Hey everyone, I'm just in the process of designing a larger enclosure for a sub-adult pair of Paleosuchus trigonatus.. Just looking for some insight, or suggestions of improvement.
The whole enclosure is going to measure 9 feet by 6 feet (with 4X6 of water and 5X6 of land. The caimans themselves measure 41 inches for the male, and 39 inches for the female. The water area is what they are actually living in now, which is just a 6X4X18"(deep) plywood box painted with epoxy (there's a little more to it than that, but that's the old enclosure etc...) I have a small pool pump I am going to attach to the water area for filtration (but have it on a timer as it has a strong current and is pretty loud for inside). The pond itself is elevated off of the ground with 9 cinder blocks underneath to keep it off the ground (I'm from canada eh? so the concrete floor gets chilly in the winter). To heat the pond I am going to get a length of 4" diameter PVC pipe and drill a whack of holes in it to protect the heater(s) from the caimans. As for the land area, the whole cage is in my basement with a kind of "L" shaped room, so the walls of the enclosure are actually the walls of the room, so my plan is to buy 2 sheets of cement board and line the walls at 24" heights, paint it all with garage floor paint (it's somewhat water resistant, and not too expensive) and silicone all the seams just to protect the actual walls from any water damage or moisture in the substrate. I plan on having a pretty deep substrate of leaves,mulch,sand, moss, and soil, plus whatever other organic material I can find to throw in. I'll have to have a ramp as well going from the land to water, but hopefully I can have the substrate nice and deep for them as well. I bought 3 large floor plants to toss in the enclosure as cover for them, and just to look attractive. For lighting, I have a 4 foot double bulb flourescent fixture mostly for the plants, and at least 2 heat lamps with 150 watt bulbs. The front of the enclosure will have a door that's about 4 feet tall by 2.5 feet wide (so that will allow me space below it for a litter dam, plus I already have this door, not exactly sure what is really is, but it's soon to be a door..) and a glass window for viewing. The rest of the front wall will be 1X6 pine boards (not the best choice I know but they look decent..for now) and will also have the cement board along the back.
I think I've gone over all the details I'd like to include, minus decor and whatnot.. Really the only thing I can think of that I would like to include is a large hidebox but I think it will take up a little too much land, and those dimensions are absolutely the largest I can go. Is there anything anyone else can think of that I should incorporate into my plans, or anything I should change? Any feedback is muchly appreciated, and once it's all finished, I'll try to post pictures if I can figure out how to do so..
Matt
