Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ive been frantically working to finish a larger enclosure for my caiman and have had to leave him in his old one in the garage ( no good its colorado) he has been fine up until 2 weeks ago. He reguritated a mouse and wouldnt eat the one I offered this week. His tank supposedly is warm enough the water is 82ish land land area fluctuates a little more but stays from 70ish to 80-90. I bought a space heater to make sure its stays warm enough but "he" is looking in bad shape. He's moving very slow, often Ill come home and his eyes will be closed or mostly closed he doesnt want to stay in the water which is very bizarre for him and counter to what would be wise for the thermo-regualtion. Do I have any thing I can do? I still need to silcone up the other cage so its water tight and move it inside. with out gasing times at least 3-4 days. Help please. Is it possible the water here is hard or something? Ive been adding repti-safe to the water but he really seems to not like to stay in it as much as when I was at my old house. even before the temp drop. Also how sensitive is their vision and hearing? could the noise and glow of the radients be distrubing to death?
Thanks Brett

It looks to me as if your temps are ok from what you have written here. In truth I've found my dwarfs to be fairly cold tolerant at least compared to other caiman.

Do you have pics of your setup?
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CDieter
'Reason, observation, and experience; the holy trinity of science.'

If you're worried that the caiman is sick, I would boost up the temperature anyways. Could it be possible that your caiman is stressed? Does it have hiding places? My trigs in the past have refused food after being moved into different enclosures without good enough hiding spots. Good luck.

I dont have pics yet I am worried about the stress factor but the main source would be the space heater and I cant afford to turn that off. He's looking really bad and leathargic, I touched him today which I dont do much of to get him in the water because he almost looks dehydrated. He has the look like he has almost given up. I thought he would be reasonable cold tolerant as well. I am very worried he has also been fairly tolerant of stresses too but it seems different. He has almost zero aggression now

Another question:

How long have you had this animal? There are other possibilities such as organ failure and parasites that can produce symtoms like these although parasitic illness usually is a slower downward spiral.
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CDieter
'Reason, observation, and experience; the holy trinity of science.'

Ive had him over a year now, ironically today he's acting a lil more normal since the temp has dipped really low, hes staying in the water. makes me think maybe the water heater is working too well. When it warms up I may lower the water temp a lil. I dont know what to do