Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello, im relatively new to the world of corcodilians here so forgive me if i sound a little uneducated on them but thats becasue i am. i recently "came into" a four foot american alligator with a tank because my friends mom wanted him to get rid of it because it had gotten too big for her to be comfortable with it in the house. so, she was going to kill it if he didnt get rid of it and i being the herp lover that i am i told him i would take it. now, he has moved out of state and i cant get a hold of him.....so, my question is, how often should a four foot alligator feed. i have fed him three times now one medium rat a week but this week and last week he refused his rat should i worry about him or just wait another week? his water temp is around 70 or 75 with a basking spot of around ninety. i think that should be okay for him am i wrong? any input would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance.

Well, 75 degree water temp wouldn't be too bad, but it would be recommended to bump that up to about 78-80. Also, an ambient air temperature of about 85 and a basking temperature of about 95-100 would be more appropriate. However, you want to make sure that the basking area would have a good gradient so that obviously the further away from the spot he moves, the lower the temperature. This allows him to choose which temperature is more suitable for him at the moment.

As far as feeding is concerned, 3 times a week approximately, depending the size of the previous meal. I wouldn't feed him a LARGE meal each time. It's great that you are feeding it rodents, but you can't forget variety. Variety is key in proper diet of crocodilians. Fish (be careful to make sure that you aren't feeding fish that contain high amounts of thiaminase), chicken chunks (supplement with vitamin supplements), beef chunks (supplement), or....you might want to consider purchasing a commercial croc diet such as Mazuri (www.mazuri.com). There are other things that can be fed beyond what is listed, but for the sake of keeping this shorter, I will direct you to some further reading as there is much more to their husbandry than diet alone and what is attributed to it.

Here are some resources for you to read up on for crocodilian captive care.

My website: http://www.herpfanatic.com/Crocodilians and the Private Keeper.htm

Chris Dieter's website:
http://www.thecrocodileexperience.com

Israel Dupont's Crocodilian Directory:
http://www.crocodopolis.net

Adam Britton's Crocodilian Captive Care FAQ:
http://www.crocodilian.com/crocfaq

Books:

The Ultimate Guide to Crocodilians in Captivity by Chris Dieter

Crocodiles: Biology, Husbandry and Diseases by FW Huchzermeyer

Crocodilians: Their Natural History and Captive Husbandry by Ludwig Trutnau and Ralf Sommerlad

Crocodiles Inside Out: A Guide to the crocodiles and their functional Morphology by Richardson, Webb and Manolis

I hope that helps.

Chris
-----
My Website
www.herpfanatic.com

thanks a lot for your response. what can i do if he refuses to eat three times a week in fact he hasnt eaten for two weeks i will try raising his water temp and his basking temp but what if that doesnt work? do alligators go thru a period of lesser consuption of food during the winter? perhaps because naturally they would be hibernating right about now? again any input is greatly appreciated and also again i thank you in advance for any responses.