u/shrek4life12345

This is my first time setting up a pond, my dream was to attract newts and other amphibians. Not even 5 days after building it, I found this female alpine newt! I had no idea it could happen so fast! It is now 3 weeks later and she is still here. I hope she’ll lay eggs, but maybe it’s a bit late in the season, and there are no males yet. For now I’ll continue to make the pond as newt friendly as possible, so any tips are welcome!

The pond soil hasn’t even settled yet! Would love some tips, I’m a complete beginner. I wanted to build a wildlife pond without a filter or pump. There are some plants at the bottom as well, but the water is too murky to see those. I’m thinking of moving those up temporarily so they can get some light as well. The pond gets a lot of shade from the tree above it (which sadly also means a ton of falling leaves). I did use tapwater, but where I live we don’t use chlorine in tapwater so that shouldn’t be an issue.