I don't think they are as healthy. I think it is simply a testament to the amazing physical fortitude of crocodilians.
Having said that I would have thought that after being fed an inadequate diet for so many years that the animals would be incapable of any appreciable growth (permanently stunted).
Having read Tom's post I'm permanently stunted.
The only thing I can think of in the case of Tom's salt is that he would have been even bigger, if he had been fed an adequate diet.
I have a friend who has a rescue gator. It was supposedly 5 years old when he got it. It was about 2 feet. He thought he could turn it around and now 3 years later it is 2 1/2 feet.
I feel this animal is permanently stunted. It is starting to get it's adult teeth at 2 1/2 feet.
I'm not sure the folks that are stunting these animals are aware of what they are doing. For 2 years in a row now I've picked up Columbian boas while doing fairs in CO.
They were both about 13 years old almost 6 feet long and real thin. Especially the female. Both owners had raised them from babies and their entire adult life they were fed 1 jumbo rat a month. On the one hand they kept a boa alive and "healthy" for 13 years on the other hand they were both pathetically thin.
While they both have eaten more than that with me, not really much more. After 13 years they are not suddenly going to start pounding the rodents. These owners were nice, if sightly uninformed people. I don't think they thought they were stunting these snakes. I certainly didn't have the heart to tell them.
I always thought the first 5 years of a crocs life predetermined how big they would get. I always thought plenty of the right kind of food would allow that croc to get the most from his genetics.
Earlier this summer a friend gave me a Siamese and a Cuban.
They were both yearlings and I felt both were quite undersized.
I started feeding them and they both exploded, especially the Siamese. But even the Cuban had back to back months where he grew 3 inches. D.C.

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