T. natans

My T.natans tend to curl up around the heater. There is a heater guard over the heater but I still do worry about this. Have any others out there encountered the same thing? Any danger of them being hurt? I tried offering them something else to curl around, but they prefer the heater. When not curled around it, they are curled around each other in the caves. The temperature in the tank is a nice and warm 29C. Certainly it's not because they're cold!

[ravenous]

It may be the shortage of hiding places/other things to curl around in the tank...try caecilian.org's discussion forum, I bet they can answer your question.

Dan

T. natans likes to have a lot of tactile comfort. In the wild they will either retreat to burrows in the river bank or into thick clumps of plants in along the bottom of the waterway. If you give them some pvc tubes that are as wide as twice thier diameter of the midbody they will use this instead of the heater. They can get thermal burns from the heater but if the water conditions are good they will readily heal up.
I had about 30 babies at work this year. If you want more info e-mail me off list.
Ed

Ed, I'd appreciate hearing what you have to say in the emails. Maybe you could post it here so everyone can learn and interact-after all, isn't that what the forum is for?

~Aaron

Hi Aaron,
I didn't mean to cut out any info (no one's asked for any off line yet anyway) but I will be going to settlement in three days (I finally get my basement) and will be moving and getting set up so I won't be checking in here too often for the next thirty days or so. This was why I asked for people to contact me off line, sorry for any hard feelings. So if anyone wants to get ahold of me please e-mail me as I can check e-mail at work.
Ed

It's all good. Just letting you know I was interested. Just let us know when you get settled in-I'm in no real hurry.

~Aaron

[Tim Johnson]

Thanks for the advice. I've been neglecting them (and this thread!) for too long and intend to do something about it in the next few days. Think I can manage PVC tubes and thick clumps of plants...

Ed, 30 babies is a lot! (depending of course on how many adult caecilians you're keeping). I've so far had only had one baby from my 7-8 adults after keeping them for almost a year now.

I wanted to ask whether you think it'd be OK to move my cardinals, zebra danios and miniature gouramis into the caecilian tank (I need their tank to properly accomodate my new Paramesotriton). I've heard before how some people successfully keep tropical fish in with their T.natans...

I'm keeping my T. natans at around 29C.

Thanks for the advice. I've been neglecting them (and this thread!) for too long and intend to do something about it in the next few days. Think I can manage PVC tubes and thick clumps of plants...

Ed, 30 babies is a lot! (depending of course on how many adult caecilians you're keeping). I've so far had only had one baby from my 7-8 adults after keeping them for almost a year now.

I wanted to ask whether you think it'd be OK to move my cardinals, zebra danios and miniature gouramis into the caecilian tank (I need their tank to properly accomodate my new Paramesotriton). I've heard before how some people successfully keep tropical fish in with their T.natans...

I'm keeping my T. natans at around 29C.

Hi Tim,
It was out of 7 adults (3.4) that I go the 30 babies (I haven't had less than 25 babies a year for several years now). Gestation in these guys is 11 months with most births coming in January and Febuary and into May on occasion.
Most of the time fish are okay with T. natans but some animals learn to catch the fish while they sleep and can predate pretty heavy on the fish. I've had them catch and eat adult red eye tree frogs on more than one occasion. If you have access to the magazine Reptilia they published and article on these guys about a year ago.

hey any of those babies for sale or trade???? i really really want some if they are....contact me. i have a 55 gallon here that ive been keeping empty for the day i could get some again.

go here:http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/aucti...amp;1040624106

There are Typhlonectes for sale all the time on aquabid for very good prices.

[Tim Johnson]

They've stopped crawling around the heater and tend now to bunch up in one cave in the corner of the tank, ignoring another cave.



Today, I added some PVC tubes (if that is what these are). The tubes are bigger than twice the diameter of the midbody but suppose they'll do?(Ed or anybody else who may know)

Hi Tim,
They like the close contact. If they can double thier body in half and cause tight contact with the sides of the tube then they may start to use the pvc tubes. The fact that they like one hiding spot better than another is also normal.
Ed