Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know this is not a Caecilian, but this probably the best forum for me to ask questions about it. I just got one of these and I was wondering if anyone out there has has experience with them? Also, with ground dwellers in general are there some general husbandry practices that you can share with me? I am keeping him in a ten gallon tank, three inches from the bottom of the tank is an plastic egg crate and screen platform. to allow for drainage and airflow. A pvc pipe and a computer fan supply air flow to this area. On top of the platform is about six inches of PH neutral soil. A heating pad placed at one end toward the top creates a thermal gradient of 68-82. The warmer temperatures are within two inches of the heating pad, most of the tank is 68-70.
The PH of the soil he came in was 7.5, this was also the soil that he was found in. Should I be concerned with maintaining soil PH? How often should I change the soil and are there any additive that can be used to maintain soil quality. accept for moisture levels I am guessing that the husbandry for terrestrial Caecilians will be similiar, so any advice will be appreciated, thanks.

Hi there:

As you can tell from my username, my specialty in my reptile zoo is caecilians. Amphisbaeidaes are not kept much, so it is hard to locate care info. Some consider these an order of there own. Actually, the care of terrestrial caecilians is quite a bit different. Caecilians like it whre it is wet and like foggers and misting systems. A worm lizard likes it dry and hot. I might recommend mixing in some sand with the soil. Where was this found? If you are interested in tobserving this animal, I highly recommend the Exo-Terra underground veiwing den.

DAVE

Thanks for the advice, I'll check it out.

I would strongly suggest removing the eggcrating and other items from the bottom of the enclosure.
I would suggest setting the tank up with 5-6 inches loose sandy soil collected from the same area where you found the Rhineura. Place a pvc pipe that runs to the bottom of the tank in one corner and use this to create a moisture gradient in the substrate by pouring water into the pipe. The bottom can be very moist but you want the top to be pretty dry. This species regulates its moisture needs by going up and down in the soil and keeping it totally dry is a death sentence. Yopu can keep a small water bowl in the tank but I strongly doubt it will use it. There is care literature published in some of the older herp journals like Journal of Herpetology (which you can search if you have access to in many Universities).
Do not use any substrate heating but shine a basking lamp on the surface of the substrate (maybe place a flat stone here) and heat the surface of the soil to around 92 F in the day and drop it to about 70 at night. The lizard will move up and down to regulate its body temperature.
It should take most small soft bodied arthropods so feeding shouldn't be that much of a problem.
Other than the type of substrate and the heat lamps the care of this is not that dissimilar than that of some terrestrial caecilians.

Good luck,
Ed

Hi there:

I can also benefit from your tips if I keep this species in the future. That sounds nearly identical to the car of blind snakes with the moisture line and all. By the way, I recently went into my reptile room at about 5:00 AM an saw one of my Dermophis above ground! It was slowly swaying over the soil and leaf litter, and even swam through my large rock water dish furnished with small resting stones. I got to watch a feeding and was amazed!!! It grabbed a small cricket, and it almost looked like some kind of vestigial constriction!
That is the only way I can describe it. The caecilian twirled around in circles on its back, engulfed the cricket and gaped, as if it were yawning, afterwards. I watched it poke around for awhile, and as the sun came through the window, it quickly and cautiously slid down into its subterranean lair.

DAVE

Thanks for the advice, I was not the person who caught the specimen, but I did have some of the original soil which I did my best to reproduce. It was a sandy mix, mostly sand, with a PH of 7.0-7.5. I am maintaining a moisture gradient, the raised platform keeps the soil airated and by keeping a layer of water under the platform plenty of moisture is absorbed by the soil. The Specimen was caught in the shade, so going by that, I have not been keeping him as warm as you have suggested. I think that if I am to supply a temperature gradient of 70-92 that I had better get a twenty long setup instead of a ten gallon. Currently in the ten gallon the temperature gradient is 67 - 82. I believe that he is feeding on earthworms, which has been difficult to verify, without disturbing him to much. I have also offered termites and mealworm pupates.

The larger the temperature gradient within the cage the better.
I would be concerned that the animal could get below the screening and eggcrating which is why I suggested removing it.
It should also take wax worms, and occasionally small crickets.

Let me know how you make out as I am very interested in amphisbaenids.

Ed

I 'll post updates, so far so good. He looks good, at least he has the couple of times that I have seen him. he's very secretive, and seems to have learned not to burrow next to the glass. I believe he is eating, but I have not made any direct observations, accept that I found him one morning with head under a flat piece of slate were the termites that I added had gathered, and within two days they were all gone. Also I have added about two dozen earthworms since I got him, and there is no sign of them.