Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have recently bought 3 caecilians, the aquatic type, I am just wondering if there was any way to be able to tell exactly which species they are since I heard T. natans and T. compressicaudus look a lot alike.
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http://joshmilliken.tripod.com/

They are all T. natans, this is the only species of Typhlonectes imported into the USA. The only external difference is in the cloacal morphology with one having more radial lines in the cloaca than the other. You would need to anesthetize the caecilian to get an accurate count. (seek the help of a vet. I can dig the reference out later. )

Ed

Ok, I'd rather not risk killing them with anesthesia. Would you have any suggestions on a best food to feed them, right now I feed them freezdried tubifex worms and repto treat suprema to stimulate their senses for feeding since it has a rather strong smell, I know it mentions they eat just about anything on caecilians.org, but there really is no mention of a specific food that works best.
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http://joshmilliken.tripod.com/

Hi there:

Mine took frozen/thawed bloodworms, blackworms, glassworms etc. Any of the small frozen "worm blocks" will work great. Also dead fish are relished. If you do decide to anesthetize the animal, I have found that oragel works best for this purpose. Remove the animal from the water, moisten it, and place it in a seperate container. Place only one or two drops on the caecilians head, depending on its size. Wait awhile, and soon it will appear to be dead. This is when you can gently handle it and count the rings on the cloaca. When you are done, continue misting the head and pouring water on the head, but make sure that the caecilians head is above the water so that it can breath. Really wash off the head well. Soon it will move again. Then you can place it back in the aquarium. I am aware of German caecilin breeders who work with T. compressicauda. Good luck.
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DAVE

1.0 Western green toad
1.1 green treefrogs
1.0 Florida blue garter snake
1.0 brown Anole
1.0 Mediterranean gecko
1.1 Oriental fire-bellied toads
1.0 American bullfrog
1.0 South American caecilian (Dermophis occidentalis)
1.0 Spanish ribbed newt
1.0 rough-skinned newt
1.1 Eastern ribbon snakes
1.1red-cheeked mud turtles
1.0 dwarf peacock day gecko
1.0 Dubia day gecko
1.0 Sonoran gopher snake
1.1 rough green snakes
1.1 giant African black millipedes
1.0 White's treefrog
1.0 Okeetee corn snake
1.0 Albino African clawed frog
1.0 Kenyan sand boa
1.0 Argentine flame-bellied toadlet
1.0 African bullfrog
1.0 yellow * Everglades rat snake intergrade
1.0 Western hognose snake
1.0 fire salamander

I feed the ones I work with mostly nightcrawlers with the occasional pinkies. They will also take prawns, tadpoles, frog eggs, caterpillars and fish.

The ones that were supposedly compressicauda in Europe have since been correctly identified to be natans.

I would suggest being very careful with benzocaine as it is also an excellant euthanasia agent for amphibians.
Ed

There's no way I'm gonna try to anethetize them, especially with what we on the frog forum use to euthenize frogs that are suffering. If you wanna check out that forum, and I welcome you to, you can talk about caecilians there as well, here's the link http://talkto.thefrog.org/ . Also I picked up the latest reptiles issue with the caecilian care tips in it, I figured it can't hurt to have more information on them, I plan to read it at work tonight. Thanks for all your help, I'll try to remember to stop by now and then when I have questions.
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http://joshmilliken.tripod.com/

When mine were smaller (8-12 inches), I would feed them tubifex worm cubes, bloodworms (frozen type from a pet store fish department), pre-killed (frozen) fish of appropriate size, and pieces of earthworm. They kept taking fish and earthworms as they grew, but stopped taking the tubifex. I found that they also loved wax worms, but only offered that occasionally, and once they grew to 14-16 inches, a wax worm was like a potato chip to them! Ed turned me onto pre-killed pinkie mice when mine grew larger, and I also offered pieces of cooked shrimp. I would buy a 1/4lb of fresh shrimp, and freeze them so that I could pull one out at a time. Pop a frozen shrimp in a microwave-safe cup with an inch or two of water and microwave for 20 seconds, then run under cold water and remove shell. Cut into appropriately sized pieces. Any fish that die in the tank will promptly be eel food. I had non-aggressive tetras in with mine, and a cory cat. My gold tetras bred like mad, too. I kept angel fish in there for a time, but thought they were too agressive and might harm baby eels, and gave the angels to someone else. They had babies in the tank also, but they didn't last very long.

FYI, they love lots of plants/hiding spaces in the water, or at least mine did. I had a large sword plant in there at one time, and they would hang out near the surface some days, supported by the large leaves.

Katrina

Hi there:

Even though most people keep their caecilians in aquaria with tropical fish, I found that mine enjoyed shallow water with a slow, lazy current. I chocked the water with live foliage and cork slabs.
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DAVE

1.0 Western green toad
1.1 green treefrogs
1.0 Florida blue garter snake
1.0 brown Anole
1.0 Mediterranean gecko
1.1 Oriental fire-bellied toads
1.0 American bullfrog
1.0 South American caecilian (Dermophis occidentalis)
1.0 Spanish ribbed newt
1.0 rough-skinned newt
1.1 Eastern ribbon snakes
1.1red-cheeked mud turtles
1.0 dwarf peacock day gecko
1.0 Dubia day gecko
1.0 Sonoran gopher snake
1.1 rough green snakes
1.1 giant African black millipedes
1.0 White's treefrog
1.0 Okeetee corn snake
1.0 Albino African clawed frog
1.0 Kenyan sand boa
1.0 Argentine flame-bellied toadlet
1.0 African bullfrog
1.0 yellow * Everglades rat snake intergrade
1.0 Western hognose snake
1.0 fire salamander

In the wild T. natans are typically found in deep slo moving water (in some cases deeper than 10 meters) with plant vegetation however during the day they typically are found hidden in self dug burrows in the river bank emergeing at dusk to forage. Alternatively the caecilians burrow in clumps of plants on the river bottom until nightfall.

Ed

Hi there:

Thank you very much for posting that information. All I have ever heard about Typhlonectes is how to keep one in an aqarium or about its morphology and anatomy. I enjoy hearing about their natural history. It is great that you know these things about such a rare and elusive amphibian. I no longer own any Typhlonectes, and do not plan to own any again. The last thing I want is to get in trouble with the law. I am planning to write an updated book on caecilians, and any information that you could tell me on their natural history would be great!
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DAVE

1.0 Western green toad
1.1 green treefrogs
1.0 Florida blue garter snake
1.0 brown Anole
1.0 Mediterranean gecko
1.1 Oriental fire-bellied toads
1.0 American bullfrog
1.0 South American caecilian (Dermophis occidentalis)
1.0 Spanish ribbed newt
1.0 rough-skinned newt
1.1 Eastern ribbon snakes
1.1red-cheeked mud turtles
1.0 dwarf peacock day gecko
1.0 Dubia day gecko
1.0 Sonoran gopher snake
1.1 rough green snakes
1.1 giant African black millipedes
1.0 White's treefrog
1.0 Okeetee corn snake
1.0 Albino African clawed frog
1.0 Kenyan sand boa
1.0 Argentine flame-bellied toadlet
1.0 African bullfrog
1.0 yellow * Everglades rat snake intergrade
1.0 Western hognose snake
1.0 fire salamander
1.0 Chinese beauty

Amphibien im Aquarium is a good book for this provided you can read German.

Ed

Hi there:

Thanks. I'll check it out. Why did I choose to take Spanish? For some odd reason, the Germans seem to know tons about caecilians, and I have found whole web pages that look as if they contain some valuable information.. written entirely in German! Fortunately, my father can speak German very well, and he could probably translate it for me. Thanks again.
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DAVE

1.0 Western green toad
1.1 green treefrogs
1.0 Florida blue garter snake
1.0 brown Anole
1.0 Mediterranean gecko
1.1 Oriental fire-bellied toads
1.0 American bullfrog
1.0 South American caecilian (Dermophis occidentalis)
1.0 Spanish ribbed newt
1.0 rough-skinned newt
1.1 Eastern ribbon snakes
1.1red-cheeked mud turtles
1.0 dwarf peacock day gecko
1.0 Dubia day gecko
1.0 Sonoran gopher snake
1.1 rough green snakes
1.1 giant African black millipedes
1.0 White's treefrog
1.0 Okeetee corn snake
1.0 Albino African clawed frog
1.0 Kenyan sand boa
1.0 Argentine flame-bellied toadlet
1.0 African bullfrog
1.0 yellow * Everglades rat snake intergrade
1.0 Western hognose snake
1.0 fire salamander
1.0 Chinese beauty