# What Do Caecilians Eat?

> What caecilians eat: Carnivore (worms, insects, small invertebrates), foraging style, and seasonal shifts in Damp soil and leaf litter in the tropics.

- **Species:** Caecilian (*Gymnophiona*)
- **Conservation status:** Least Concern
- **Diet:** Carnivore (worms, insects, small invertebrates)
- **Habitat:** Damp soil and leaf litter in the tropics
- **Lifespan:** Often more than a decade
- **Canonical HTML:** https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/caecilian/what-do-caecilian-eat/
- **Parent profile:** https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/caecilian/
- **Last reviewed:** 2026-07-16

## Quick answer

Caecilians are a group of limbless, worm-like amphibians that live mostly hidden in damp soil and leaf litter across the tropics of Africa, Asia, and the Americas. They range from a few centimeters to over 1.5 m (5 ft) long, have tiny or skin-covered eyes, and rely on a pair of sensory tentacles to find prey underground. Long-lived for amphibians, some caecilians survive well over a decade.

## Who should skip this page

Skip this if you need a captive feeding plan from a veterinarian. This page is wild diet, not a pet-care sheet.

## Behavior and senses

Caecilians are secretive amphibians that spend most of their lives burrowing through moist soil and leaf litter, and a few species are fully aquatic. With no limbs, they move like worms or snakes, pushing through the ground with a strong, muscular body. Their eyes are tiny and often covered by skin or bone, so they navigate using a unique pair of retractable tentacles between the eyes and nostrils that detect chemicals and prey.

## Help protect the Caecilian

Even familiar animals lose ground as wild habitat keeps shrinking worldwide.

[Donate to wildlife protection](https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/donate/)

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Source: Global Animal Guide (https://globalanimalguide.org/animals/caecilian/what-do-caecilian-eat/). Licensed CC BY-NC 4.0 — free for non-commercial reuse with attribution.