limbs.12
Personality what they are like
A calm, almost fully aquatic newt that spends most of its life in the water. It is an eager, opportunistic eater that usually comes forward readily at feeding time, which makes it rewarding to watch.13
Daily activity how busy a day looks
Mostly active swimming and foraging along the bottom. A heavily planted tank with a little resting area at the surface keeps it busy.31
Grooming and care the hands-on bits
Keep the water clean with regular partial water changes and keep the tank cool. Adults may eat larvae and young newts, so raise juveniles separately from adults. Wash hands after handling, as the skin produces protective secretions.31
Home where they are happiest
A well-planted aquarium with a small floating platform or land area. Caudata.org suggests a water depth of about 15-20 cm outside the breeding season and water below about 21 C; the species copes with quite cold water. In the wild it lives in quiet, often deep ponds, cisterns and wells.312
Food basics what goes in the bowl
A carnivore. Wild adults eat aquatic snails, worms, insects and tadpoles. In captivity it accepts earthworms (chopped), newt or shrimp pellets, and insects. Caudata.org advises against feeder fish.123
Company who they like around
Adults can share a tank with others of similar size, but larvae and juveniles should be kept apart from bigger newts.3
The story where it all began
Michahelles described the species in 1830. Its hardiness and easy breeding made it a long-standing laboratory animal, used in regeneration research and flown on several Soviet and Russian space missions to study development in weightlessness.1
Fun facts for the dinner table
- 1
When threatened, it can push the sharp tips of its ribs through its skin, right through the orange warts on its sides, as a defence.1
- 2
Its body has adaptations that let these small rib wounds heal quickly without harming the newt.1
- 3
Ribbed newts have been to space: they flew on Bion satellites (1985, 1992, 1996), on the Mir space station and on Foton-M2 in 2005.1
- 4
Its genome is huge, about 20 billion base pairs, several times larger than the human genome.1
- 5
A female can lay between 150 and 1,300 eggs in a season, in small clusters of about 9-20.2
Recognised by the official bits
- IUCN Red List (via Wikipedia)
- Assessed as Least Concern (2020 assessment).1
- AmphibiaWeb
- Accepted species Pleurodeles waltl Michahelles, 1830 (family Salamandridae).2
The care rhythm Furry Diary remembers it for you
A typical home-care rhythm for a Spanish Ribbed Newt. It is our own starting plan, not a vet's advice, and you can change every line in the app.
- MistingKeep the humidity upevery day
- Fresh waterDechlorinated waterevery day
- Temperature checkevery day
- FeedingHow often depends on species and agevaries
- Spot cleanevery 2 days
- Full cleanevery month
- Vet check-upFind a vet who sees exotic petsevery year
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Where this comes from
Every breed page shows where each fact comes from. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are pet people, not a science magazine. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
- Iberian ribbed newt (Wikipedia) en.wikipedia.orgused for names, range, size, defence, history, space flights, genome, IUCN
- Pleurodeles waltl (AmphibiaWeb) amphibiaweb.orgused for size by sex, colours, habitat, longevity, breeding, diet
- Pleurodeles waltl care (Caudata Culture) caudata.orgused for captive size, water depth and temperature, diet, keeping juveniles apart, leucistic form
Checked 2026-09-30. Text is written in our own words from these sources.