Both of these latter two cases may be in response to harsher than average environmental conditions. Larvae are fairly sessile, settling at the bottom of the water to hide. They appear to segregate by size in ponds, which probably serves as a defense against larger, cannibalistic adults, however few are lucky enough to survive the first winter. In dry, sunny weather, the eft will find a cool, moist place to rest and crawl out to feed when damp, darker weather approaches. The adult newt returns to the water and spends the rest of its life there, often foraging both day and night.
Winter is spent underground, unless the adults are in permanent water.
Newts can often be seen foraging in winter beneath the ice. Leeches also appear to be a major source of adult mortality. Adults will generally flee the water and begin biting or scratching themselves in an attempt to rid their bodies of these ectoparasites, however they're not always successful. Immature larvae and the adult newts reside in unpolluted ponds, small lakes, ditches, and marshes with preferably mud bottoms. The juvenile eft lives in lakeshore and woodland habitats and is often seeing in forest litter on rainy nights.